Manila: Security agents prevented President Rodrigo Duterte from going to a southern Philippine city where security forces are still battling Daesh-inspired Filipino-Muslim terror groups, sources said, adding the conflict will end in a week and the president can talk about it in his second state of the nation address (Sona) on July 27.
Duterte was prevented from marking the end of his first year in office in Marawi City on Friday and over the weekend, a palace official said on Saturday. He did not give an explanation.
In a speech during the celebration of the 120th founding anniversary of the Presidential Security Group on Wednesday, Duterte said: “I want to go to Marawi City. “It’s too late in the day to be hesitating to go there.”
“If I have no luck (and I die there), I’ll be brought back in a cargo aboard the C-130 (plane). We have a vice-president (as my successor). So there should be no problem (if something happens to me),” Duterte joked at the time.
When Duterte failed to go to Marawi City as scheduled on June 8, cabinet officials said it was due to bad weather.
Duterte said: “If it (Marawi crisis) will end tomorrow, I’d be the happiest man in this nation.”
Giving a fearless forecast, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief General Eduardo Ano said: “The Marawi crisis could end in a week’s time.”
The military has called on the remaining terrorists to surrender, General Ano said, adding the military will maintain its presence as other government agencies rebuild Marawi City.
Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenza also said, “This is likely to end on or before the Sona on July 27.” The event is held before a joint congressional session in suburban Quezon City.
At the Eid Al Fitr celebration in Malacanang, Manila’s presidential palace last Monday, Duterte gave this promise: “I will see to it that Marawi will rise as a prosperous city.”
In response, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Board (PAGCOR) released 20 billion pesos (Dh4.166 billion) to fund Task Force Rise Marawi, which is composed of various government agencies, to rebuild the war-torn city, PAGCOR chief Andrea Domingo told Gulf News.
But task force members could not yet go inside Marawi City, so rehabilitation efforts will start with a tent city for displaced residents. “The project to put up more permanent facilities in Marawi City will be guided by the latest and very efficient urban planning measures,” Public Works Secretary Mark Villar also told Gulf News.
The conflict in Marawi started on May 23, when government troops failed to arrest Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon in an apartment in Marawi City where he was being elected as head of Daesh branch in Mindanao.
Apart from the Abu Sayyaf, members of Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Maute Group, Ansarul Khilafah Philippines, and foreign militants jointly attacked Marawi City. Death toll has reached 429, including 303 terrorists, 82 military and police personnel, and 44 civilians. Displaced people reached 403,052, said Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo.
Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao to prevent terror groups from attacking other provinces in the south and in nearby areas of Indonesia and Malaysia.
