NO CAUSE FOR CONCERN. Solicitor General Jose Calida says law abiding citizens have nothing to fear of the Martial Law imposed by President Rodrigo Duterte in Mindanao. Behind him are Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella and designated spokesperson for the implementation of Martial Law, Brigadier General Resituto Padilla in a press conference in Davao City on Friday, May 26. (Paulo C. Rizal/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Of the 96 villages in Marawi City, only four villages remain “problematic” areas and are now the focused of military operations, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said Wednesday during Wednesday’s “Mindanao Hour.”
Abella said that government security forces “continue to gain important foothold into the inner areas of terrorist-held areas.”
He also noted that enemy resistance “continues to dwindle and enemy-held areas are getting smaller as troops advance.”
“Critical sectors in peripheral areas are now being cleared. Compounding development remains to be the use of civilians as human shields and madrasahs and mosques as staging areas and safe havens,” the Palace spokesperson said.
Reacting on the reports that the government troops will bomb even the mosques, General Eduardo Año, AFP chief of staff, said that “(T)he AFP respects places of worship and other cultural and heritage sites.”
AFP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla clarified further, saying that “Armed Forces will not bomb — and I would like to read this — the mosque in the area.”
“We categorically state that we have not bombed and will not bomb mosque in Marawi. The Armed Forces leadership is firm in its commitment to use other options that would flush out this Maute/Daesh-inspired group from these places of worship that they have converted into machine gun and sniper nest, defensive position, and arsenals for their war activities,” Padilla said.
The AFP spokesperson added that “the AFP assures our Muslim brothers and Islamic faithfuls that it will not go down to the level of these terrorists who desecrate places of worship to lure government security forces into responding to their violent activities in a similar manner.” (davaotoday.com)
