MANILA - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), through officer-in-charge Catalino Cuy, to provide manpower, food, and other resources needed in securing arrested members of local terror group Maute group.

In his letter to Cuy, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said the military needs the assistance of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), an attached agency of the DILG, for the proper administration and management of the arrested individuals.

The Supreme Court (SC), on June 6, ordered the apprehended individuals' detention at Camp Edilberto Evangelista, headquarters of the Army's 4th Infantry Division, in Cagayan de Oro City, and directed the military to put in place security measures.

Aguirre pointed out the military lacked the needed funds for the purpose.

"[M]ay we request for the BJMP, through your office, to provide the adequate manpower, food provisions and other related resources for the apprehended members of the Maute group and other lawless elements sympathizing to their cause inside Camp Evangelista, Patag, Cagayan de Oro City," Aguirre's letter stated.

The attacks on Marawi by the Maute group and other Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-inspired local terror groups prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to declare martial law in Mindanao and suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus on May 23.

The battle for control of the war-torn city entered its 20th day on Monday.