Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Tuesday admitted that 18 months will not be enough to rehabilitate war-torn Marawi City.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana gestures during a press conference held at the Malacañang on February 7, 2017. The government has declared an all-out war against the New People's Army following President Rodrigo Duterte's pronouncement, Lorenzana said. The president has earlier labeled the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front-New People's Army terrorists and has ordered the lifting of a unilateral ceasefire. (photo by Richard V. Viñas)

Lorenzana made the remark at the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) General Membership Meeting in Makati Shangri-la which he attended together with Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa.

Lorenzana told the audience that it will take some time before Marawi City can be rebuilt due to the destruction it sustained as a result of the more than two months of fighting.

He added that they are looking at the resolution of the conflict or rebellion in the city in a week or a month or so.

“So it will take more time. I think 18 months will not be enough to recover or rehabilitate Marawi City,” Lorenzana said.

“So we are looking at the resolution of the Marawi incident maybe a week, ah a month or so. Then after that we can again deal with some of the problems that are happening in some other parts of Mindanao like the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in central Mindanao and the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan and Sulu,” he added.

Lorenzana said just last Monday, an additional two soldiers were killed as a result of the intense fighting in Marawi City. About a dozen others were hurt.

Reports coming from the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Western Mindanao Command (AFP-WestMinCom) headquarters said a total of 109 government forces have already been killed in more than two months of fighting. An estimated 900 soldiers were hurt.

On the other hand, a total of 453 Maute Group terrorists were slain by the military.

Lorenzana said for some reason the Maranaos in Marawi City built their homes very sturdy, all concrete that is why it’s hard for government soldiers to clear buildings/houses still being occupied by the Maute.

“They have basements and they cannot be breached by the canons, the M203 grenade launchers. The M203 cannot breach those. They had to do it by hand. So the people there, our troops there, may mga maso na sila,” Lorenzana said.

“They cannot also get inside the doors of the houses because they are rigged with bombs, the windows as well. So they go through the walls, get inside and clear room by room every day. That’s what they are doing,” he said.

Lorenzana said the average clearing that soldiers can do each day is only about maybe 40 to 50 houses. He said there are still 600 more houses to be cleared.

Failure of Intelligence

Meanwhile, Lorenzana admitted that there was somewhat a failure of intelligence with regards to the ongoing rebellion in Marawi City.

“There are a lot of talks coming around that there was failure of intelligence.  Yeah, in a way it was,” Lorenzana said.

“I said when we were in Moscow when this thing blew up and I was asked by one of the media people there, was it a failure of intelligence? I said now, it was a failure to appreciate intelligence because for a long time, for the longest time we were reading in the website of the Isis in the Middle East that says “If you want to continue fighting after here in the Middle East, you go to Southern Philippines,”  Lorenzana said.

“So we know that, the president has warned us that the Isis is coming. Our neighboring countries Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore have also warned us that fighters are infiltrating through the southern boarders going into the southern Philippines,” he added.

Lorenzana said for some reason and for the longest time, the Armed Forces of the Philippines were in denial of this fact and when he assumed the position of Secretary of Defense, he was told there was no Isis in the Philippines.

“So we were keeping that stand until in November last year when we had this operation in Butig, Lanao del Sur against the Maute Group so then we would change our stance and said they are there, they are here,” Lorenzana said.

Lorenzana said that what happened in Marawi City is a lesson for the Defense Department.

“We failed to appreciate the looming problem because they were trying to infiltrate from the outside towards Marawi City. A lot of fireams, a lot of fighters, both foreign and local, when this Marawi incident blew up on May 23,” Lorenzana said.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Francis T. Wakefield

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