Military engineers ready to be sent for Marawi rehabilitation: Abella

June 26, 2017

The Armed Forces of the Philippines has prepared a team, which could immediately be deployed for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of devastated Marawi City as soon as it is cleared of the Islamic State-linked Maute Terror Group, Malacanang said on Monday. In its "Mindanao Hour", Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said AFP chief of staff General Eduardo Ano reiterated that the military is prepared to embark on other key tasks, such as rehabilitation and reconstruction of Marawi. "It has prepared the Combat Engineering Brigades from the Army and the Navy for immediate deployment as soon as the clearing operations are completed," he said. The government troopers have been pursuing the Maute group in Marawi for the 35 th day. Out of 96 villages, Abella said portions of four villages "remain as problematic." President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said at least P20 billion would be earmarked to reconstruct Marawi. As of 7 pm of June 25, Abella said the number of fatalities in Marawi rose to 387, which includes 27 civilians, 70 government troopers, and 290 terrorists. During the eight-hour humanitarian pause on Sunday to observe Eid'l Fitr or Feast of Ramadan, six civilians were rescued and one body of a civilian victim was recovered from Marawi. (Celerina Monte/DMS)