{"id":114238,"date":"2017-08-26T20:01:39","date_gmt":"2017-08-27T00:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=114238"},"modified":"2017-08-26T20:01:39","modified_gmt":"2017-08-27T00:01:39","slug":"afp-underscores-significant-positive-developments-in-marawi-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/08\/26\/afp-underscores-significant-positive-developments-in-marawi-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"AFP underscores significant positive developments in Marawi conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Armed<\/a>
FILE: Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla. (PNA photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u2014 The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Friday underscored significant positive developments this week in war-torn Marawi City following the retaking of the Marawi City Grand Mosque.<\/p>\n

AFP spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla Jr., said it took the government troops almost a month to retake the Grand Mosque or the Islamic Center from the terrorist Maute group.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did not conduct a frontal attack because we wanted to preserve the Grand Mosque, owing to the promise of our Commander-in-Chief, the President, and our Chief of Staff, who strongly provided guidance not to destroy any place of worship even if international protocols would allow us to do that,\u201d Padilla said during the regular Mindanao Hour briefing in Malaca\u00f1ang.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe met resistance in the surrounding areas over that less than a month of time, until we got to that point when we were able to assault the Grand Mosque,\u201d Padilla explained.<\/p>\n

The AFP official said the government forces are now clearing the Grand Mosque of unexploded ordnance and IEDs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Grand Mosque is located in the central area of Marawi. It is the most significant landmark because it being the biggest mosque in the area,\u201d Padilla said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo having it under the hands of government provides us the impetus to symbolically say that\u00a0nakuha na natin \u2018yung sentro mismo ng bayan<\/em>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Padilla explained that it took a month to retake the Grand Mosque to ensure that it will not be destroyed during the conflict, and that there would be a place of worship for Muslim brothers and sisters to go to when the conflict is over.<\/p>\n

Aside from the Grand Mosque, Padilla said government troops were able to retake the Marawi City Police Station.<\/p>\n

With these developments, Padilla said the battle area has been reduced to about one-half square kilometer grid.<\/p>\n

Padilla meanwhile said President Rodrigo Duterte was able to visit Marawi City anew last Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIto po ay pagnanais ng ating<\/em>\u00a0Commander-in-Chief\u00a0na makapiling ang mga tropang direktang nakikipaglaban sa mga kalaban natin<\/em>,\u201d Padilla said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSiya po ay nagpaabot ng kanyang pasasalamat sa ating mga kasamahan at ganun din, nag-abot po ng ilang tulong at pampa<\/em>-high morale\u00a0na mga bagay tulad ng relo at iba pang mga<\/em>grocery items\u00a0na kinakailangan po nila<\/em>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In the same briefing, meanwhile, Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Assistant Secretary Kristoffer James Purisima said there is no humanitarian crisis in Marawi.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not think it\u2019s a humanitarian crisis because we\u2019re addressing the situation that\u2019s happening. We know what\u2019s happening on the ground and we\u2019re addressing all the needs of our IDPs, whether they be in our evacuation centers or home-based,\u201d Purisima said.<\/p>\n

Purisima said that Task Force Bangon Marawi has already started its post-conflict needs assessment, which is part of the comprehensive rehabilitation and recovery program.<\/p>\n

\u201cKung wala tayong ginagawa<\/em>\u00a0on the ground,\u00a0maaring sabihin na may krisis. Pero<\/em>, I differ on that because I know that we\u2019re doing everything we can on the ground,\u201d Purisima said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an inter-agency effort. Hindi lamang ito Office of Civil Defense,\u00a0hindi lamang ito<\/em>\u00a0DND or DSWD or AFP.\u00a0Lahat ito ng mga ahensya na kasama sa<\/em>\u00a0Task Force Bangon Marawi, 23 agencies and growing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo\u00a0makakaasa ho ang ating mga kababayan na hindi natin pinapabayaan ang sitwasyon sa<\/em>\u00a0ground and this is not a humanitarian crisis,\u201d Purisima said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Purisima said the proposal to distribute chickens to the evacuees would need the approval of the Task Force.<\/p>\n

\u201cPag-aaralan natin ‘to. Dahil syempre kailangan ‘yung<\/em>\u00a0welfare\u00a0ng ating mga<\/em>\u00a0evacuees,\u00a0ating mga<\/em>\u00a0IDPs\u00a0ang nakasalalay dito\u2026 at syempre hindi tayo gagawa ng isang plano o isang programa na makakasakit lamang sa ating mg<\/em>a IDPs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Palace fetes Filipino athletes win in SEA Games<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the same briefing, Presidential Communications Office Director Omar Romero congratulated Filipino athletes who have won in the ongoing Southeast Asian Games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Philippines now has 15 gold, 18 silver, and 31 bronze medals, as of August 25, this morning at 1 am,\u201d Romero said.<\/p>\n

Gold medals were bagged by Eumir Marcial for Boxing Middleweight – 75 kilograms event; Marvin John Tupas for Boxing Lightweight – 81 kilograms event; Curte Robert Guarin, Emmanuel Portacio, Leoncio Carreon Jr., and Ronald Lising for Lawn Bowls-Men\u2019s Four event; Trenten Anthony Beram for the Athletics Men\u2019s 400 meters; and the Philippine Men\u2019s Ice Hockey Team.<\/p>\n

Silver medals were meanwhile won by Mario Fernandez for Boxing Men\u2019s Bantamweight – 56 kilograms event; Marisa Baronda, Nancy Toyco, Nenita Tabiano, and Sharon Hauters for the Lawn Bowls \u2013 Women\u2019s Four event; and Yvonne Alyssa Dalida and Jemyca Aribado for the Squash Women\u2019s Jumbo Doubles.<\/p>\n

Filipino athletes who won bronze medals were Lois Kaye Go for the Golf Women’s Individual Stroke Play; Amparo Teresa Acu\u00f1a for Shooting Women’s 50-meter Rifle Prone; Ian Clark Bautista and Charly Suarez for Boxing Men\u2019s Flyweight – 52 kilograms event and Light Welterweight – 64 kilograms event, respectively.<\/p>\n

Also winning bronze medals were Janry Ubas for Men\u2019s Athletics Long Jump; Warren Kiamco and Dennis Orcollo for Billiards & Snooker Pool 9 Ball Doubles; David William Pelino and Robert Andrew Garcia for Squash Men\u2019s Jumbo Doubles; as well as Bowling Tenpin Team of Five, and the Women\u2019s Karate Kumite Team.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u2014 The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Friday underscored significant positive developments this week in war-torn Marawi City …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":106558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,95],"tags":[18684,22015],"class_list":["post-114238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news-ph","tag-armed-forces-of-the-philippines-afp","tag-marawi-conflict","mauthors-philippine-news-agency","mauthors-pco-content"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}