President Rodrigo Duterte salutes the casket of a dead soldier killed in the conflict in Marawi in this Sept. 11 photo. (Photo courtesy of the Presidential Communications Office)
Philippine troops still face the daunting task of clearing a ten-hectare or 100,000 sq. meter pocket in the southern city of Marawi of IS-inspired militants, officials said Sept. 19.
The armed forces corrected a previous estimate of the area they had to clear in the city a day after announcing the rescue of Marawi vicar-general, Father Teresito Soganob.
"The confines of where they [the militants] are moving is around 10 hectares," said the military's public affairs chief, Col. Edgard Arevalo. A hectare is around 10,000 sq meters.
"We committed error on the figures, its not 500 square meters...There was confusion [earlier] and this was already corrected," Arevalo told journalists.
He did not explain what caused the math error but said soldiers were gaining ground steadily against 50 remaining militants holding about 40 hostages.
"The number of buildings to be cleared is 300 plus; that's a conservative estimate," said Arevalo.
"The gains we have achieved has had a great impact on the capability of our enemy," he said.
The recovery of two major mosques, he added, has affected the enemy's morale.
"Officials on the ground are hopeful. No one could really say with certainty when this is going to end but we are getting there, we are there. Just a little more patience," Arevalo also said.
More than 800 people have died since fighting broke out on May 23, following a botched raid on the hideout of one of the Philippines' most-wanted terrorists.
