MANILA - Seated behind a glass display of iPhones and Samsung Galaxies that she's selling at bargain prices, Emz Alawi fixes the antenna on her cellphone that also doubles as a TV, hoping for news updates on relatives in Marawi City who are rebuilding after 5 months of conflict.

Many of the hundreds of merchants or "tiangge" owners at the Greenhills Shopping Center belong to Marawi's Maranao tribe. Displaced by decades of religious strife, they reestablished themselves in the capital, selling gadgets, pearls and perfume.

The shopping frenzy goes down a few notches during lunch hour as the "tiangge" owners gather at a nearby mosque to pray for peace in the south, so that they will one day return home, and for brisk sales.

"Masakit din kasi siyempre minsan gusto mo umuwi... Lalo na safety ang naapektuhan," Alawi, a mother of 5, told ABS-CBN News.

(It's painful, sometimes you just want to go home. Especially since safety is affected.)

Marawi-born Aya Ampua, who sells floral and knitted blouses, said she couldn't help but worry for her relatives back home while she tends to her store.

"Masakit din siyempre saka lalo na kapag naiisip mo na nahihirapan sila doon kasi ‘yung business nila hindi na maganda, di na kagaya ng dati na maganda ‘yung takbo ng buhay dun," the 30-year-old mother of 2 told ABS-CBN News.

(It's painful because I worry about them, their sufferings, their business is not as good unlike before. Their lives changed.)

Surrounded by rich Chinese enclaves and Catholic schools, the bargain center has also come to represent the diversity of the Philippines, a nation of 100 million people where 8 in 10 people are Catholic.

Sarah Khalid set up a temporary stall near the mall entrance to sell lucky charms for the Chinese New Year. She told ABS-CBN she was saving up for a trip home, most likely during the long holiday for the Roman Catholic Holy Week in the summer.

"Lalo na ngayon malapit na Ramadan namin. Malungkot ngayon doon kasi ‘yun talaga ang uwian namin," she said, referring to the Islamic holy month of fasting.

(Our Ramadan is also forthcoming. It is sad there now, but that's home.)

MARANAO REFUGE LIVES

The Greenhills Shopping Center, the crown jewel of property developer Ortigas and Co, is undergoing a major overhaul. Old buildings from as far back as the 1970s have started to give way to condominium towers and malls.

But there will be a spot reserved for the "tiangge," which gives Greenhills its distinct appeal to shoppers, said Ortigas and Co president and CEO Jaime Ysmael.

"Most, if not all of them, came from Marawi City," Ysmael told ANC's The Boss. The area is an "incubator" for small businessmen, he said.

"Maranaos are known for being traders. They found a place in Greenhills that actually enabled them to flourish," he said.

The "tiangge" stalls are currently housed in a spartan building with exposed steel beams and fluorescent lights. The cellphone row can get so crowded on weekends that catching a signal can be difficult.

"Our intent is to move the current tenants including the tiangge component into a new home with better facilities and much more modern and comfortable environment for all our shoppers to enjoy," Ysmael said.

The future Greenhills will include a residential enclave, a hotel and lots of open spaces, he said.

LAND OF PROMISE

President Rodrigo Duterte, the first head of state from Mindanao, has promised to end the decades-long conflict in the south. Analysts said the fighting has left $325 million in mineral deposits untapped.

Duterte has engaged the two main Muslim rebel groups and the declaration of an expanded autonomous region or Bangsamoro is part of discussions to rewrite the Constitution.

The Marawi siege was led by the Maute group, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria. Duterte declared Marawi's "liberation" from extremists last October and rebuilding is underway.

Mohmina Sultan, a pearl seller for 20 years, kept stores in Greenhills and Marawi, until fighting broke in late May.

Sultan escaped from Marawi, but both her store and home there were destroyed. From her "tiangge" in Greenhills, she keeps updated with her siblings and aunts through Facebook.

The fighting traumatized her children, Sultan said, but she still hopes to one day return home.

"Sana buksan na ho ang Marawi," she told ABS-CBN News.

(I hope Marawi will be reopened).

"Para masilip namin ang Marawi, ang pinakamaganda sa probinsiya. Ang gaganda ng mga mosque doon," she said.

(We want to catch a glimpse of Marawi, a beautiful province with beautiful mosques.)

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