Camalia Baunto keeps a desperate vigil for news of her husband, trapped just a short walk away in brutal fighting between Islamist militants and government forces that has ruined Marawi City in Lanao del Sur.

He is among hundreds of civilians pinned down in pockets of Marawi that are controlled by the militants, and they are facing an onslaught of deadly threats including bombs, sniper fire, hunger and a lack of medical care.

Some have made a two-kilometer sprint to safety during the three weeks of conflict, risking being shot at by the militants, and Camalia waits every day at a secured government building nearby hoping her husband will run into her arms.

‘’It’s really painful for me. I’m always scared he’ll be hit,’’ Camalia, 43, told AFP on Wednesday in a soft voice as she held back tears and anxiously fixed her hijab.

“He is too traumatized to escape. Even us on the outside are afraid because you don’t know which direction the bullets are coming from.’’

The fighting began on May 23 when hundreds of militants rampaged through Marawi, the most important Muslim city in the mainly Catholic Philippines, waving the black flags of the Islamic State (IS) group.

They have since withstood a relentless, US-backed bombing campaign and intense ground battles with Filipino troops that have left large parts of Marawi resembling devastated cities in war-torn Syria and Iraq.

One of the keys to their survival has been the trapped civilians, who are acting as human shields in stopping the military from completely destroying the small areas controlled by the gunmen.

Even so, entire streets are now just full of rubble and the military’s bombs have not always hit their targets – with one strike going astray and killing 10 soldiers.

Most of the city’s 200,000 residents fled during the early stages of the fighting. Authorities say anywhere between 300 and 1,700 civilians remain trapped in the militant-held areas.

Camalia’s family was visiting a nearby town when the clashes began but her husband, Nixon, returned to check on their home and their hardware store.

Since then Nixon has been able to call her occasionally and report terrifying snippets of survival.

‘’He hasn’t eaten. He hasn’t slept. A bomb here, an explosion there. He is getting weak,’’ she said at the provincial government office’s entrance, from where she could see military helicopters bomb militant-controlled areas.

EATING BOXES

Twenty-six civilians have been confirmed killed in the fighting.

But local officials and aid workers believe dozens more have likely died, with their corpses rotting in the militant-held areas, and that conditions are growing increasingly dire as food runs out.

‘’Some residents are eating (cardboard) boxes. They just dip it in water to soften the material and eat it,’’ provincial crisis management committee spokesman Zia Alonto Adiong told AFP, recounting testimonies from people who escaped.

‘’It’s heartbreaking. It’s almost unbelievable to think that people are living this way.’’

The military has also reported that the militants are using some civilians as slaves, making them cook and carry munitions.

LIKE RATS

One survivor who escaped on Tuesday, housepainter Nick Andeleg, 26, a Christian, said he and his colleagues decided to flee after coming to the realization that waiting any longer would certainly lead to death.

‘’We thought we were the only ones left trapped. We felt it was better to try escaping. If we died outside our house, at least we tried to save ourselves,’’ Andeleg told AFP as he recounted watching bombs destroy houses around him.

‘’We hid anywhere we could. We’d go under all kinds of furniture: beds, cabinets, in the toilet. We were like rats hiding under anything we could find.’’

DETERMINED TO WAIT

Camalia, who has left her six children with her in-laws outside of Marawi, said she was determined to wait for her husband.

She appeared tormented by the wait though, mumbling to herself while sitting alone sometimes, and asking unanswerable questions to others at the government building.

‘’When is this crisis going to end? When will this chaos be over?’’

LOSING A PROVIDER

Meanwhile in North Cotabato, a poor and elderly couple, whose son, a soldier, was killed in action in Marawi City, is bravely trying to overcome grief and take solace in the fact that their son is regarded a hero who sacrificed his life in defense of his country from terrorists.

But even before government and the Filipino people rained praises on Army Scout Ranger Pfc. Elmer Bueno for his bravery and dedication, his mother Flordeliza, 70, and father Wilfredo, 78, said he has been the family’s hero for a long time.

“We lost a provider who had been subsidizing us through each day,” said Wilfredo in Visayan. “Our son was our hero and he succumbed to a heroic fate in government service,” he added.

INDUSTRIOUS MOM

It was learned that while the fallen soldier spent for the needs of his parents and relatives, his mother Flordeliza also washed clothes and cleaned kitchens of neighbors in Alamada, North Cotabato, to help shoulder family expenses, particularly medicines.

“Elmer did not know about the part-time work of our mother. It was kept from him. My mom did not want to cause him too much burden,” Elesa, the fallen soldier’s elder sister, told reporters also in Visayan.

“I do not know how my parents can overcome the foreseeable hardships they surely will experience soon with Elmer gone. Life would be so hard for them,” Elesa added.

Elesa’s two other brothers, Eduardo and Ernesto, are farmers whose harvests are barely enough to feed their impoverished families.

“I also have my family to feed, also a poor family. Elmer was a good provider to our parents whose needs we can hardly provide,” Elesa said.

LOCAL EXEC’S ASSISTANCE

Elesa said she is thankful to North Cotabato Vice Gov. Shirlyn Macasarte-Villanueva for extending assistance to her parents when she learned that Bueno’s remains had been transported to Alamada.

BRAVERY IN ACTION

Bueno was fatally hit by a sniper when he and fellow Scout Rangers were trying to rescue personnel of the 5th Mechanized Battalion from inside their V-150 and Simba combat vehicles damaged by rockets and grenades.

The military vehicles were attacked by terrorists while maneuvering through enemy positions on May 23, the first day of the hostilities in Marawi City.

NORTH COTABATO’S HEROES

Four other soldiers from this province, who belonged to other Army units, also perished in encounters in Marawi City.

The families of the other fallen North Cotabato soldiers and Bueno’s parents were promised cash assistance by North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Talino-Mendoza.

The other fallen soldiers are: 1Lt. John Carl Morales and Sgt. Marlon Baldovino, both of Kabacan, Sgt. Eric Coros of Libungan and Cpl. Angelo Estores, Jr. of Pikit.

Vice Gov. Villanueva said their provincial board would pass a resolution citing the fallen soldier-constituents for heroism and condoling with their respective families.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by AFP and Ali Macabalang

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