October 23, 2017. Six years ago today, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenza announced the termination of all combat operations in Marawi City, exactly five months from May 23, 2017, Day 1 of the Marawi Siege, and six days after President Rodrigo Duterte declared Marawi “liberated from the terrorist influence.”
Lorenzana made the announcement at the 11th ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting in Clark, Pampanga.
His statement:
After 154 days of the Siege of Marawi by the Daesh-inspired Maute ISIS-Group or after a week since the Commander in Chief’s declaration of the Liberation of Marawi, we now announce the termination of all combat operations in Marawi.
The Philippine security forces, aided by its government and massive support of the Filipino people, have nipped the budding terrorism infrastructure and defeated terrorism in the Philippines.
In crushing thus far the most serious attempt to export violent extremism and radicalism in the Philippines and in the region, we have contributed to preventing its spread in Asia and gave our share of maintaining global peace, stability and security.
While we submit that these tactical and strategic gains will not annihilate the ideology completely, we declare that this achievement is clear manifestation of how our regional cooperation can lead to a decisive advance against the proliferation of terrorism in this part of the world.
We’d like to thank the nations that helped us – China, Thailand, United States, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and Singapore.
We hope that this operational achievement in Marawi in Philippines will be the catalyst that shall bring to the fore future cooperations and partnerships not only against terrorism but also those that shall defeat other regional and global security threats.
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