Davao residents are bracing for a long weekend after Malacañang declared August 18 a non-working holiday.
Army Capt. Jo-ann Petinglay, talks to doctors and nurses of Amai Pakpak Medical Center in Marawi City on Tuesday, Aug 1. The hospital workers are divided into five groups and will go on duty for three-day shifting to attend to patients, mostly evacuees, who are confined in the hospital as the ongoing military operations against the Daesh-inspired Maute group enters in its third month Tuesday, Aug. 1. (Divina M. Suson/davaotoday.com)
Children spend time playing in a covered court turned evacuation center in the town of Saguiaran, Lanao del Sur on Friday, July 28, 2017. They are the children of the 370 families staying inside the evacuation center for more than two months now. (Paulo C. Rizal/davaotoday.com)
In the second wave of the National Interfaith Humanitarian Mission (NHIM), the internally displaced persons from Marawi City have opened to facilitators on their experience as the conflict there has stretched for more than two months, said a civil society organizer.
When the fighting broke out two months ago, many of Marawi’s residents refused to give up their homes, certain that the military would be able to handle the Maute — a previously small, ragtag band of extremists who pledged allegiance to the ISIS by occupying an abandoned municipal hall in nearby Butig town.
A humanitarian mission that was barred entry to Marawi despite securing the necessary permits a day earlier, criticized what they call as “arbitrariness” of military rule in the city.
Despite the setback in the peace negotiations, church leaders are optimistic the government and the Communists will go back to the negotiating table as it urged the present administration to be relentless in its endeavor to put an end to the decades-long conflict in Mindanao and not be swayed by those who are trying to obstruct the peace negotiations.
Authorities on Monday said they have no idea as to the whereabouts of hostage priest Fr. Chito Suganob, as the battle in Marawi enters its 70th day.
In an evacuation center in the town of Saguiaran, Lanao del Sur, a visiting Catholic nun talks to a Muslim evacuee to better understand the conflict and its effects on the residents. The Marawi crisis have caused damages to lives and property. But it also fostered stronger relationships between Muslims and Christians who showed compassion and solidarity to each other. (Paulo C. Rizal/davaotoday.com)
Filipino boxing champ and Senator, Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao visited government troops here as the fighting between the military and ISIS-backed Maute group drags on for more than two months on Friday, July 29.
