Manila: The Philippines government has started rushing relief to Marawi City residents, displaced by the fighting as security forces continue operations to dislodge Maute militants in the area.
Secretary Judy Taguiwalo said on Thursday that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has mobilised its assets and began to provide food and other items to families affected by the fighting in Marawi City.
On Wednesday evening, an outpouring of humanitarian compassion was witnessed as residents of Iligan City, an adjacent urban centre located some 35-40 kilometres away, offered water and high-protein nutrition such as boiled eggs to the tired and hungry refugees.
Taguiwalo said the DSWD, through its field offices in Mindanao, is giving away family food packs as well as non-food items to Marawi City residents fleeing the fighting. She also encouraged Filipinos to show care and compassion to the affected families, just like what residents in Lanao del Norte did as they gave free food and water to those who arrived in Iligan City on Wednesday evening, after a gruelling trek through traffic gridlocked roads from Marawi City.
“We all have the responsibility to help our fellow Filipinos. We are encouraging the public to show compassion by helping those who have been affected by this crisis, in any way that they can,” she said.
Groups also aired appeals that whenever possible, the donations for food are Halal since most of the evacuees are Muslims.
The evacuation in Marawi City as well as in Iligan City had also been designated by the government.
The fighting broke out on Tuesday afternoon after gunmen from the Maute, a group that professes allegiance to Daesh, went on a rampage in parts of the city after government forces attempted to serve a warrant for the arrest of some of their members as well as Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon who was rumoured to be in the area.
Gunmen wearing black shirts and their sympathisers seized government offices and freed more than a hundred inmates from the city jail including some of their members.
Three days after the situation started, atrocities carried out by the militant group against residents began to be uncovered.
The militants had burned down the Saint Mary Cathedral in Marawi City and held hostage a priest, Father Chito Suganob. During the initial hours of the siege, Maute gunmen also held hostage teachers holding a seminar at the Mindanao State University in the city as well as several hospital workers. A police official who was accompanying his wife to the hospital was shot and killed at a roadside checkpoint set up by the militants.
A report said seven people in a truck who were fleeing the area were executed. A footage by GMA Network news showed the victims lying on the ground lifeless with their hands tied behind their backs.
Military officials said the Maute group had already been confined in an area in the city and that air and ground operations continue against the militants.
As police and military operations continue, the government also strengthened security around dams and power distribution networks in Lanao del Sur which supplies electricity to a large part of the Mindanao island.
“We are pooling our resources and seeking assistance from the military and the police to normalise the security situation, protect our people and secure energy facilities affected by the fighting,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said.
Earlier, it was tweeded by the ABS-CBN news reportet that the Maute had seized the compound of the Lanao del Sur Electric Cooperative in the village of Gadungan in Marawi City.
