CHILDREN are being forced by the Maute terrorist group to bear arms and fight against government forces in the ongoing siege in Marawi City, the military said Monday.
Following accounts of civilians rescued from the war zone, Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla admitted that the military is reluctant to shoot at the children, mostly teenagers, being used as fighters by the Islamic State-inspired forces.
“We continuously get disturbing narratives from the escapees that children as well as hostages are being employed in the firefight and disturbing as it is, our troops are doing their best to avoid any casualty among these children that are being employed,” Padilla said.
“But if… they are armed… and are involved in the fighting, there is nothing much that we can do; similarly with the hostages who are being forced,” he added.
Hostages who refuse to fight for the rebels are shot and killed, Padilla added.
“When our soldier’s lives are at risk, they take appropriate measures to defend themselves, and that is allowable even by the Geneva Convention. So, there’s no question about that,” Padilla said.
If the situation permits, however, they will try to rescue a child caught inside the war zone, he added.
“Every time we have an opportunity to rescue a child or an individual who is being forced into the fight, we will do that and there have been many occasions in the past that we have done so,” he said.
“If we see it is a child who is wounded, we will help him. And we are not in a hurry to shoot at children even though they are armed. If we can shoot to disable, we will,” he added in Filipino.
As of Sunday, the number of civilians rescued remained at 1,723 while the number of terrorists killed stood at 379. Government casualties rose to 89.
Immigration officials at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, meanwhile, stopped seven travelers after learning that five of them carried the surname Maute.
The passengers namely—Ashary Maute, Yasser Maute, Abdulrhaman Maute, Al Nizar Maute, Abdulcahar Maute, Acmali Mawiyag and Cota Mawiyag—were about to leave the country through a Cebu Pacific Air flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia around 11 a.m. Monday when the authorities approached them at the Immigration lane in the departure area of Naia Terminal 3.
Naia Immigration-Port Operation Division chief Marc Red Marinas said agents of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines were investigating the suspected Maute group members.
Immigration eventually allowed three of the seven passengers to leave. The four others, however, were covered by arrest warrants issued by various courts.
Earlier, the military appealed to the public not to discriminate against people simply because they had the Maute surname.
Padilla said not everyone with the surname is related to the leaders of an Islamic State-inspired group that has been fighting with government troops in Marawi City for over a month.
Padilla urged individuals with the last name Maute to submit themselves to the National Bureau of Investigation and declare they are not part of the group. With Vito Barcelo