By FROILAN GALLARDO
Special Correspondent
MARAWI City–The military has retaken the Dansalan College that was seized and partially burned by the Maute Group during the May 23 siege.
Joint Task Force Marawi spokesperson Lt. Col. Jo-Ar Herrera said soldiers have retaken Dansalan College and have cleared the school of the gunmen on Monday.
Herrera said 14 firearms, including a Caliber 50 machinegun and radio sets, were seized by the troops from the school.
“A cadaver of a foreign-looking individual was also recovered by the troops,” he said. The body is believed to be one of the reported foreign fighters from Singapore.
Dansalan College, founded in 1948 by Americans and the United Church of Christ of the Philippines, was used as platforms for Maute Group snipers to shoot at government troops.
Some of the school teachers are believed to be among the more than 100 hostages used as shields by the gunmen in Marawi City.
The military said soldiers have also seized the Carmelite Monastery and surrounding hills pushing the Jihadists to a small pocket beside Lanao Lake.
But troops fighting the Maute inside the city said the gunmen still appeared to be on high morale despite weeks of being pummeled day and night by bombs and artillery.
“I saw them dancing on the streets as we fired at them. I think they were high on drugs. I don’t know where they got that strength,” an army officer said.
The officer said they were rescuing a group of hostages when they encountered the gunmen.
He said they rescued one hostage, a carpenter, but three others did not came out from their hiding place for fear of the gunmen.
Herrera said the military have rescued 1,717 hostages from the gunmen who used them to forage for food, guns and sometimes used them as sex slaves.
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