It has been five months since the Philippine military defeated the ISIS-affiliated militants that took over Marawi City in the country’s south. The more than 300,000 residents who had been displaced are slowly making their way back home to restart lives put on hold by nearly half a year of fighting. But Trixie* dreads going back home.

For five months now, Trixie has lived in evacuation centers in Saguiaran, just outside Marawi City. First, it was a public gymnasium where they slept on blankets and unfolded cardboard, then in tents put up by the local government. Access to clean water or a clean bathroom was rare. Food consisted of relief goods — a predictable cycle of canned sardines or tuna and instant noodles. Still, Trixie feels safer here than in Marawi, because she identifies as a transgender woman.

She rattles off a list of names of gay and transgender women friends who had been shot and killed. First, there was Kuka. Then Ginny and Jazz in 2011. In 2012, Momma Tanya was shot dead in her salon. Then Janes in 2013. Then Mai-Mai in 2014. Last year, Katrina was killed in a public market. Anna was shot in the mouth, Mayora in the back. Both survived but fled Marawi after their wounds healed — Anna to Manila, Mayora to Saudi Arabia.

The attacks are usually carried out by masked men on motorcycles. But the end of the Marawi siege is unveiling a quiet terror that’s been unfolding for years. Outrage Magazine, an online LGBT news portal, has attempted to document the killings, but many incidents have gone unreported. Now, while the government of the Philippines and its friends internationally are celebrating the liberation of Marawi, the LGBT community that fled the city during the siege fears the prospect of heading back. For them, the threat of violence preceded the ISIS-affiliated takeover, and that terror — temporarily at bay while they’re in evacuation shelters — is alive again. Read more via OZY