By: Ali G. Macabalang
MARAWI CITY – Military and police officials are discouraging irate Maranaos not to take up arms and avenge their losses, both in lives and properties, against terror groups Maute and Abu Sayyaf.
Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. said they have received reports from local officials about tension heating up between indignant Maranaos and the Maute group.
“I am appealing to victims of the Marawi conflict to remain sober and refrain from putting the law into their hands.
We have duly constituted authorities there to deal with them,” said Galvez.
Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, police director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, reportedly directed the 39 municipal police chiefs in Lanao del Sur to guard against possible violent actions by angry Maranaw folk against Maute clan members.
Sindac also confirmed reports about mounting animosity of evacuees to arrested couple Cayamora and Farhana Maute and their kin in Lanao del Sur’s Marantao and Butig towns.
“We don’t want any outbreak of violence between angry Maranaw people and this family. We have to let law take its proper course,” said Sindac.
