Nearly a month after intense fighting broke out between Philippines troops and the Maute Group, also known as Daesh-Lanao, a regional affiliate of Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), there are no signs of the violence tapering off. Till date, more than 290 people have been killed in Marawi. This includes insurgents, civilian and soldiers.
There have been conflicting reports about the damage caused by the fighting that has now completed four weeks. Independent reports say that close to 40 per cent of Marawi City may have been destroyed as troops close in on the Maute Group. Among the worst-hit is the Marawi City Centre, which used to be the thriving commercial and cultural hub of the city. The damage to schools, institutions, private and civilian properties and markets is huge. Ever since President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in the Mindanao Island for 60 days, more than 200 towns and villages have been put under curfew.
The immediate effect has been widespread mayhem, with hundreds of thousands feeling to safety. More than 246,000 individuals affected by the clashes are now considered internally displaced persons. Some of them are now living in places as far as Baguio, Manila and Quezon City. As Marawi experiences a complete breakdown of civic services, hundreds of cases of diarrhoea have been reported among the nearly 40,000 people huddled in emergency shelters set up in community halls, gymnasiums and schools.
Authorities need to urgently deploy doctors in the area to provide medical assistance to these besieged, trapped people. While the army is still struggling to wrest back control of the area from the deeply entrenched insurgents, it must make sure that the violence doesn’t have a spillover effect and human rights and rule of law are upheld.
