THE 17,274 evacuees from Marawi City that sought refuge in eastern Mindanao have been cleared from any involvement with terrorist groups, the military said on Friday, June 30.
Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom) deputy commander and martial law spokesperson Gilbert Gapay said the evacuees who sought refuge in different key cities and municipalities like Davao City, Cagayan de Oro City, and General Santos City in Eastern Mindanao underwent profiling in coordination with Muslim community leaders to ensure that none of them are members of the Maute Terror Group.
He also said that for over a month since the implementation of martial law in Mindanao, they conducted 17,494 checkpoint operations both fixed and mobile checkpoints, curfews in over 129 cities and municipalities and 9,742 security and visibility patrols.
With this, they have apprehended 31 violators at checkpoints wherein 15 firearms have been confiscated since permit to carry firearms have been suspended under Martial Law and seized 11 illegal drugs.
Apart from securing the land area, they are also beefing up maritime security.
Authorities initiated 54 maritime law enforcement operations while enhancing their six border crossing stations.
Gapay said that more than 5,900 village intelligence nets have been established as community information networks to locate possible hideouts of enemies and quick information gathering.
They facilitated the transport and delivery of relief assistance to Iligan and various evacuations centers in Lanao del Sur.
"To sustain the prevailing security situations, our efforts are now geared in enhancing the existing security measures to the following innovations," Gapay said.
He noted that they recently activated the Task Force Oro in Cagayan de Oro City and initiated a number of information drive to curb violent extremism in Eastmincom with Civil Society Organizations (CSO) and the academe.
"After 38 days of martial Law, Eastmincom has continuously prevented the spillover or spread of the Marawi crisis in our area of responsibility. We have effectively shielded Eastmincom from terrorist attacks ad deterred any diversionary, retaliatory or sympathetic attacks by the local terrorist groups here in Eastern Mindanao," he said.
Gapay said that Eastmincom remained to be peaceful and secured, attributing to the stringent measures enforced on the ground and vigilance of the public as he urged Mindanaoans anew to be alert and immediately report to authorities in case there are suspicious personalities and activities in their areas.
The Martial Law Special Action Group is continuously operating to run after, track, apprehend those supporters included in the arrest order under Martial Law.
Marawi crisis update
Presidential Spokesperson Secretary Ernesto Abella said that the number of civilians killed by terrorists remained at 44 while 1,730 civilians were rescued by government troops and 303 terrorists were killed on the ground. The recovered firearms from terrorists reached to 382.
On the government side, 82 were killed in action. Abella said the military officers still continue with their military offensives in four remaining barangays that remain problematic as clearing operations and rescue of trapped civilians are ongoing.
Government officials have also been conducting joint meetings on how to bring back the old Marawi City considering the damages brought by the attack of the Maute Group.
"Interagency meetings and consultations preparatory to the rehabilitation, reconstruction and rebuilding of Marawi when hostilities end have begun and ongoing," Abella said.