Big portion of Marawi back to normal

The Armed Forces said yesterday that a big portion of Marawi City is back to normal almost one year after a siege by members of the Islamic State-linked Maute Group.

In an interview over radio station dzBB, Col. Romeo Brawner, spokesperson of the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Joint Task Force Ranao, said that almost all areas in Marawi is accessible by civilians, except the 24 barangays which is considered the most affected areas or Ground Zero.

“Right now the situation here in Marawi is peaceful and we have lots of kababayans who have already returned to their homes. We can say that a big portion of Marawi is back to normal,” Brawner said.

Brawner said civilians are still barred from returning to their homes in Ground Zero due to the possible presence of unexploded ordnance or bombs.

But residents were allowed to enter their barangays in Ground Zero from April 1 to May 10 to salvage their belongings that they can still use.

“We allowed them per barangay three days to salvage some of their belongings. This started on April 1 up to May 10 and we can say that almost all residents have seen their homes and now we are again closing the most affected areas so that the clearing operations of unexploded bombs can continue,” Brawner said. (Francis T. Wakefield)