RECOVERED Marines found peso bills worth P52 million in the vault of a house when they swept through a village in Marawi City.—CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
ZAMBOANGA CITY—Marines on Monday found bundles of banknotes and checks worth about P79 million inside a house in Marawi City, where government forces are battling Islamic State-inspired local terrorists.
Brig. Gen. Custodio Parcon, commander of Task Group Marawi, told the Inquirer that troops found the banknotes and checks during a clearing operation in a house that served as a sniper’s nest for the terrorists on Saklot Street in Barangay Saduc.
Parcon said the platoon led by 1Lt. Frederick Savellano of the 37th Marine Company found P52.2 million in banknotes and “stale checks worth P23,776,386.71” inside a vault in the house.
The soldiers also recovered an M16 rifle from the house.
Businesswoman’s house
Parcon said the house was owned by Mariam Kouzbary Batara Dimaocor, owner of GM ROL-MAR Construction and Development.
But it was unclear whether Dimaocor had links to the terrorists from the Maute group, Parcon said.
“We cannot tell her relationship with the Maute. It is still under investigation,” he said.
Marine Maj. Rowan Rimas, the operations officer, said the recovery of the stash indicated that the terrorists were “running because the government troops are pressing in and focusing on destroying them.”
The Philippine National Police said the banknotes and checks would be used as evidence in cases that would be brought against the terrorists.
“That’s recovered evidence right now. It’s going to be investigated and later on can be used in a criminal case against the suspects involved here,” said Chief Supt. Dionardo Carlos, spokesperson for the PNP.
Carlos said the recovery of the banknotes and checks by government forces was a blow to the terrorists because it meant “less resources” for them.
Carlos said that besides providing reinforcements to the military, the PNP was also conducting an investigation in preparation for the filing of charges against those responsible for the terrorist siege of Marawi.
Praise for the Marines
Brig. Gen. Rolando Bautista, commander of Task Force Marawi, commended the Marines for their “honesty,” adding that their action showed that government troops were not looting homes and businesses in Marawi.
“In contrast, the Maute [and Abu Sayyaf] vandalized, looted and burned school buildings, hospital rooms, houses and destroyed many properties in Marawi,” Bautista said.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson also commended the Marines for the recovery as he urged the government to identify and pursue the financiers of the Maute group.
“I take my hat off to our soldiers,” Lacson said in a statement.
He said the authorities should check the background of the owner of the house where the banknotes and checks were found.
He noted, however, that the banknotes and checks could be “loot taken by the Maute attackers from the banks in Marawi City.”
US help
Meanwhile, the military said US troops have been helping Filipino soldiers in the operation against the Maute group in Marawi.
But Lt. Col. Jo-Ar Herrera, spokesperson for the Army’s 1st Infantry Division, told reporters that the Americans were not engaged in actual ground operations but only providing technical assistance to Filipino troops.
“Some of them visited here for technical assistance,” Herrera said.
He did not say whether the Americans were providing drones to locate the exact positions of the Maute and Abu Sayyaf fighters.
Herrera said the enemy force had weakened.
“Most of them have fled and blended with civilians as evacuees. They left their weapons in houses where they had been hiding,” he said.
“This is an indication that they are already weak,” he added. —WITH REPORTS FROM PHILIP C. TUBEZA, CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO