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Iligan, Philippines
Ten men from the same family vanished after jihadists invaded the Philippine city of Marawi a year ago -- each day since, their wives have prayed their bones do not lie in its devastated landscape.
The women have been told to accept their husbands were likely among the 1,200 killed in the five-month battle that flattened swathes of the city, but they refuse to move on until they know for sure.
"I am hoping he will come home. All of us are hoping they will return. Even if my family says I am crazy, I told them my husband will come back," Melgie Powao said of her spouse Victor.
One year after the battle, reconstruction work is due to begin and the authorities say jihadists are far from mounting another such attack.
Yet, the families of the scores still missing are the overlooked victims of the Philippines' deadliest confrontation with Islamists.
The fighting left behind hundreds of corpses, with more likely to be found in the conflict area which has yet to be completely cleared of unexploded bombs.
The Powao men -- fathers and brothers, cousins and uncles -- from neighbouring Iligan city were in Marawi for construction jobs when clashes with Islamic State-aligned fighters broke out on May 23 last year.
In the fighting that ensued, government airstrikes on Marawi and house-to-house fighting left neighbourhoods in ruins that have been compared to battlegrounds in Syria or Iraq.
Only one of the Powao group -- the eleventh man -- escaped and it was from him the wives learned that an airstrike may have killed some of them, while jihadists herded others into a van.
"Until I see their bodies, I won't believe they are dead," 31-year-old Alma Tome said of her husband Rowel and the others.
The Powaos are among 78 people officially listed as missing, though possibly hundreds more disappeared.
Some families were hesitant to file reports out of fear they could be targeted by authorities hunting for anyone with links to jihadists.
Many of Marawi's 200,000 residents fled their homes, including more than 10,000 people from the so-called"ground zero".
