AFP sets new target to end Marawi crisis

Published October 9, 2017, 12:05 AM

By Francis T. Wakefield

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff General Eduardo Año expressed optimism that they could finish off the Marawi crisis before the end of October.

In an interview, Año said they have a timeline on when they can finish the conflict but he rather would not announce it.

“Latest instruction (to military commanders)? It is to finish the Marawi crisis,” Año said. “We will finish the Marawi within this month,” he added.

But while he said earlier that he was confident that they could finish off the Maute Group before his retirement from the military service on October 26, Año said he does not want to anchor his latest pronouncement on that.

“It (ending the crisis) should not be dependent or anchored on my retirement. We will finish it because that is the time to finish it; and that is calculated based on our projection of being able to rescue the remaining hostages, neutralizing the last terrorist and minimizing casulaties to our troops and civilians,” he added.

P15-B standby fund

Meanwhile, Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto has called on lawmakers to provide Malacañang a standby fund of P15 billion which it can use for the rehabilitation of war-torn Marawi City.

This would be on top of the P10-billion that is already in the P3.767-trilion national budget bill. He said the additional P15 billion can be included in the unprogrammed appropriations portion of the budget bill.

Recto said parking the P15 billion in the unprogrammed appropriations would cancel the need for Congress to pass a supplemental budget in the event that the P10 billion is not enough, or has been fully spent before the end of next year. (With a report from Hannah L. Torregoza)

Tags: Eduardo Año, Manila Bulletin, Marawi city, Marawi crisis, Maute Group

Rey David

AFP Acquires State-of-the-Art UAVs

It is encouraging to note that the AFP will finally acquire a highly capable state-of-the-art unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that will have a “game-changing” impact on the war against terror, especially for military operations similar to the ongoing battle for Marawi.

Israel, the world pioneer in UAVs (yes, even before the American started using them), is now selling us their latest and most capable UAV, which is priceless for our many military operations and missions. The latest news on the acquisition of this system shows (https://www. update. ph/2017/08/ph-to-acquire-4-israeli-unmanned-aerial-vehicles/19847; http://maxdefense. blogspot. com/2017/08/ philippine-air-force-to-procure-elbits.html) past operational tragedies like the Mamasapano Massacre and the costly operations (in life and materiel) in Basilan and Sulu can now be avoided by our war planners.
- sam nicolas
  
  the strengthening of our military has been long overdue. it is only through this government and our president that we are seeing the right attention deserved by our troops. we should continue supporting our military and our president in his dedication to make sure that our military is able and prepared
- myca delos santos
  
  this is very good news to our troops and our military. israel is very capable in selling us military equipment and they have been known to have good military capabilities. we should applaud our president in his real concern and real dedication to improve our military capabilities
- michael timbreza
  
  there is no room for corruption in this administration and as a result our president is now upgrading the capabilities of our military. if there is no corruption then we have enough money and resources to upgrade our capabilities. let us support our president in his dedication to our military and his goal of upgrading their capabilities.,,
- trisha hipolito
  
  a capable military will make our country earn the respect of our neighbors. the upgrade of our military is an important first step for us to gain the respect of our neighbor countries. our president knows this and he is not only saying or making promises to the military but also making actions in making sure that they get the right equipment.,,
sam nicolas

our soldiers are taking their lives on the line whenever they go to the field. it is only proper that we give them the right equipment to support their work. it is only in this administration that we are seeing the full support of our government to our troops. we should applaud this government and president duterte in his honest dedication to our military//
myca delos santos

preparing our military for all the threats in our country is one of the best initiatives of our president and his administration. we should support our president in his dedication to fully upgrade our military. he knows what is best for our military and is doing everything in his control to make sure that the military will be ready to protect us/.
michael timbreza

protecting our military should be the primary concern of our government and this is indeed what our president is doing. he is like a good father who is protecting our capabilities in the military so we can react more quickly and properly in case of any threat. we should support our president in his goal of strengthening our military
trisha hipolito

we have seen during the marawi incident that our military needs to be upgraded to cope up with the threats to our country. let us support our president for his dedication in making our military more capable in dealing with all the threats to our country. this president clearly is working for the benefit of our military