Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo visited Marawi City evacuees in Iligan City on Sunday, distributing hygiene packs to families displaced by more than three months of fighting between the military and the terrorist Maute group.

Arroyo, who now represents the second district of Pampanga province in the House of Representatives, visited evacuees at the National School of Fisheries in Barangay Buru-un and at the Sta. Elena Evacuation site, both in Iligan.

She was accompanied by Iligan City Mayor Celso Regencia and Vice Mayor Jemar Vera Cruz.

HELP FOR DISPLACED FAMILIES Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is greeted by Marawi evacuees in Iligan City, where she distributed hygiene packs to families displaced by fighting. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Iligan City, which is 30 kilometers from the fighting in war-torn Marawi, has five evacuation centers, sheltering more than 800 families. There are also 14,000 families living with relatives in Iligan.

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Arroyo traces her roots to Iligan City as her maternal grandparents lived in the city in the 1950s. The former president also lived in her family’s ancestral house in Iligan during her childhood.

P1M to families of slain soldiers

Also on Sunday, the Philippine Army turned over financial assistance of P1 million to each of the families of soldiers killed in Marawi City, in simple rites at Fort Bonifacio.

Army chief Lt. Gen. Glorioso Miranda turned over the checks to the families of 68 fallen Army men, from donations to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) by a number of philanthropists who chose to remain anonymous.

The 68 beneficiaries were chosen based on the chronological order of the dates of reports of casualties in Marawi.

As of August 24, 130 soldiers have been killed in the three-month old fighting in Marawi City.

Forty-five civilians are believed to have been executed by Maute terrorists inside the main battle area.

On the terrorists’ side, at least 603 Maute members have been killed. A total of 661 firearms were seized.