Marawi City in Lanao del Sur is the center of local news today as the ISIS-sympathizing Maute Group and Abu Sayyaf laid siege to the city. To sum up the whole battle, it was apparently a government operation gone wrong. Some parts of the city’s been set on fire and shut down, forcing President Duterte to declare martial law over all Mindanao. (We’ll talk about that later.)
The people of Marawi do need help right now, and Vice President Leni Robredo has already called on groups all over to start accepting and sending donations. Fortunately, various organizations have been quick to move, already calling for people to send in Halal food (pork-free), clothes, toiletries, sanitary items, and other necessities.
Check out a short list of orgs accepting donations:
Fellow UP Manila people, please drop your HALAL donations for Marawi in front of the CAS Student Council office, Rizal Hall
— #SelfDetermination (@StevenTheStars) May 24, 2017
We are conducting relief ops for the victims of Marawi. A drop off point for donations will be set at the Calderon lobby starting tomorrow.
— UP Med SC (@up_med_sc) May 24, 2017
There should be more relief operations than these, we’re sure—just keep searching “Marawi donations” on social media if you’re looking for some more.
Also, keep an eye out on the president’s martial law declaration in Mindanao. It’s more than a little sketchy that the whole island–a huge, diverse mass of land—is put under martial law when the violence was only in one city; some lawmakers and politicians are already considering using the whole thing to stamp out “criminality,” whatever they think that means. Stay vigilant.
Photo by the Philippine Information Agency