On the eve of the first anniversary of the Marawi siege, Malacañang said it was satisfied with the rate at which the city is being rehabilitated.
“We are satisfied. The President has full trust in General Del Rosario,” said Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque, referring to housing czar Eduardo del Rosario, who heads the task force that oversees the war-torn city’s rehabilitation.
On May 23, 2017, the Islamic State-inspired Maute group terrorists seized control of areas of Marawi City. Five months later, government troops that led a protracted campaign to battle the terrorists declared they had taken back the city.
President Rodrigo Duterte, who declared martial law in response to the Marawi takeover, is set to visit the city to mark the first anniversary of the siege.
“The good news is that, as far as the residents are concerned, 70 percent of the residents have gone back to their homes. We have provided temporary or permanent homes to 70 percent of them,” Roque said.
This, he added, was good progress.
The spokesman said, however, that it would take more time to rebuild the main battle area, which came under heavy bombardment.
The commemoration of the Marawi siege started May 17 with a medical and dental mission and a peace caravan from the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Col. Romeo Brawner, commander of Joint Task Force Ranao, said the main battle zone is still a controlled area due to unexploded ordnance, but residents were allowed to return to their houses to salvage their personal belongings.
Brawner said about 85 percent of the total barangays have already been cleared while military engineers continue to remove an estimated 70 unexploded bombs.
Despite the prevailing peace in Marawi City, Brawner said possible threats will not just vanish amid reports that terrorists were trying to recruit fighters again.
An opposition lawmaker, meanwhile, warned of massive land grabbing and government encroachment of ancestral lands in the reconstruction of Marawi City.
“One year after Marawi City was almost obliterated in the aftermath of the unremitting joint military-police offensive following the controversial declaration of martial law on May 23, 2017, the promised rehabilitation of Marawi has barely started,” Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said.
Lagman said the displaced Maranaos and other residents of Marawi City are mostly still homeless amidst the ruins of an improvident war.
“Maranaos fear that land ownership problems will lead to a) land grabbing; b) appropriation by the State of ancestral lands for government projects; and c) bank foreclosures of mortgaged properties,” Lagman said. “These problems may further enflame extremism in the area,” he added.
“With the inadequate response of the Duterte administration, the seeds of rebellion and terrorism continue to germinate which gave the government the convenient excuse of imposing a yearlong extension of martial law in Mindanao,” he said.
Akbayan Party-list Rep. Tom Villarin, an oppositionist, echoed Lagman’s view.
He said “some enterprising individuals in cahoots with unscrupulous government officials involved in land titling may be able to have large tracts of land in Marawi City titled to themselves.”
In addition, Villarin said that in its effort to speed up the construction of houses for the displaced Marawi residents, the government may encroach on ancestral lands.
Also on Tuesday, the local governments of Lanao Sur and Marawi City welcomed the US government’s additional assistance package for families displaced by the recent six-month siege that has razed the city’s commercial center into what is now called the “ground zero.”
The US government, through the United States Agency for International Development, has provided additional P182 million ($3.5 million) in support to ongoing efforts for humanitarian relief in Marawi, the Manila Information Office of the US Embassy said.
Lanao Sur Gov. Bedjoria Soraya Alonto-Adiong said she and the people of Lanao were profoundly grateful to the American people for the tremendous help that their government provides to conflict-affected families, through the USAID.
“This [second assistance package] that the US government, through the USAID, will strengthen efforts by the Philippine government in providing basic services for our people in Marawi City and is very much appreciated and timely for internally displaced people (IDPs) who are still very much in need of such aid. Since Day 1 of the Marawi Siege, the national government as well as we in the local government, have been doing our very best in providing immediate humanitarian response to our fellow Maranaos, especially since the fasting season in Ramadhan is coming,” Alonto-Adiong said.
A US Embassy press statement sent by its Manila Information Office said the addition closely brings to P1.4 billion ($26.4 million) the total US government contribution to responses to humanitarian situation in Marawi City.
Meanwhile, about 641 Army enlisted personnel who took part in the five-month battle to retake Marawi were promoted to the next higher rank Tuesday.
Lt. Col. Louie Villanueva, PA spokesperson, said the pinning of ranks took place at the PA Grandstand in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.
Out of the 641 promoted enlisted personnel, 36 are master sergeants, 98 are technical sergeants, 103 are staff sergeants, 193 are sergeants, and 211 are corporals.
“You put your lives on the line and you did not fail your country all in the name of service,” Army chief Lt. Gen. Rolando Joselito D. Bautista said.
