Deaths and destruction hound hometown of Maute terrorists

LANAO DEL SUR --- So immense is the destruction caused by the religious adventurism in Butig town by the Maute terror group that people displaced by its latest attacks there have nowhere to return to.The Maute group, founded by siblings Omar and Abdullah Maute and also known as the Dawlah Islamiya, emerged in 2013 in the municipality of Butig in Lanao del Sur and started sowing havoc in the area last year.More than 3,000 ethnic Maranaw families in low-income farming enclaves were forced to abandon their homes when Maute gunmen stormed the town proper of Butig last month and hoisted in strategic spots there the black flag of the Independent State of Iraq and Syria.Dozens of houses and school buildings the militants used as shelters as they lay siege were destroyed in ensuing encounters with soldiers dispatched to drive them away.The provincial government of Lanao del Sur and the Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Response Team (HEART) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao had both extended relief services to evacuees.The HEART alone distributed more than five tons of relief supplies to evacuation sites in a series of operations led by ARMM Vice Gov. Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman, himself a Maranaw from Bayang town in Lanao del Sur. Officials said fighting in Butig has ended but it is still too difficult to work out the return of evacuees due to uncertain security in conflict-torn areas. How can we return there? Our houses were destroyed. Where do we stay? We are in a very bad situation, a 45-year-old Maranaw corn farmer, Barodi, said on Wednesday.Local officials had earlier urged Malacañang to deploy a battalion of soldiers in the municipality to prevent militants from coming back to plunder villages.Preachers in the ranks of the Maute group have eloquently been using poverty and underdevelopment as pitch for stoking public hatred to the government.The group has also been espousing animosity towards non-Muslims and enforces a Taliban-style justice system, which local folks detest for being primitive and barbaric.The recent conflict in Butig the Maute group instigated also caused the suspension of more than P50 million worth of infrastructure projects of the executive department of ARMM.The town is a beneficiary of ARMM road and other infrastructure projects needed to improve the agricultural productivity of the local communities, relying mainly on farming for subsistence.Engineer Don Loong, public works secretary ARMM, said on Wednesday he is optimistic the situation in Butig would soon return to normal.Classes in many schools in the municipality have been suspended since members of the Maute group attacked in late November.Many school buildings were destroyed in the ensuing firefights between the militants and Army personnel dispatched to drive them away.Guns have been silent in Butig for three weeks now, but the task of rebuilding the town still could not take off due to many constraints, among them the possibility that the beleaguered militants can regroup and return to terrorize local residents again.