A helicopter gunship fires a rocket at Muslim militant positions in the continuing assaults to retake control of some areas of Marawi city Sunday, May 28, 2017 in southern Philippines. Philippine forces launched fresh airstrikes Sunday to drive out militants linked to the Islamic State group after days of fighting left corpses in the streets and hundreds of civilians begging for rescue from a besieged southern city. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
Despite an accident that killed 10 soldiers (not 11 as the military earlier reported) during a bombing run on Wednesday, the military will continue airstrikes in Marawi City, where government troops are locked in battle with pro-Islamic State terror groups.
Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson, said the incident was being investigated while the crew involved had been pulled out of the battle zone so they could undergo debriefing and counseling.
The debacle, Padilla said, would not suspend airstrikes.
“We continue to apply commensurate military power on these existing threats and pockets of resistance, and will continue to do so, including the use of airstrike,” Padilla said in a press briefing in Malacañang on Friday.
He said the military was not likely to meet the deadline imposed by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to end clashes in Marawi by Friday, the 11th day of fighting between government troops and the terrorists.
The final decision on what happens on the ground rests with the commander in the area, Padilla said.
“And based on the report that we’re getting I don’t think we can meet that deadline today (Friday) to completely—I’d like to qualify that—to completely free Marawi of every single armed element on every street,” he said.
“So until such time that every member of this armed group, this rebellious group that still wants to make a stand inside Marawi exists, we cannot totally say we have cleared Marawi,” he added.
A Reuters report said 39 soldiers had been killed in the Marawi clashes, as well as 19 civilians and 120 terrorists.
Army commander sacked
On Friday, a military spokesperson announced the relief of Brig. Gen. Nixon Fortes as commander of the Army brigade in Marawi City.
Lt. Col. Ray Tiongson, who was speaking for the military, said Fortes’ removal was not related to the fighting in the city.
Fortes’ deputy, Col. Generoso Ponio, took over command of the brigade.
A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Fortes was dismissed because not all his forces were in the city when terrorists from the Maute group began their rampage last week, even though military intelligence had indicated that Islamist gunmen, including foreign fighters, were massing up there.
Victory
The source told Reuters that some of Fortes’ forces were busy fighting a small band of communist insurgents in a nearby town when some 400 gunmen overran Marawi City on May 23 after a botched military raid to capture one of their leaders, Isnilon Hapilon.
President Duterte on Friday assured soldiers of victory in the fight against extremism, saying they would prevail in the end even if they suffered losses.
“When it comes to extremism, we will win. We will have losses, that’s how life is governed in this universe, you would never know when. But to say we will lose, that’s impossible,” the President told soldiers in Ipil town in Zamboanga Sibugay province.
He said he was willing to step up government efforts against the extremists and promised them that the government would acquire more jets and new military equipment.
“It has to be brand new. I would no longer accept secondhand military equipment. The ones being given by the Americans, I don’t want them, even if I have to spend double the money,” he said.
Mr. Duterte told the soldiers that the fight the government was waging would be longer because unlike its enemies, the government cared about protecting civilians.
“We are a government and we are bound by rules and even treaties,” he said.
If the government waged war like the terrorists, the conflict would have long been over because it could have just bombed everything, he said.
“This is a rebellion where we fight [in a] civilized way of dealing with the problems of the country,” Mr. Duterte said.
“We should carry on for as long as we can accept this. If not, then we raise the fighting to a higher degree—raise it one bar,” he said.
This does not mean, though, that the government would be like its enemies.
“We cannot say that we will follow them. We are a civilized nation and we have a well-disciplined military and we also value human life even if we have to destroy sometime,” he said.
Padilla said the military was doing its best to complete its mission quickly.
Among the things hindering the swifter completion of military operations in Marawi was the caution troops had to take to ensure that civilians would not be harmed, he said.
Padilla said the armed groups in Marawi were using children and civilians as human shields. The terror groups have also been using madrasahs (learning centers) and mosques as staging areas and sniper nests, he said.
As the fighting raged, the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) set up the peace corridor in Marawi to provide a safe zone for those displaced by the conflict, said Irene Santiago, chair for the Bangsamoro peace process.
Santiago said they would also put up joint coordinating, monitoring and assistance centers in Marawi and in Malabang town, Lanao del Sur province, as well as a mobile center that would go around evacuation centers in the peace corridor.
She said 300 members of the joint peace and security teams would be deployed throughout the length of the corridor. More forces would be added as the need arises.
“The peace corridor is a manifestation of the shared vision of [the] government and the MILF of what our society should look like, one that is open, inclusive, compassionate, just and cooperative,” she said.
The corridor seeks to offer a safe space for civilians, including the wounded and evacuees, as well as for relief goods. It was created to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to those affected by the fighting. —WITH REPORTS FROM ALLAN NAWAL, FRINSTON LIM AND REUTERS