MANILA – Malacañang on Tuesday defended the administration and the military from criticism that they did not act with dispatch after receiving reports of deployment of terrorists in Marawi City as early as April.

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the government has always been on top of situation and the military’s move to arrest top Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon prevented the Islamist militants’ original plan to seize Marawi at the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

“We need to take note that the early action of the military and government has actually preempted their plans to capture the city. We need to credit that,” Abella said in a press briefing in Malacañang.

“Apparently, were it not for the early and decisive action of the military, it could have been worse,” he added.

Abella said this after the consolidated comment of the Office of the Solicitor General to the petitions against President Rodrigo Duterte’s martial law declaration in Mindanao revealed that the Armed Forces got intelligence information in April that the Maute Group had deployed its followers to Marawi and nearby areas.

Abella said, the intelligence information had to be vetted first.

Abella also defended the government’s top security officials who went to Russia with Duterte despite their supposed knowledge of the Maute Group’s movements.

“They were all on top of the situation. They were monitoring everything. Let’s give them credit,” he said.

“The action on the ground actually preempted…the plans. Let’s give them credit…From our point of view, we were able to stop something which could have been much, much worse.”

Duterte placed Mindanao under martial law after the Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups, backed by foreign terrorists, laid siege to Marawi City on May 23.

The clashes erupted as government troops were attempting to arrest Hapilon, considered the Islamic State’s point person in Southeast Asia.

Around 1,000 residents are believed to be still trapped in the crisis-hit city. Government efforts to flush out terrorists hiding in key spots in the city have been hampered by the presence of the civilians trapped inside their homes.

Abella said that as of Monday, 26 civilians and 58 government troops had been killed. At least 202 suspected terrorists are believed to have died since clashes erupted on May 23, according to the military.