Maranao women wait for their turn to be attended by volunteer doctors from the Kalinaw Mindanaw National Interfaith Humanitarian Mission at the Toril Compound evacuation center in Merila, Iligan City on Wednesday (14 June 2017). Thousands of Marawi City residents have sought refuge in Iligan, some 36 kms away, since skirmishes between government soldiers and the ISIS-inspired Maute Group erupted three weeks ago. MindaNews photo by Bobby Timonera
The University of the Philippines will sponsor a concert on June 21 for the benefit of Marawi City residents, most of whom have left their homes since fighting began between government soldiers and the Maute Group last May 23.
To be held at the GT-Toyota Asian Cultural Center at UP Diliman in Quezon City, it will be hosted by the Asian Center, the university’s more than 60-year-old unit for Asian and Philippine graduate studies.
“As hundreds of unarmed civilians have been killed, precious cultural heritage destroyed, lives left in limbo, hopes for survival still waiting for succor, UP has embarked on this project to raise funds for the immediate, no matter how limited, relief of the most wanting among the residents of Marawi City,” Asian Center said in a press statement.
The three-week battle has already displaced over 300,000 people in Marawi and neighboring areas, according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Disaster Response Operations Monitoring and Information (DSWD DROMIC) Report No. 36.
Musicians from the UP community – among them from the Asian Center, Institute of Islamic Studies, College of Music, College of Arts and Letters, College of Mass Communication, Muslim Students – have reportedly volunteered to perform.
The Asian Center said the artists will perform “timely pieces not for entertainment but for showcasing and affirming solidarity with the innocent victims now in dire need of food, water, medicines, clothing and the like.”
Tickets are available at the Asian Center, Institute of Islamic Studies and members of the UP Muslim Students Association and Wahdat Al-Asabiyyah. Contact the Asian Center for more details: +632-9203535 or 9818500 local 3580, email: tabangkatawhan@gmail.com.
