President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday led the distribution of transition shelters to displaced residents of Marawi, appealing to the people of the war-torn city never to let their place fall into the hands of terrorists again.

“I beg of you not to allow them to enter because it will just cause massive destruction and the loss of lives, including the innocent ones who will be helpless in case of war,” Duterte told Marawi residents in a speech in Barangay Sagonsongan, the site of the first set of transition shelters in Marawi.

The President had in the past blamed Marawi residents for letting armed men penetrate the city until the situation was already out of control.

Government troops were then deployed to the city in a bid to arrest Islamic State Southeast Asia “emir” Isnilon Hapilon, but it was too late as hundreds of ISIS sympathizers had already holed up in the area, in what the government said was an attempt by the international terror network to establish a hub in the south in the face of successive losses in the Syria and Iraq.

What ensued was a siege that lasted for five months, leaving over 1,100 people dead, some 350,000 residents displaced, and parts of the city in tatters.

Duterte turned over 250 certificates of acceptance and occupancy to displaced Marawi residents, part of the government’s efforts to bring back normalcy to the lives of the affected people of the ravaged city.

The government is planning to develop the so-called “ground zero” of the Marawi siege from scratch as it aims to bring back the glory of the once-bustling Islamic city.

The transition site in Barangay Sagonsongan, considered the first of five sites that the government plans to build transition shelters on, are expected to house 1,149 units, National Housing Authority General Manager Marcelino Escalada Jr. said. It is located 3.57 kilometers from ground zero.

The government aims to build a total of 6,400 temporary shelters and 2,500 permanent shelters, which will be given to the poorest and most war-affected Marawi residents.