HOUSE of Representatives minority leader Marcelino Libanan welcomed Malacañang’s plan to provide additional P1 billion for the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Fund.
“No expense should be spared to enable the residents of Marawi City to rebuild and renew their lives,” Libanan, a 4Ps party-list representative, said in a statement.
“We must stress that adequate victim compensation is absolutely imperative for survivors to fully heal and recover,” he said.
Libanan is a lawyer by profession and one-time chairman of the House Committee on Justice which has jurisdiction over all legislative matters relating to the administration of justice.
In the proposed 2025 national budget, President Marcos seeks an additional P1 billion for the Marawi Siege Victims Congress had initially approved P1 billion for the fund in 2023, and another P1 billion this year, without counting unprogrammed appropriations, according to Libanan.
The Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Law of 2022 mandates reparation to legit owners of pieces of property destroyed or damaged, either totally or partially, during the five-month-long armed clashes between government security forces and terrorist groups.
The law also mandates repayment of property demolished pursuant to the Marawi Recovery, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction Program, as well as the heirs of those who lost their lives, or are legally presumed dead, on account of the siege.
The 2017 Marawi siege, also known as the Battle of Marawi or the Marawi Crisis, left the city in ruins, and dislocated more than 200,000 residents.
More than 95 percent of structures within the city’s main affected areas of 24 barangays were either heavily damaged or totally destroyed, mainly due to heavy aerial and artillery bombardment by government forces.
The Marawi Compensation Board (MCB) prescribed on July 3, 2024 the application period for claims related to the siege.
The MCB, in a report published on its website, said it received a total of 14,495 claims, broken down into 8,393 multiple claims; 5,701 for other property; 209 for structural property; and 192 death claims.
In his third State of the Nation Address, Marcos had cited the government’s ongoing rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in Marawi, which are now under Malacañang’s direct supervision.
“Our focus remains on restoring energy, water, and liveable communities,” Marcos said.
