VERA Files
This post is fake. Don’t believe it.
![IMG20190523111807[1].jpg](https://verafiles.org/wp-content/uploads/4815/58/IMG201905231118071-1.jpg)
MARAWI CITY – Barefoot children screamed in glee as they played tag on the one-lane road. The adults huddled in one side, exchanging bits of gossip and looking on curiously at local government officials who came to visit their community in Sagonsogan Village.
These fake reports trended on social media this week. Don’t believe them.
Photojournalist Luis Liwanag captures Marawi City today, on the 30th day of the crisis.
In his re-appearance speech five days after he was not seen in public, President Duterte gave an explanation for the military’s “mis-appreciation” of intelligence report that has been blamed for the difficulty being encountered by government forces in the ongoing war against the Islamist militants in Marawi city.
The announcement of AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Año that by today, as we celebrate our country’s 119th anniversary of independence, the Philippine flag will be flying in Marawi City, tells us of the challenges in keeping our country safe while maintaining a vibrant democracy. That a part of our country is not in the control of government shows how serious the challenges are.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre probably thought the public would buy his tale linking opposition lawmakers to the Maute terror group which is one of the reasons for the current turmoil in Marawi City.
The Maute Group is now an international terrorist organization, thanks to President Rodrigo Duterte and his declaration of martial law in Mindanao.
President Rodrigo Duterte has called the clashes in Marawi City between the Maute group and government forces an act of rebellion, which is one of the justifications for the imposition of Martial Law and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus under the Constitution.
The son of a leader of the Moro National Liberation Front and a Mindanao lawmaker has been in Malaysian custody for almost two months now in connection with the Sept. 2 Davao City bombing, multiple police, military and diplomatic sources said.