Deputy commander of the Joint Task Group Ranao Col. Romeo Brawner
MARAWI CITY, Philippines — Government soldiers recovered 27 more bodies at the main battle site here since Monday.
Col. Romeo Brawner, deputy commander of the Joint Task Group Ranao, said there were 22 bodies recovered last Monday, October 9, while another five were recovered Tuesday, October 10.
He said the bodies were recovered from several buildings and structures inside the main battle area which the militants were using as their forward defensive position.
“The five bodies were recovered yesterday while the Management of the Dead and the Missing (MDM) sub-committee of the Retrieval Committee of Task Force Bangon Marawi is finishing their retrieval of the 22 others,” Brawner said.
The military did not say whether or not the bodies were those of the Maute Group fighters or trapped civilians but it said the new batch of bodies brought the death toll to 811 on the side of the Maute Group, 160 on the side of government forces, and 47 civilians.
Among those killed recently on the side of government is a junior officer in the Army’s Special Forces, First Lieutenant Harold Mark Juan, who was killed by an enemy sniper while leading an assault on Monday.
Danilo Capin, owner of Capin Funeral Homes, said the SOCO’s medico legal will arrive Friday to start with the forensic examination to determine the identities of the cadavers. His funeral home takes charge in storing the bodies while being processed by the Philippine National Police (PNP) – Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO),
“Didto na dad-on ang mga patay sa Maqbara, didto na i-process. Dili na dad-on sa atong morgue sa Iligan kay baho naman gud kaayo. Mireklamo na akong mga silingan (The bodies will be brought to Maqbara public cemetery for processing. They will not be brought to Iligan anymore because the bodies already stink and my neighbors are complaining),” Capin said.
The military said more bodies are expected to be retrieved from the main battle area.(davaotoday.com)
