Marawi

The Islamic City of Marawi, in Mindanao in the Philippines. In 2017 pro-ISIS militants seized the city and fought government forces — backed, as Harry notes, by the US and UK — for five months. The siege displaced 98% of the population, some 350,000 people, and killed over a thousand including civilians. Harry arrived on the sixth anniversary to find the centre still a ruin and effectively unpopulated: the former high street gone, the schools obliterated, and no reconstruction beyond the roads.

What Harry did

Travelled overland from Davao, then walked the destroyed centre with Cocoy, a local contact whose own house was flattened and is now being rebuilt. He went inside shelled buildings and saw the holes the militants cut through interior walls so they could move across the city without being spotted by drones. He then visited both the permanent housing and the temporary shelters, talked with residents about the siege and its aftermath, bought chicken franks for hungry children, and stayed the night in the city.

Practical facts

• Getting there: an overland bus from Davao, 700 pesos, taking most of a day (from video – unverified). Tickets are handwritten on a sheet of paper — there is no online booking.
• Bisaya is spoken on the route rather than Tagalog; Marawi itself is Muslim, and greetings are Islamic.
• Unexploded bombs and rockets remain in the ruined areas. Do not wander in alone.
• Six years after the siege the government had restored roads but not electricity in the destroyed districts.
• Permanent shelters awarded in 2020 were still under construction and largely uninhabited.
• Temporary shelters run on a five-year contract, after which the landowner takes the houses. They have electricity but no running water; one resident told Harry her household had received no food supplies for almost two years, with three families sharing the area.
• Returning home requires paperwork and the money to rebuild, which most displaced families do not have.
• A clean hotel room cost $30 a night.
• On safety, roughly half the people Harry asked beforehand said it was fine and half said don’t go. He walked it at night and describes it as peaceful and safe.

Harry’s tips

• Go and see for yourself rather than trusting the split advice — see judge a place for yourself.
• Arrange a local contact before arriving. Harry was given Cocoy’s number, and that access is what turned a ruin tour into conversations with residents.
• Bring something to give. The people here have least and offer most — Harry’s host insisted on paying for his hotel.

Source

• Inside the Terror City of the Philippines 🇵🇭 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byMTwo1zgB4