Going beyond remembering the missing people of Marawi 

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It’s been eight years since the start of the Marawi conflict. Although significant efforts have been made by the Philippine government, families of missing people are lacking the required attention and support.

When I moved from Iran in 2023 to work as the head of delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Philippines, one of the first things I did was to visit Marawi to see firsthand the impact of the 2017 conflict and understand the remaining humanitarian concerns. 

During my visit, I saw that Marawi’s most affected area—consisting of 24 barangays or villages that were home to 65,000 people—was still a ghost town. Buildings badly damaged in 2017 were overgrown with vegetation. Many residences were yet to be rebuilt, often from the ground up. However, there were some signs of development too, such as the setting up of small businesses and new public infrastructure.

Fast forward to today: it’s been eight years since the start of the Marawi conflict. Although significant efforts have been made by the Philippine government—most notably, the creation of the Marawi Compensation Board, whose mandate is to compensate people whose properties were destroyed or whose family members died or are presumably dead because of the conflict—families of missing people are lacking the required attention and support. 

MARAWI VISIT. ICRC Philippine delegation head Johannes Bruwer (right) visits Marawi’s most affected area with Hiro Yabusaki, then head of the ICRC’s Cotabato office, in 2023. courtesy of B. Sultan/ICRC

Over 300 cases of missing people registered with the ICRC remain open, without clarity or answers. The disappearance of people is one of the most damaging and long-lasting humanitarian consequences of the armed conflict in Marawi. The families of the missing have been suffering greatly from the anguish of not knowing the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones, and from the uncertainty surrounding potential identification of recovered remains. 

“There are children who can’t explain during class where their fathers are. There are women who cannot marry again because they don’t know the fate of their missing husbands. There are families who cannot claim compensation for the presumed death of a missing loved one,” Sophia H. Omar Aminolla, who is still searching for her missing brother, said during an August 2024 event we organized to commemorate the disappeared.

Legal impediments

Indeed, beyond this emotional burden, the families face significant financial and legal challenges. They have repeatedly expressed their challenges in obtaining legal documents recognized by all state agencies—certifying the absence or presumed death of their missing loved one.

Formally resolving the legal status of a missing person is essential for their families. It would enable all families of missing people—linked to armed conflicts or to natural calamities—to overcome the barriers that prevent them from accessing social benefits, pensions, and property rights. This could be done if the national authorities take steps to streamline or adapt current procedures and policies. 

SEARCHING. Sophia H. Omar Aminolla (left) and her mother have been searching for their missing loved one for the past eight years. courtesy of Larry Monserate Piojo/ICR

If these persistent, systemic issues affecting all missing people are resolved by the concerned agencies, their families will finally be able to move forward.

Aside from supporting 400 families in their search for answers about what has happened to their loved ones who went missing in the Marawi conflict, our accompaniment programme has also included financial and mental health and psychosocial support from 2017 to 2024.

By providing cash grants under our microeconomic initiative program to set up small businesses, families gained income to send their children to school and pay for their daily needs. These businesses have allowed them to live in dignity. Families of the missing have also since been supporting each other and organizing into smaller groups, serving as a platform for their shared experiences and other concerns. 

Additionally, we supported the Philippine National Police-Forensic Group (PNP-FG) so they could collect and process DNA samples for identifying human remains buried in the Maqbara and Dalipuga cemeteries. The ICRC took certain measures in the Maqbara cemetery that will enable remains to be identified in the future. We have also donated forensic examination material and provided support to authorities through capacity-building sessions.  

The search and identification of remains is a challenging and lengthy process, and humanitarian organizations like the ICRC can only do so much. The families have the need—and the right—to know what has happened to their missing loved ones. The families also have a right to know where their bodies are buried. 

FORENSIC WORK. Part of ICRC’s humanitarian work is to help prevent and resolve the tragedy of people unaccounted for because of emergencies. Working together with forensic practitioners and institutions is a core focus of the ICRC, through training, infrastructural support, or technical recommendations. courtesy of E. Gumangan/ICRC

This is not just a humanitarian necessity. Providing them with answers is a legal obligation. The obligation to prevent people from going missing and to account for people reported missing is enshrined in the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, to which the Philippine government is a party.

A collaborative and solution-oriented approach is needed to identify the significant number of individuals buried in the Maqbara and Dalipuga cemeteries. The authorities, in consultation with forensic experts, community representatives and religious scholars, should explore all scientifically and culturally appropriate methodologies to enable identification, including the careful exhumation of remains.

We urge the authorities to provide answers to the families as soon as possible for reasons highlighted recently by the ICRC’s president Mirjana Spoljaric: “The resolution of missing cases and the reunification of families means relief from the collective anguish and resentment that can be an unmovable obstacle to peace.” 

As we mark the 8th anniversary of the Marawi conflict, let us pause and remember those who are missing. But more than just remembering, let us do right by them by fulfilling their families’ shared hope for more support and for closure. 

Sophia said it best: “If we stop remembering and honoring missing people, it means we have stopped searching for them or abandoned our quest. It is like burying them alive somewhere. Pursuing the truth means living with dignity, honor and value. I don’t want to stop the search. Never!” – Rappler.com

Johannes Bruwer is the head of delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross Philippines.