Two years ago, thousands of residents were forced to leave their homes after the military and Daesh-inspired militants fought a five-month bloody war.
The residents are living in temporary shelters outside Marawi after their houses were reduced to rubble.
Many have fled to other cities to start new lives.
Elin Anisha Guro, head of the Mindanao State University library, said one of the major casualties of the Marawi siege is their time-honored close family ties.
She said compounds or big houses—designed to accommodate a big family, even entire clans—were among the houses destroyed by the fighting.
“Sometimes a big house have big rooms that is divided into smaller rooms where the family members also stay,” Guro said.
Norhaisah Radja-alam, 36, who used to run a sari-sari store to feed her seven children, said she missed talking to relatives in the family compound.
Radji-Alam, who now has a small eatery in Sagonsongan, said she also depended on her relatives to watch her children every time she goes out to buy goods for her store.
“I now feel the hardship taking care of my children alone without the help of my relatives,” she said.
Fr. Teresito Soganub, who was hostaged for five months by the ISIS gunmen who took over Marawi, said family clans are all-too important in a Maranao life.
Soganub, who spent 23 years as a priest of the Prelature of St. Mary in Marawi City, said Maranaos involved their relatives in every aspect of their celebration.
“They have big pots where everyone helps in the cooking. The family clan is in their culture,” the priest said.
