/ AFP / Noel Celis
(Eagle News) — Government security officials on Thursday said the war in Marawi was nearing its end, as the “enemy” continued to “weaken” and state troops gained the upper hand.
“Sa ngayon, we can see na weakening na ang kalaban because we already have the upperhand. Positions nila nakukuha na natin,” Lt. General Carlito Galvez, Western Mindanao Command chief said in a press briefing in Marawi.
He said the latest gain by the government troops was Dansalan College, which had served as a stronghold for Maute snipers and gunmen.
He noted that they attempted to recover the school from the enemy on June 22, and ended up achieving this in July.
Throughout the entire “campaign,” he said “more or less 10 soldiers” were killed.
“Sa kalaban sa baba, we were able to prevent reinforcements,” he added, noting that authorities were also trying to “shield off possible exits” of Maute terror group members and commanders, based on a directive from Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and the Department of the Interior and Local Government of which Catalino Cuy is officer in charge.
“Soon, malapit na,” Lorenzana, who was also in the briefing, told reporters when asked when the Marawi evacuees could return home.
The defense chief, however, refused to give a deadline for this, saying he had given deadlines for the end of the war in Marawi three times already, but all of these lapsed without it being ended.
He said, however, that “soon,” he would give his and General Eduardo Año’s recommendation to President Rodrigo Duterte about whether or not to ask for an extension of the imposition of martial law in Mindanao.
The firefight in Marawi began after members of the Maute group and other local militants rampaged through the city in a reported bid to carve out a province for the international terrorist group Islamic State.
Hundreds of civilians have been forced out of their homes, and are temporarily staying in evacuation centers, or with their relatives outside of the city.