THE Finance Department plans to issue “patriotic bonds” worth P30 billion to finance the rehabilitation of war-torn Marawi City in Mindanao, an official said Thursday.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said he had ordered the Treasury to study the possible issuance of the debt securities.
He said the bonds would appeal to those citizens who would like to help rebuild the lives of their fellow Filipinos in Marawi.
“These are what you would call patriotic bonds to help augment the funds that the government has set aside for Marawi’s rehabilitation,” Dominguez said at a recent meeting of Finance’s executive committee.
He made the statement even as the Senate on Wednesday adopted Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III’s proposed resolution calling for the creation of a special committee that will focus on rebuilding Marawi City.
“The extent of the damage sustained by Marawi City and the large number of displaced citizens caused by the rebellion requires a well-coordinated, large-scale rebuilding effort on the part of the government,” Pimentel said.
Dominguez asked National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon to study the tenor or length of maturity of the bonds, which could possibly be for 20 years.
In a separate statement, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the government would release at least P15 billion to rehabilitate Marawi in the next two years. The allocations would form part of the proposed budget of the Marawi reconstruction master plan spearheaded by the Department of Public Works and Highways.
“The initial fund of P5 billion for 2017 will be sourced from the 2016 and 2017 NDRRM [National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council] fund with a combined remaining balance of around P7.4 billion, and the 2017 contingent fund with a balance of almost P3.35 billion, both as of July 2017,” Diokno said in his statement.
For the NDRRM fund for 2018, P25.5 billion has been allocated of which P10 billion had been allotted for the Marawi recovery and rehabilitation program, according to Diokno.
Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte formalized the creation of an inter-agency task force dedicated to the recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation of Marawi City.
Duterte signed Administrative Order No. 3 on June 28 to create Task Force Bangon Marawi, with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana as chairman and Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar as vice chairman.