The commander of the Army’s 103rd Brigade that covers security in the area of Marawi City was relieved following the entry of the terrorist group in the city last week.

Lt. Col. Ray Tiongson, Philippine Army Public Affairs Officer, said Brig. Gen. Nixon Fortes of 103rd Brigade was replaced by Col. Generoso Ponyo, deputy brigade commander of the same unit.

“Brig. Gen. Fortes was designated as Assistant Division Commader of Army’s 1st Infantry Division,” he said.

Tiongson denied the replacement of Fortes is not connected to the attack in Marawi City that started last May 23.

“Actually (the commander of) 1st Infantry Division is also the (commandeer of) Task Force Marawi, so he needs an assistant division commander so everything will not be focused on him, so that other concerns of the division will be addressed,” he said.

Tiongson said the replacement of Fortes took effect last May 29.

As of Friday, Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) confirmed that the Maute terrorist group members are still occupying some commercial buildings in the city.

“The enemy continues to occupy some commercial buildings as defensible enemy lairs,” he said.

“The enemy is using children and civilians as human shields (and use) madrasahs as staging areas and mosques as sniper nest,” he added.

Padilla said the number of terrorist member killed stands at 120 with 90 body counts, while the number of fatalities on the government side also remains at 36. Robina Asido/DMS