Partylist solon wants House to commend AFP, PNP for Marawi liberation

DAY OF CELEBRATION Waving a flag, soldiers aboard an armored personnel carrier celebrate their victory amid gunfire and explosions in Marawi City. AFP file photo

A partylist lawmaker urged on Wednesday the House of Representative to officially commend the men and women of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) for their valiant efforts to uphold peace and security in the besieged Marawi City, especially after the neutralization of top terrorist leaders Isnilon Hapilon and Omarkhayam Maute.

In a statement, Kabayan partylist Rep. Ron Salo urged his colleagues to adopt House Resolution 1083, which he filed as early as June, when only 58 government troops had been killed in action in Marawi and 110 had been wounded.

Last weekend, the military said 162 soldiers and policemen have been killed, with more than a thousand wounded in the fierce battle that reduced a once thriving city into rubbles.

“Let me once again urge my colleagues in the House of Representatives, as I expressed in House Resolution 1083 that I filed in June, to express our collective support and commendation to the men and women of the AFP and the Philippine National Police in their valiant efforts and heroic deeds in order to uphold peace, order, and security in Marawi City and the whole Island of Mindanao,” Salo said.

The military took down Hapilon, a longtime Abu Sayyaf leader and appointed emir of the Islamic State (IS) in Southeast Asia, and Maute, who pledged allegiance to IS, in a pre-dawn firefight on Monday.

The deaths of the top terrorists prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to declare the liberation of Marawi but the military is more cautious in claiming the milestone as firefights continue with Maute holdouts.

READ: Marawi ‘liberated’ from terrorists but battle drags on

Salo also said his partylist will be helping in the rebuilding of Marawi by adopting a school and build “one or two classrooms” for grade school students. /jpv

RELATED STORY

After liberation, rehab next for Marawi—Palace