Duterte honors Marawi’s fallen soldiers, cops with monument at Libingan ng mga Bayani

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday inaugurated the monument that was built in honor of the soldiers and policemen who fought and died in the Marawi siege in 2017.

Duterte unveiled the Marawi Heroes Memorial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City.

Joining the President, who also laid a wreath at the monument, in the event were Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and former Armed Forces chief and now Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Carlito Galvez Jr.

Galvez played a leadership role in the government's successful bid to retake Marawi from ISIS-inspired Maute rebels as chief of the AFP's Western Mindanao Command.

Funded by a P12-million donation from the Tabang Malasakit Foundation Inc., the memorial features a pylon and murals portraying the heroism of troops.

Government troops and the Maute rebels engaged in a five-month gun battle from May 2017 that killed more than a thousand people and left the once bustling city of Marawi in ruins.

Duterte had imposed martial law in the entire Mindanao on the ground that extremist groups wanted to establish a caliphate for ISIS.

The martial law in Mindanao would remain in effect until the end of this year. —NB, GMA News