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DPA
Manila
The Philippine government on Wednesday appealed for more patience with efforts to restore war-torn Marawi City, one year after Islamic State-allied militants launched their worst attack in South-East Asia there.
An estimated 230,000 residents were still displaced from their homes in Marawi, 800 kilometres south of Manila, and some adjacent towns, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The centre of the only Islamic city in the predominantly Catholic Philippines is still in ruins, with houses, commercial buildings and government structures reduced to rubble in the 250-hectare area.
"The government is doing its best to restore as much as possible," said Jesus Dureza, a senior presidential aide.
"But we'd like to call on all those who had gone through suffering to please be patient," he added."There is no magic formula here. There is no reconstruction that will happen overnight."
On May 23 last year, hundreds of militants launched a siege in Marawi after government security forces attempted to arrest the head of the Islamic State terrorist network in South-East Asia.
Isnilon Hapilon, who also headed the notorious Abu Sayyaf group in the Philippines, was being protected by a local terrorist group called Maute in Marawi. He and the leaders of the Maute group were later killed in the five-month fighting.
They were among the more than 1,200 people, including at least 47 civilians, who were killed in the Marawi conflict.
Dureza said that beyond the physical reconstruction of Marawi,~he called for all sectors to work together for"social healing, restoring back the moral fibre that was all destroyed because of conflict."
The ICRC noted that the displaced residents were struggling with poor living conditions in makeshift camps, where risk of illness was high and food donations have dwindled.
"Efforts to rehabilitate Marawi and assist its people must be stepped up to reduce the suffering of thousands of those who were displaced over the past year," said Pascal Porchet, head of the ICRC in the Philippines.
"The efforts are there, but these must match the growing needs of those who face prolonged displacement and are close to despair," he added.
Amanudin Hadjinab, a 31-year-old father of four young children, said he and his family have been moving from one evacuation centre to another since they were forced to flee their house in the main battle zone when the fighting broke out.
"There is nothing much I can do from here," he said, as he played with his children in a gym-turned-evacuation-centre in the nearby town of Balo-i."I get depressed seeing my family this way."
