Two lawmakers from Mindanao have filed a bill that proposes to compensate victims of the five-month Marawi Siege over two years ago, citing the current deplorable state of the evacuated residents who are still waiting for the government’s promise of rehabilitation.
Representatives Mujiv Hataman of Basilan and Amihilda Sangcopan of Anak Mindanao Party-list group, authors of House Bill 3543, known as “Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act of 2019,” seek ‘to quantify and eventually legislate payment for lost, damaged or destroyed properties of victims of the 2017 Marawi crisis.”
Hataman, the former governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the Marawi Compensation Bill is an “urgent piece of legislation” that “will address the grievances of our fellow Meranaw who have survived the Marawi siege and, yet, continue to suffer due to a continuous cycle of injustice.”
“As the bill goes through the legislative process, we need every ounce of support from our Meranaw brothers and sisters whose strength sustains their calls for justice. We also seek support from the rest of the Filipino people, whose solidarity is necessary for this bill to pass as a national expression of the government’s commitment to its people,” Hataman said.
The bill provides for the monetary compensation for real estate properties damaged or destroyed during the siege. It pegged the amount at P1,500 per square meter for residences and P2,000 per square meter for commercial structures.
There are, however, preconditions in the granting of this amount, which are specified on the bill’s Chapter 3 (Claimants and Compensation), specifically sections 14 and 15. Payment applies only to lawful owners of the properties lost or damaged.
“Two years after the Marawi siege, it is heartbreaking that many Maranaw families affected by the crisis still spend their Eid in tents and temporary shelters. I am with them in their suffering and I pray that their suffering will be eased both in law and in life,” Hataman said, noting the recent Eid’l Adha celebration among Muslims.
“I also pray that the rehabilitation of the affected areas will be completed without delay so that the Meranaw can once again come home to the land of their ancestors, especially the residents of Marawi City,” he added.
Sangcopan said the bill calls for the creation of the Marawi Compensation Board, which will be allocated a P30-billion budget to implement its mandate of compensating property owner victims. The board will have nine members appointed by the President, comprising of representatives from civil society groups, which include the Ulama. The board’s majority should be lawyers.
The board will have a secretariat that would be assisted by the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and the National Housing Authority, two major agencies tasked in the rehabilitation of Marawi.
“More than anything, this is our obligation as Muslims and as Moro legislators. We sincerely believe the government has not forgotten the people of Marawi. Together, we will do our best to advocate and push for initiatives that will help restore the city the Meranaw calls home, and support them as they assert their right to their heritage, their land, and their lives,” Hataman said.
As this developed, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government said it would launch several intervention projects for the ongoing rehabilitation of war-ravaged Marawi City.
UAE Ambassador Hamad Saeed Al-Zaabi said the projects include architectural and operational plans that are being requested by the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation and will be funded by the embassy.
Al-Zaabi was in Marawi City on Sunday to visit the displaced families from the 2017 siege by Islamic State-inspired militants.
In particular, the ambassador said the UAE-funded projects will focus on rehabilitation of schools, construction of child and youth center, construction of a center for orphans and a rural health unit in nearby Butig town in Lanao del Sur.
UAE IT Manager for the Philippine Embassy, Faisal Mohd Nabil, said the projects are already funded for this year and the embassy was only waiting for the local government to identify the beneficiaries.
“May budget na kami. Kung ilan ang kakasya sa budget yun ang i-implement namin in coordination with the LGU. Ang UAE Embassy ang mag-implement,” Nabil said.
(We have a budget. We will implement these projects based on the approved budget in coordination with the LGU. It is the UAE Embassy that will implement.)
Al-Zaabi visited the former main battle area, now referred to by the government as most affected area (MAA), and also went to see the transitory shelter site in Barangay Sagonsongan where more than a thousand of internally displaced persons (IDPs) live.
The ambassador then headed to the Grand Mosque and the Bato Ali Mosque where a Catholic priest, Fr. Teresito Soganub, was held hostage by the Dawlah Islamiya extremists for 100 days during the 2017 Marawi siege.
There are 31 mosques inside the MAA that were destroyed during the war and needed rebuilding.
It was Al-Zaabi’s first visit to Marawi City, where he also celebrated Eid’l Adha with the internally displaced persons who are staying in the transitory shelters in Barangay Sagonsongan.
The ambassador led the distribution of beef to the displaced families and around 200 sacks of fertilizer and five carabaos to farmers of Tamparan, Lanao del Sur, about 30-minute drive from Marawi.
Over at the Senate, Senator Imee Marcos has proposed to exempt joint-venture agreements (JVA’s) in Marawi from government procurement and investment restrictions.
Marcos said that the government can reduce national poverty incidence by 40%, if its poverty reduction programs would focus on Mindanao.
Saying that Marawi’s complete rehabilitation may take “many years, even decades,” Marcos said it is important to start now with the restoration of the main mosque, the central fixture of the community.
Marcos, chair of the Senate economic affairs committee, filed Senate Bill 410 which provides the establishment of a Bangon Marawi Council.
The Council will be tasked to design special JVAs, rebuild mosques in consultation with Muslim leaders, and expedite the issuance of land titles that would also cover reservation areas no longer used by the military.
It will replace the provisional nature and limited purpose of the government’s two-year-old Task Force Bangon Marawi.
The council will also be tasked to install more shelters for the displaced, rebuild madrassahs and other public infrastructure, and restore water, electricity, telecommunication facilities, and an environment conducive to reviving business so that Marawi’s population can find more jobs.
Section 6 of the Marcos’ proposed bill exempts the council from National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) guidelines on JVA’s but contracts will still require the nod of NEDA, the Department of Budget and Management, and the Public-Private Partnership Center to ensure “efficiency, transparency, competitiveness, and accountability.”
Easing government restrictions “shall apply only to the recovery, reconstruction, and rehabilitation projects for the most affected areas of Marawi City” and must be “consistent with all applicable laws,” the bill added.
Marcos also said monthly progress reports will be required of the Bangon Marawi Council, with the President as its chairman, the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council chairman as secretary general, and Cabinet secretaries as ex-officio members.
A joint congressional oversight committee composed of Upper and Lower House members will evaluate the council’s progress toward its goals.
Meanwhile, Senator Panfilo Lacson branded as “toothless” the ongoing Martial Law in Mindanao.
“This is not similar to the Martial Law during the time of the late President Marcos when no rights can be exercised because first, the Constitution was suspended,” said Lacson.
“But this Martial Law we are having now in Mindanao, he said, is actually a toothless Martial Law.”
“inamin naman nila pang-psywar lang kung tutuusin. Kaya nagtataka kami why there’s so much fuss about arguing against the declaration of ML,” he added.
He noted that the Martial Law now under the 1987 Constitution is the same as no Martial Law.
Still, Lacson said he and his fellow senators have already discussed the possibility of lifting the Martial Law in Mindanao.
The entire Mindanao island has been placed under martial law since terrorists attacked Marawi City in 2017.
National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. earlier said he would recommend another extension of martial law in Mindanao, which is set to expire on December 31, 2019.
Esperon, a former Armed Forces chief of staff, wants martial law extended for another year, citing sustained rebellion in the south. With PNA