The Armed Forces of the Philippines shares the honor and glory of saluting all our heroes who helped liberate the City of Marawi from the clutches of terrorism, five years ago. Their service and sacrifice serve as a legacy that will live on forever in the hearts and minds of the Filipino people.
We owe it to the valiant and courageous men and women in uniform who fought the Maute terrorist group so that we could still fly freely the Philippine Flag over Marawi City.
Their sacrifices have not been in vain as the AFP continues to gain the trust and support of our people in the performance of our mandated duty of protecting them and our nation.
The Marawi incident showed the firm resolve of the government against terrorism. It was the turning point in a sense that since then we have seen the downward trend in frequency and intensity of terror activities perpetrated by local terrorist groups.
The crisis may have been over but we have never left Marawi. Our soldiers are still actively participating in peace and development efforts to ensure that this unfortunate event in our history will never happen again.
We call on our people to help in the effort against terrorism. The fight against this threat is not the sole responsibility of the government or the security sector but of every citizen of the republic.
We must continue to strengthen the whole-of-nation approach toward preventing and countering violent extremism. Let us motivate our people, especially the youth, to be advocates of peace in their communities.///
