DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao—Authorities raided Tuesday the residence of an alleged recruiter for a local terrorist group said to be responsible for the ongoing Marawi siege.
Municipal police director Chief Inspector Achmad Alibonga identified the house owner in Barangay Semba as Nasser Dilangalen, 55, a government employee.
Authorities had earlier arrested Dilangalen at his workplace. His place of detention has not been disclosed to his kin.
An investigator, who did not want to be named for lack of authority to speak to reporters, said an ongoing probe also centered on the alleged disappearance of Dilangalen’s two sons, who authorities believe have joined the Maute jihadists in Marawi.
On Tuesday, police said they recovered 40 mm live mortar ammunition, cellular phones and a cal.45 pistol with magazines.
Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II replaced the chairman of the panel of prosecutors handling the rebellion cases against the Maute group terrorists who attacked Marawi City.
Mangontawar Gubat will be replaced by Celso M. Sarsaba, deputy city prosecutor of Iligan City.
In a separate department order, Aguirre ordered five additional prosecutors–three from Cagayan de Oro City and two from Misamis Oriental—to help the current team.
On Tuesday, 12 suspected members of the Maute terrorist group who were arrested June 16 in a hospital in Pagadian City, underwent inquest proceedings for rebellion in Cagayan de Oro city.
Justice Undersecretary Erickson Balmes said originally 13 suspects would have to undergo the proceedings but one of them died in the hospital while undergoing treatment.
On Wednesday, an organization of local investors in Mindanao called on the government and the private sector to help rebuild Marawi City and heal the wounds of war when the siege is over.
At a news conference in Quezon City, Abdulgani Macatoman, Bangsa Moro Federal Business Council Inc. chairman, however, said he believed the Marawi battle would soon be over.
“Of the 96 barangays in Marawi, only four of them are under the control of the Maute-Islamic State. The way I see things are, the siege will end before the holy month of Ramadan ends,” he told reporters.
“Nothing is left. What happened to Marawi is too painful,” he said.
“We appeal to the government to provide the residents with available jobs to rebuild the place once reconstruction begins,” he said.
He called on the Duterte administration and the business sector to accelerate and intensify the rehabilitation, recovery and reconstruction of Marawi City, and address the possible outbreak of diseases brought about by the decomposing bodies of those killed in the battle. With Rio N. Araja