RETIRED college teacher Khadijah Poingan could barely sleep for two days last week, as government troops clashed with members of the Maute group, who terrorized Marawi City.
Exchanges of gunfire and bomb explosions kept her awake inside her residence at the Mindanao State University (MSU) campus in the city on May 24 and May 25.
On the third day, Poingan and her family bid goodbye to the city.
“This is my first time to experience a situation like this,” she said in a phone interview.
Poingan said she witnessed a secessionist uprising when she was still a student at MSU in October 1972, but the bloodshed then was miniscule compared to Maute’s attempt to control the city last May 23.
The local terrorists are affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which proclaimed a new Islamist caliphate.
“Ngayon talagang hindi ko maiintindihan. Maraming nasunog na houses and then ang daming namatay (I don’t understand what’s happening. Many houses were burned and many were killed),” Poingan said.
Return home
The 65-year-old former MSU educator now shares a small place with her 14 family members in Cagayan de Oro City. The landlord charged them P30,000 for a 15-day stay.
Last May 23, Poingan and other family members were attending the funeral of the brother of her son’s wife in another town. The next day, they headed back to Marawi City on board a sports utility vehicle driven by Poingan’s nephew.
Poingan received several text messages about rifle-slinging men in black shirts roaming and waving black ISIS flags in the city.
Poingan said their vehicle was hailed by men, who fit their description, when they neared the MSU campus. The men were respectful to her and they were allowed to proceed.
When she got home, Poingan said she turned on the radio for news. She heard that the city’s oldest private school had been set afire.
Poingan said she hopes the siege will end so she and her family can return. She heard that thieves have been pillaging abandoned houses.
She said they still observe Ramadan, strengthening their faith with prayers and fasting.
“We will ask God to make our city peaceful and to give all of us some peace of mind,” she said in Tagalog.