Embattled Philippine troops struggling to force out Islamist militants from a southern city raised the national flag for Independence Day on June 12, in a tearful ceremony dedicated to the scores killed during the conflict. / AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS
(Eagle News) — Despite intense fighting among government troops and local terrorists, the Philippine flag was hoisted in the city hall of Marawi on Monday, the day the nation celebrates its 119th year of independence.
As the flag was raised, an emotional Mayor Majul Usman Gandamra thanked all those who were instrumental in helping Marawi City “rise again.”
“Nais ko pong pasalamatan ang lahat ng aking mga kababayan na tumulong sa amin dito sa Marawi na bumangon muli,” he said.
He thanked the soldiers, and the Philippine National Police, some of whom have lost their lives in fighting the Maute terrorist group, which has launched offensives to try to carve out a province for the international terrorist group Islamic State.
“Other government workers, and other nongovernment organizations, foreign entities na tumulong, salamat,” Mandamra said.
Over the weekend, the United States said it was extending assistance to the Philippine troops on the ground.
The military said the US special forces were giving government troops “technical assistance.”
“This is dedicated to soldiers who offered their lives to implement our mission in Marawi city,” said Colonel Jose Maria Cuerpo, commander of an army brigade fighting in Marawi.
All military camps and government agencies were to fly their flags at half-mast on Tuesday in honor of the troops killed in Marawi, said military spokesperson Colonel Edgard Arevalo.
In the latest casualties, 13 Philippine Marines were killed on Friday in street-to-street battles.
Fighting in the city has left a total of 58 soldiers and police and around 20 civilians dead, the military said, estimating that almost 200 militants have been killed.
The last time the security forces sustained large numbers of deaths was in 2015, when 44 police commandos were killed in a botched attempt to capture a Malaysian Islamist militant in the same region.
“As you know, the target was to liberate Marawi today, June 12, but… you can see how complex the problem is and how many new developments there are,” Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano told reporters at the annual flag-raising ceremony in a Manila park.
On Sunday the region’s military chief, Lieutenant-General Carlito Galvez, told a news conference the fight would be “most difficult, deadly, bloody, and it will take days and months to clear up.”
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said a captured militant had told the military the IS chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had directly “incited” the gunmen to attack the city of 200,000.
Duterte skipped the Independence Day flag-raising in Manila on Monday as he was extremely tired after visiting wounded soldiers from Marawi the previous day, his spokesperson said. (with a report from Agence France Presse)
