End airstrikes, save civilians, groups urge Duterte, military

ILIGAN CITY—When Islamic State (IS)-inspired militants besieged Marawi City two weeks ago, 75-year-old Meno Manabilang, a former guerrilla of the Moro National Liberation Front, was trapped with his wife in their home in Kapantaran in Barangay Upper Marinaut.

He was able to send text messages that he and his wife were OK. But he had one request: urge the government to stop the aerial bombings, which started on the third day of the siege.

On May 26, the text messages stopped coming, raising worries among relatives especially as the government was poised to launch a massive offensive against militants.

For the sake of Manabilang and thousands of trapped civilians, civil society leaders are urging President Duterte to order an end to the airstrikes.

“These airstrikes have proved destructive to public infrastructure and private properties in our beloved city, properties that took families so much pains to establish,” said Maranao leader Samira Gutoc-Tomawis who resigned from the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) partly because of her protest against the airstrikes.

“Until now, the military cannot give us good assurance that the bombing runs spared civilian targets. Just look at what happened to the 10 soldiers who were killed by a so-called friendly fire,” Tomawis added.

“We have been calling for an end to the airstrikes since the early part of the crisis. We have been bothered by the thought of Marawi reduced to a collection of debris,” she said.

Early this year, President Duterte appointed Tomawis to the BTC, the body tasked to draft the charter of a future Bangsamoro autonomy with expanded powers than the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Tomawis is confident that Mr. Duterte will hear their plea, saying the President has “a deep humanitarian sense.”

“We cannot allow an Aleppo in Southeast Asia,” said Amerodin Cali, a development worker, drawing parallels on what happened to an ancient and historic Syrian city ravaged by a long-running war against IS militants.

More troops and war materiel were sent to Marawi last week.

“If the siege happened in, say, Cebu, will government do what it did to Marawi, so far?” asked Pendatun Disimban, convenor of Bangsamoro Solidarity Network.

In a statement issued last week, the leaders of 15 Lanao del Sur organizations asked the President to put greater premium on saving Marawi from being ruined in deciding on how to deal with the militants.

“Please spare Marawi from a similar fate, Mr. President. The best measure of the success of government’s security operation should be how civilians and their communities are being protected instead of being made collateral damage,” they said.

Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, Western Mindanao Command chief, said they were looking at some 2,300 civilians who still needed to be evacuated, holed up in homes and buildings in sections of the city that government forces continued to wrestle with militants.

Mopping up operations by the police and military are slowed down by snipers, officials said. —WITH A REPORT FROM JEOFFREY MAITEM