Anak Mindanao Party-list Rep. Makmod Mending Jr. on Wednesday lamented several standing homes in the most affected area of Marawi were demolished without consent of the residents.
Mending, who voted against the martial law extension in Mindanao, said in his interpellation on the joint resolution to extend martial law that homeless Maranaos had been appealing to the governement to be heard.
“We faced some of those residents whose houses were demolished without their consent. I stand before you to claim what happened,” Mending said.
In response, Housing Secretary Eduardo Del Rosario, who heads Task Force Bangon
Marawi, admitted some houses were demolished even without the consent of the owners because of a misunderstanding.
“They’ve started clearing the destroyed structures with consents (sic). But along the way, there were (sic) some misunderstanding. Some facilities without consent were included,” he said.
Del Rosario said the task force would soon come up with a “written procedure” that would be explained to barangay officials and residents to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
A total 812 families continue to stay in different evacuation centers in and outside Marawi, while more temporary shelters are being built, del Rosario said.
“Residents of Marawi will start and will be allowed to construct their residences and commercial buildings by July of 2020 when the debris and horizontal development of the most affected area are already completed,” he said.