THE Armed Forces of the Philippines on Sunday observed a day of silence in tribute to the soldiers who died fighting the terrorists in Marawi City, Malacañang said Sunday.
On Independence Day, we are ever hopeful that the broad masses will join us in our fight against martial law as it is once again reintroduced and repackaged into the government's counter-terrorism effort when it has been used in the past weeks as a front for human rights abuses by the military inside and out of Marawi City.
"This is dedicated to soldiers who offered their lives to implement our mission in Marawi City", said Col. Jose Maria Cuerpo, commander of an army brigade fighting in Marawi.
"It's noncombat assistance", military spokesman Brig Gen Restituto Padilla said by phone, citing a Philippine government policy that bars foreign troops from local combat. "They are just providing technical support", military spokesman Lt Col Jo-Ar Herrera said.
Fighting in the city has left a total of 58 soldiers and police and more than 20 civilians dead, the military said, estimating that nearly 200 militants have been killed. Herrera also said there are "strong indications" that Omarkhayam and Madie Maute, two leaders of the Marawi attack, were killed in separate operations.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the city, parts of which were reduced to rubble by fighting and government airstrikes in an attempt to dislodge the rebels.
Maute's husband, Cayamora, was arrested Tuesday at a police checkpoint in the southern city of Davao.
Herrera said the military was "validating" reports that the two Maute brothers who founded the group had been killed.
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"To our Muslim brothers there, we want to tell them to stop their meaningless fight because we are all Muslims", Vice Provincial Governor Mamintal Adiong Jr. told the gathering.
Duterte, who declared martial law on Mindanao - an island the size of South Korea - after the Islamist fighters overran Marawi, said that under martial law he has authority over the defense department.
"We want to coordinate very well with Indonesia and Malaysia so they won't also suffer in the hands of extremists", he said.
At least 200 militants remain in a corner of the town.
Maute joined forces with Isnilon Hapilon, who was a year ago proclaimed by Islamic State as its Southeast Asia "emir". Since the beginning of his term, the Philippine president was relentless in his tirade against the USA, particularly against former President Barack Obama. President Barack Obama criticized Duterte's alleged actions, only for the Philippines president himself to dub him a "son of a w***e".
Officials at a regional security conference in Singapore last weekend voiced concern over the rising threat from Islamic fighters in Southeast Asia, home to about 15 percent of the world's 1.57 billion Muslims.
It said in a statement on Saturday it was providing Philippine forces with security assistance and training in the areas of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
Information for this article was contributed by Todd Pitman, Jim Gomez and Aaron Favila of The Associated Press; by Ian Sayson, Andreo Calonzo and Anna Edgerton of Bloomberg News; and by Felipe Villamor of The New York Times.
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