Despite their claim that the battle against the terrorist in Marawi is nearing its end, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is set to send more troops reinforce government forces in the city.

“The positioning of our troops is good. We have more forces coming in. That is why we saw the gaps. We are making share that the gaps, especially in (Lanao) Lake will be patched up,” he said.

“We are still looking into some gaps so we will be sending more troops in the main battle area,” Galvez added.

Galvez said their objective is to make sure members of the Maute terrorist group would not be able to move in and out of the battle area in the city.

“The instruction to us is no going in and no way out, no way in and no way out. So that is what we are doing. The positioning of our forces is really very good .. the risk of moving out is very small,” he said.

Col. Remeo Brawner, Joint Task Force Ranao Deputy Commander, did not give details on how many troops will be sent to Marawi but he confirmed that there are around 5,000 military forces in the city.

With recent developments, including the recovery or the Bayabao Bridge and the Masui Bridge and rescue of other hostages in Marawi, Galvez emphasized that the terrorists are still “capable of doing something."

“We would like to say that this is a good indication that they are slightly loosened up, but we cannot relax and lower our guard. We know that the Maute and the ISIS here are capable of doing something,” he said.

“We know that anything can happen when the Maute becomes desperate,” Galvez added.

Galvez emphasized that the operation still focus on rescue of the remaining 45 to 50 hostages.

“The rescue operation is continuous and the situation is very volatile. Anytime, we can have rescue,” he said.

“Our operation still very slow but sure at least the hostages will not be collateral ( damage),” he added.

Galvez said based on their latest assessment, the operation in Marawi City will no longer last for a month.

“On what we have said that it won’t take anymore (one) month, it will take days only or weeks. We cannot just specify if it may be 10 days or maybe two weeks,” he said. Robina Asido/DMS