After a week of fighting, relief goods reach Butig residents

LANAO DEL SUR - After seven days of fighting, affected civilians of Butig, Lanao del Sur finally received the first batch of relief goods from the government.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanano (ARMM) Vice Governor Haroun Alrashid Lucman came to Butig to distribute rice, canned goods, and noodles to some 1,500 residents of Butig who were affected by the ongoing military operation against terrorist Maute group.

Doctors from the Department of Health also conducted a medical mission, creating different lanes for the elderly to have their blood pressures taken and for children to be weighed and checked for illnesses.

An elderly resident of Butig, Lanao del Sur gets her blood pressure checked during a medical mission conducted by the regional government. This is their first taste of government aid since the military offensive started a week ago.

A photo posted by Chiara Zambrano (@chiarazambrano) on Jun 2, 2016 at 3:05am PDT

Mayla Ampatua, a resident of Poblacion Butig, said she was fortunate her house was away from the area of operation, spared from the bombs and exchange of fire. But their luck ends there.

In her arms, Mayla was cradling her youngest daughter, 5-year-old Hanimah, asleep amid people lining up for food and medicine.

OV-10 bombers raining bombs, rockets, machine guns on hideouts of ISIS-supporting Maute Group (Butig, Lanao del Sur) pic.twitter.com/pqCgO77Xvk

— Chiara Zambrano (@chiarazambrano) May 29, 2016

Mayla said Hanimah would get fever every time government forces conducted bomb runs over the nearby barangays of Poctan and Ragayan, the strongholds of the Maute group. The explosions, Mayla said, were too much for her little one to take.

Mortars aimed at the Maute Group in Butig, Lanao del Sur. The group has admitted support for ISIS. @ABSCBNNews pic.twitter.com/YIvnb6kIYc

— Chiara Zambrano (@chiarazambrano) May 29, 2016

She said, while they did not need to evacuate, they ran out of food because her husband could no longer go out to the rice fields for fear of being mistaken for a terrorist. As Mayla lined up to have her daughter weighed and checked for fever, she called on both the military and the Maute group to end the violence and let them return to their normal lives.

Meanwhile, at the queue for food packs, Kasmeir Ampatua, Mayla's sister, asked the people not to think that all residents of Butig are involved with terrorism or the Maute group. Most of them, she says, are peace-loving people who want nothing more than a quiet life with food on their plates.

Mayla, Kasmeir and her family are among the more than 1,500 internally displaced and affected persons in Butig, according to the latest monitoring of the Department of Health.

Sympathizers of the Maute group have been calling for support from outside Butig. However, Vice Governor Lucman said, as a Muslim himself, he sees the actions of the Maute group violate the true teachings of Islam. He said the beheadings and bombings done by the Maute group were against the teachings of the Quran, contrary to what the Maute group has been preaching.

Found in Ragayan ES, Butig:
"Patayin niyo sila (kafir/Kristiyano). Hulihin & abangan sila sa daan ayon kay Allah." pic.twitter.com/RZ0ECQT3Xq

— Chiara Zambrano (@chiarazambrano) June 2, 2016

Lucman said, given this, he believes the military offensive against the Maute group was a legitimate operation. However, Lucman also called on the military to end the offensive as soon as possible, because he did not think a military solution was apt to address the problem of recruitment into groups like the Maute group.

The gunner of an armored personnel carrier stays alert as his armored personnel carrier crosses Butig, Lanao del Sur pic.twitter.com/8HalyyglVL

— Chiara Zambrano (@chiarazambrano) May 31, 2016

Aside from food supplies being cut off, some schools in Butig have been used temporarily as military detachments, only until schools starts, they clarify. The Ragayan Elementary School has been pulverized by aerial bomb drops and firing from tanks. But the military said this particular school has served as a hideout for the Maute Group, seeing that Ragayan is one of their two strongholds. Inside the school, IEDs have been seen, as well as writings on the blackboard calling on their believers to kill all Christians "as what Allah wants."

When the AFP seized control of Ragayan Elementary School in Butig, Lanao del Sur, they found it rigged with IEDs. pic.twitter.com/9Ue0jtDTxh

— Chiara Zambrano (@chiarazambrano) June 2, 2016

While firepower has dwindled significantly, with many Maute group members having been killed or managing to escape, the military continues their offensive, with their goal of destabilizing the Maute group enough to prevent them from conducting further atrocities.