In this photo taken in May 2018, Marawi residents are allowed to return to their communities to inspect their homes destroyed by the fighting between government troops and Islamist terrorists who laid siege to the city. INQUIRER FILE / JEOFFREY MAITEM
Filipinos will “unceasingly stand” against terrorism, Malacañang said Tuesday, a year after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi City from the ISIS-inspired Maute Group.
The homegrown terrorists laid siege to Islamic city of Marawi on May 23, 2017, prompting Duterte to declare martial law in the whole of Mindanao.
The attack led to five months of heavy fighting that killed more than a thousand people, wounded about 1,400 and devastated the city.
“As we celebrate the triumphs of our government troops against the Daesh-inspired Maute rebels, we pay tribute to those who have fallen in the fierce battles during the siege of Marawi and gave the ultimate sacrifice to make our nation safer and more secure,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement.
“The liberation of Marawi conveyed one strong message: Our people stand – and will unceasingly stand – united against the evils of terrorism,” he added.
The deaths of Omar Maute and Isnilon Hapilon, he said, “thwarted the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in the area and curbed the possibility of the rebellion from spreading to other parts of the country.”
“Despite this feat, the government, with the help of its armed forces, will remain vigilant in the midst of quiet for possible terrorist threats that may again strike our nation,” he said.
The Palace official said the liberation of Marawi “marked the beginning of the healing and rebuilding of the Islamic city and its residents.”
He said the government “started the arduous tasks of recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation of the city” even after the repeated delay of the formal groundbreaking of the Marawi rehabilitation.
Various agencies, he said, “converged with the aim of easing the sufferings of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and helping them begin rebuilding their lives, their homes, and their communities.” /cbb