Troops of the Philippine Marines recovered millions of cash and checks inside a house that served as a strategic location for one of Maute group’s snipers in the ongoing Marawi siege.
Authorities were able to seize around P52 million in cash and P27 million worth of checks in one of the houses during the military’s clearing operation in the area.
Brig. Gen. Joselito Rolando Bautista, commander of Task Force Marawi commended the troops for their act of honesty which in a lot of ways discredited the terrorists absurd claims about the military.
“This is a proof that our soldiers do not engage in looting and the AFP will not tolerate such. This also breaks the propaganda of Maute/ASG and their sympathizers in peddling twisted data and disinformation accusing our soldiers of every conceivable crime,” said Bautista.
The house, as reported by TV5’s news website, is owned by a couple identified as Mariam Kouzbary Dimaocor and Rollie Dimatingkal Dimaocor, both are said to be deceased.
The recovered money and checks were turned-over for safekeeping of proper authorities until appropriate investigation is conducted and proper identification of owner is established.
Based on documents recovered, Mariam was also the owner of a construction firm named GM ROL-MAR Construction & Development while one of their sons is an engineer connected with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
The information was based on the documents gathered in the place such as NBI and Barangay clearances, receipts, and business letters.
Meantime, senator Panfilo Lacson doffed his hats off to the battle-weary Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) soldiers regarding the cash discovery.
“’The authorities should milk that cash recovery with all the valuable intelligence information that our troops may put into good use with possibly identifying the financiers of the Maute terrorists that attacked Marawi City and other co-conspirators,’’ said Lacson. (With a report from Mario B. Casayuran) (FRANCIS T. WAKEFIELD)