Catholic priest, teacher escape from ISIS militants in Marawi City

A screenshot from a video posted on social media shows Catholic priest Chito Suganob appealing to President Rodrigo Duterte to pull out security forces in Marawi City and Lanao del Sur province. Suganob said he and 240 others, including mostly Christian civilians and children, are being held by local ISIS fighters. (Mindanao Examiner)

MARAWI CITY – A Catholic priest and a civilian held hostage by local IS militants had escaped from their captors and recovered by troops from the besieged city of Marawi in southern Philippines where fierce fighting is nearing its 5^th month.

Father Teresito Suganob, the vicar general of Marawi; and Lordvin Ocopio - who teachers at the Dansalan College Foundation Incorporated - managed to escape from a mosque used by militants as a base to attack soldiers late Friday.

A senior government official, Jesus Dureza, made the announcement on his Facebook account on Sunday ahead of an official statement from the military or President Rodrigo Duterte.

There was no information on the fate of other hostages that Suganob said could reach more than 200, including 6 other teachers from Dansalan College, when he appealed to Duterte on a video released by IS in May as a proof of life. In the 5-minute clip, the priest appealed to the President to immediately withdraw thousands of soldiers from the war-torn Marawi City.

Suganob said militants seized him, along with other church workers, including children and adults, mostly Christians, when militants occupied Marawi on May 23. Speaking outside the ruins of buildings destroyed in fierce clashes, Suganob made an emotional appeal to Duterte to save all of them, saying, the militants are ready to die for their religion.

He also asked Duterte to stop military assaults, both in air and on the ground, and for security forces to quickly leave Marawi and Lanao del Sur, one of 5 provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.

It was unknown how many civilians and hostages were killed in military air strikes and artillery fire since the fighting began, but the military insisted over 670 militants had perished in the battle, although it provided little or no proof at all for the huge number of enemy casualties. It said nearly 150 soldiers and 47 civilians were also slain in the war with nearly 2000 troops wounded in the battle.

The militants occupied Marawi in an effort to put up an Islamic State province in the troubled region, home to some 4 million Muslims and 17 million Christians. The region of Mindanao was previously under the rule of sultans. (Mindanao Examiner)

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