Lorenzana admits gov’t clueless how thousands of Maute fighters entered Marawi

From GMA News Online (Sep 26): Lorenzana admits gov’t clueless how thousands of Maute fighters entered Marawi

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana admitted Tuesday that they still do not know how the Maute fighters and foreign terrorists laid siege to Marawi City and continue to battle government forces til now.

“The Marawi is a class by itself because we have not yet found out how they got in, a lot of them coming from other places, from outside the Philippines, from Malaysia, Indonesia, from Jolo, Sulu, Basilan and other places in Mindanao,” Lorenzana said during a press conference on the recently concluded Tempest Wind drill.

He said he did not expect the Maute members to be big in numbers.

“I estimated at the start of the conflict that there [were] about 250 terrorists there. It turned out there may be more close to a thousand of them that are being killed every day as if the number of people fighting us does not stop,” he said.

Nonetheless, the defense chief assured the public that the government is continuously addressing the ISIS problem and terrorism in the country as it is now doing in Marawi.

He said they are going to intensify their intelligence effort with assistance from the United States and other countries.

“So we are going to intensify our intelligence efforts, we are trying to upgrade our technical capabilities with the help of the US and other countries [that] are capable of those technical capabilities,” he said.

“I think we have no choice but to really solve this problem because if we will not, then it can happen in other places other than Marawi,” he added.

For his part, US Ambassador Sung Kim said his government will continue to support the efforts of the Philippines in fighting terrorism.

“I agree with the Secretary, it is obvious that we [are facing a] real threat and now the Armed Forces of the Philippines has been trying hard to contain the situation. We will continue to support each other’s capabilities,” he said.

The Marawi conflict started on May 23 when government troops tried to arrest Abu Sayyaf and now Maute-ISIS leader Isnilon Hapilon. The clashes have since resulted to deaths on both sides, including civilians.

As of September 25, a total of 707 Maute-ISIS fighters and 152 government troops have been killed. A total of 47 civilians have died while 1,730 have been rescued.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/627258/lorenzana-admits-gov-t-clueless-how-thousands-of-maute-fighters-entered-marawi/story/