Deputy Minority Leader Mujiv Hataman has urged the Marawi Compensation Board (MCB) to develop a roadmap on how to compensate the tens of thousands Marawi siege victims.
“I highly encourage the MCB to formulate a five-year roadmap. Yes, Congress can always extend its life, but it is always good to aim high and achieve all the objectives of the board within the time allotted to it,” Hataman said.
Hataman, former governor of the now-defunct ARMM and currently Basilan representative, said the Budget department has to see what the complete plan and strategies of the MCB to justify a bigger allocation in the budget.
He lamented that for the second straight year, the Development and Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) has allotted only P1 billion for the Marawi Compensation Fund.
“The DBCC allocated only P1 billion for the Marawi Compensation Program for 2023 and 2024: Does this mean that the Marawi victims will get only P1 billion for every year that the MCB is in operation? It appears that P5 billion compensation budget is not enough.” Hataman said.
During the hearing of the joint congressional oversight committee on the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act of 2022 last Sept. 11, the MCB said that from July 4 to Aug. 31, it received a total of 4,762 filed claims, which translates to roughly P17.46 billion for claims filed in just two months.
The MCB expects an estimated 23,489 claimants booked until the end of December 2023.
“According to the MCB, it receives over 200 claims a day, makes 150 recommendations a week and renders about 600 decisions in a month,” Hataman stated.
“So far, the MCB has a total of over 4,000 claimants. Paano magkakasya ang P1 billion a year?” Hataman asked, adding that the MCB should justify the need for bigger allocations, bigger than P1 billion budget a year.
The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) present during an earlier congressional hearing claimed that out of the more than 11,000 structures, they already validated 4,310 structures and their estimated cost is around P12.17 billion. Validation means that the property/structure and its owner have been ascertained.
“We will ask in plenary that the P1 billion alloted by the DBCC in the 2024 NEP be augmented. Pero the MCB also has to come up with an amount to request to cover all the claims for the next five years,” Hataman stressed as the House is set to begin the plenary debates on 2024 national budget today (Tuesday).
