A congressional leader on Wednesday urged Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM) to be vigilant against unused funds intended for the Marawi rehabilitation that has dragged on for almost three years after government forces liberated the city from extremists in 2017.
At the same time, Deputy Speaker and Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman asked TFBM—in the spirit of transparency—to post regular “real-time” updates on the status of the Marawi rehabilitation program, including the state of its finances, in its websites and social media accounts for the benefit of the people of Marawi and the rest of the country.
“For purposes of transparency, all activities of TFBM, financial reports, and even accomplishments both physical and financial, should have been posted on the website of Task Force Bangon Marawi,” Hataman at a virtual hearing of the House Committee on Disaster Resilience on the Marawi compensation bills.
During the hearing, the TFBM through the Office of Civil Defense updated the panel members on the status of the utilization of funds for Marawi.
Hataman, former governor of the now-defunct ARMM, said he was worried that millions of peso fund intended for the Marawi rehabilitation will go to waste or not be utilized for the intended purpose just like what happener in 2018 where P406 million peso rehabilitation fund expired and reverted to the National Treasury.
He added that “aside from ensuring that the Marawi funds are spent according to its intended purpose, we should also make sure all of the allocation is used for the benefit of the people of Marawi.”
OCD Director Edgar Posadas said that from 2017 up to 2020, P20.8 billion had been allocated for the Marawi rehabilitation and, as of August of this year, P19.940 billion has already been released. He also said that the unreleased balance is at P868.4 million.
