DEFENSE Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Thursday assured the Maute members planning to surrender that they would not be killed if they did.
“Of course, we will not kill people who are surrendering. Our soldiers are not murderers,” Lorenzana told reporters in Subic.
He said Lanao del Sur Rep. Mauyag Papandayan, chairman of the House committee on Muslim affairs, told him during the Marawi briefing that there were Maute members who wanted to surrender but asked that they not be killed.
“They said they wanted to surrender. I said no problem,” Lorenzana said, adding they will receive anybody who wants to surrender and they will let the court decide on their fate.
“People who surrender, we will take them in. The court will take care of their cases, but they will not be killed if they surrender,” he said.
He reiterated his belief that the Marawi siege would end by Sunday after government troops recovered the White Mosque.
“Kahapon hindi pa nakuha ang White Mosque dahil malakas ang resistance. Ngayon I got a text na nakuha na so konti na lang. I think by Sunday tapos na ito. Konti na lang just clearing up operations,” Lorenzana said.
On Sunday, Col. Romeo Brawner Jr., deputy commander of the Joint Task Force Marawi, said they had received information that some Maute members had indicated their willingness to surrender.
Brawner said they received feelers from Maute members after the Joint Task Force Marawi put up speakers blasting out the procedures on how members of the Maute group could surrender.
He said those who would surrender, whether combatants or those caught in the crossfire, would undergo medical and psychiatric testing.