Nina FRANCIS T. WAKEFIELD at ARGYLL CYRUS B. GEDUCOS
Hindi itinanggi ni Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla na may posibilidad na magpatuloy pa ang bakbakan sa Marawi City hanggang sa mga susunod na araw.
“There is a possiblity. What I'm saying is that it is complex. It is not that easy,” sinabi ni Padilla nang usisain tungkol sa isang buwan nang labanan sa Marawi, na sinalakay at kinubkob ng Maute Group nitong Mayo 23.
“It's easy to say why are we not finish yet, why are we not done with this yet. Well, if you want to know and understand then come with us to the battlefield so that you will know the complexity of the battlefield,” pag-amin ni Padilla.
DepEd, sinabing walang korapsyon sa pamumuno ni Sonny Angara
Kuwento niya, nito lamang weekend ay natagpuan ng mga tauhan ng Philippine Marines ang isang improvised explosive device (IED) sa isinasagawa nilang clearing operations.
“Just to elaboate on this, they found an IED so they tried to deal with that by trying to explode it remotely. When it was remotely exploded, at least 10 to 12 other explosions occured up to the other house, its like Judas belt,” sabi ni Padilla.
“So, the sympathetic layout of the booby trap, IEDs, that's how complex the situation is. If you enter there carelessly and you triggered the bomb, the whole building might collapsed on you. People should understand that,” paliwanag pa niya.
Sa kabila ng sinabi ng tagapagsalita ng militar, kumpiyansa naman si Major General Carlito Galvez, commander ng Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom) ng AFP, na hindi na aabutin ng 30 araw ang paglipol nila sa Maute sa Marawi.
Ang ika-31 araw ng bakbakan kahapon ay nataon din sa kalahati ng idineklarang 60-araw na batas militar at suspensiyon ng writ of habeas corpus sa Mindanao.
“Sa amin po, nakikita po namin na hindi na po ito (bakbakan) aabot ng 30 days,” sinabi ni Galvez sa panayam sa kanya ng Brigada News FM kahapon ng umaga.
“Talagang nakikita namin na kayang-kaya na namin na—makuha na namin lahat, ma-clear na namin ang Marawi, ma-rescue na namin ang hostages. We [may] even recommend the lifting [of martial law] kung kinakailangan.
“Hopefully we can finish this at the earliest possible time. Nakikita po namin, malapit na po ito,” ani Galvez.
