MARAWI CITY – Yung mga kasama namin, hindi marunong magsalita ng Maranao. So kapag nalaman ‘yon ng kalaban…sasaktan sila…kaya sama-sama kami… We decided to stay with the Christians,” said police officer PO1 Lumna B. Lidasan.

Lumna, together with nine other people were able to escape the conflict area here in the city. The group has been trapped in Brgy. Moncado Cadingilan for 21 days.

He is with four colleagues, three of which are Maranao Muslim, and five Christians who are all construction workers.

Lumna reiterated that when the clash erupted, their barangay captain invited them to hide inside his house, and they were asked to stay in the basement of the house. Few days later, their barangay captain together with his family were able to leave the place but Lumna the rest of the group were left behind.

The Peace Corridor volunteers have been communicating with Lumna since 10 June 2017.

The peace volunteers – called the Joint Coordination, Monitoring, and Assistance Center (JCMAC) provided guidance to the civilians on how they can safely escape the conflict area.

The JCMAC also facilitated the coordination with the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police regarding their exact location in the conflict area, this is to spare them from military offensives against the Maute Group.

“May contact kami kay Col. Demesa, sinabihan niya kami kailangan na namin umalis kasi mag-ooperate na ang mga militar laban sa Maute dun sa lugar namin,” Lumna said.

Colonel Cesar de Mesa is the officer-in-charge for the JCMAC government side.

The Peace Corridor was set up by the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as a response to the ongoing conflict in the city. It facilitates the safe retrieval of trapped civilians and allow relief operations.

Rodel, one of the construction workers, expressed joy and relief after being able to safely leave the place, “Ang saya-saya. Akala ng pamilya namin patay na kami,” he said.

Lumna said that he is glad that everybody was able to escape, “Syempre sobrang saya namin. Sobrang saya namin. Hindi kami nabawasan, kumpleto kami.”

PO3 Ricky Alawi was crying and still can’t believe that they were able to leave, “Second life namin ito,” he said. Ricky is one of the police officers who was trapped inside the conflict area.

Despite of the difficulties in bringing the trapped civilians into a safer place, the JCMAC was able to rescue 179 trapped women, men, children and elderly during its first attempt in 4 June 2017.

On its second attempt on Thursday, it was able to bring 38 more civilians to safety.

From 11-13 June 2017, the JCMAC were able retrieve 19 more people – making it a total of 236 saved people. ###