YLARDE, JANELLA MAY D.

MARAWI SIEGE

Marawi City is the cultural center of the Maranao the “People of the Lake” the Islamized indigenous
group best known for their myths and legends, and sophisticated artworks such as woodcarving and
brassware. Marawi City is a beautiful area in Mindanao and promptly lost all its peace after the war.
Marawi siege or also known as the Marawi crisis, the armed conflict between the armed forces of the
Republic of the Philippines and pro-ISIS militants in Marawi, forcibly displaced 98 percent of the city's
entire population, as well as residents from neighboring municipalities, forced to leave due to severe
food shortages and/or restrictions on local economies. The Marawi assault came just months after
security forces attacked the mountain lair of Isnilon Hapi. More than 353,000 people have been
displaced by the Marawi war in May 2017. On May 23, 2017, militants affiliated with "Islamic State" (IS)
took control of Marawi, in a bid to establish a nationwide caliphate. Officially known as the Islamic City
of Marawi, it is the largest Muslim city in the mostly Catholic nation. Government troops were sent in
and five months of bloody urban warfare followed. On October 23, Philippine Defense Minister Delfin
Lorenzana declared there were no more "militants" in Marawi. But four years on, some of the relatives
and friends of those who went missing during the siege are still searching for closure. An estimated
1,200 people died during the battle. While most of these were armed extremists, Amnesty International
reported that the militants took civilians as hostages and carried out extrajudicial killings. A number of
civilians who were killed during the siege remain unidentified. The Philippine National Police (PNP)
Crime Lab has processed the remains of 470 people who died during the fighting. Of the 124 relatives
who submitted a DNA sample to detect a possible match, just four were able to match and identify the
remains of their missing loved one. PNP Colonel Ruel Vacaro last May said that the government needs
more relatives to submit DNA samples for possible matching with the remains in their database.
Additionally, identification of human remains in a disaster, especially a conflict-related one, is difficult
without a system, funds and forensic science, according to leading forensic pathology expert Raquel
Fortun. "We need a coordinated death investigation system for both day-to-day deaths and mass
casualty incidents. Without a system for connecting those reported missing to bodies recovered,
families are left to search on their own. There will be mistakes made and families may end up with
nothing," Fortun, who heads the Department of Pathology at the University of the Philippines, told DW.
IDPs still require humanitarian aid nearly a year after the siege, whether they are residing in evacuation
centers, homes, or temporary shelters. Even though they have received food supplies, Pacalundo told
the about 80 representatives of donor and humanitarian organizations, INGOs, NGOs, and CSOs present
at the meeting that "a lot of areas are still without relief." 80% of the evacuees are stationed at home,
according to the forum. In evacuation facilities, internally displaced people (IDP) get the majority of the
aid.