MORO groups are calling for the lifting of martial law in Mindanao as residents in Marawi have expressed their desire to return to their homes after President Rodrigo Duterte declared the besieged city as “liberated.”
The President’s declaration came following the deaths of terrorist leaders, Abu Sayyaf’s Isnilon Hapilon and Maute Group’s Omarkhayam Maute.
Both groups and other belligerent factions in Mindanao have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
In a joint statement released to the media on Thursday, October 19, Tindeg Ranao and Suara Bangsamoro are demanding for the government to finally terminate the martial law in Mindanao, stop the military the offensives and the pullout of state forces in Marawi after Duterte made the pronouncement.
Suara Bangsamoro said it finds Duterte’s announcement of a “liberated” Marawi ironic because in place of “terrorists,” the Armed Forces of the Philippines aided by foreign troops including the United States troops “are still in control of Marawi City because of the continuing Martial Law declaration and due to their role as architects of Marawi City’s rehabilitation.”
At the same time, evacuees who want return to Marawi “are afraid of military reprisal should they decide to file cases or hold responsible the government for the destruction of their communities and their more than four month-long displacement due to intensive military airstrike which became the response to suppress the Dawlah Islamiya (Maute Group),” Tindeg Ranao said.
The Moro groups have maintained that the government should be held accountable for the death and displacement of Marawi resident and the destruction of their community due to the aerial assaults carried out the by military.
They said the decisions and actions of the current administration undermine efforts for resolving conflict in Moro areas and push more Moro people to fight against fascist policies.
“(We) hope that calls for independent investigation to reports of human rights violations committed by the military to evacuees will not be glossed over as the government (announced) victory over the terrorist group,” they said.
Zia Alonto Adiong, spokesperson of the Lanao del Sur Provincial Crisis Management Committee, said in a statement that with the declaration of the President, Marawi and its people can now “focus on rebuilding, rehabilitating not only the physical infrastructures but more importantly, the social fabric of our community in the hope that we can truly have a peaceful, developed and a caring society in Marawi and its neighboring communities.”
Adiong said the deaths of Hapilon and Maute provides Marawi “an opportunity not only to win the war against violent extremism, but also the rare privilege of winning the peace by addressing the root causes of the conflict in Mindanao.”