Soldiers find skeletons, bombs in Marawi as residents visit

This area in Barangay Lilod Madaya in Marawi City remains off-limits to civilians.  INQUIRER FILE / DIVINA SUSON

MARAWI CITY – The military on Sunday said that even as displaced residents were being allowed to visit ground zero, soldiers continued to retrieve skeletal remains and unexploded bombs from the 24 villages where the heaviest fighting took place for five months since May 23.

Col. Romeo Brawner, deputy commander of the Joint Task Force Ranao, told reporters here that since “liberation day” in October last year, at least eight skeletal remains had been retrieved from the ruins.

Brawner also said soldiers tasked to clear the city had also been recovering unexploded ordnances and bombs, which he said posed danger to returning residents under the Task Force Bangon Marawi’s Kambisita (to visit) program.

At least 7,000 internally displaced persons were scheduled on Sunday to visit their homes inside sector 1, consisting mainly of the village of Tolali. /cbb