(Eagle News)– The military is eyeing to liberate Marawi City on Independence Day.
“Rest assured, our soldiers are doing their part, they’re doing their best and are continuing on with this effort on the ground to facilitate the liberation of Marawi hopefully by Monday,” Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla Jr. said during the Mindanao Hour briefing on Friday.
“The chief of staff made the announcement hoping that Monday we can freely wave our flags in every corner of Marawi. And we are working feverishly to do that… That will be the liberation of Marawi if we are able to successfully accomplish our mission by that day, then that will be the liberation of Marawi, in effect,” the military spokesperson added.
Padilla reported that Maute forces are holed up in only three barangays in Marawi.
Padilla also noted there had been indications that the enemy forces were beginning to wane.
“The volume of fire coming from the enemy side, they are not as much as they were before. There are areas that so much enemy activity was monitored, but now seems to have dwindled, and sniper fire has been very selective, to name a few,” he said.