Hontiveros: Hasten Marawi rehabilitation
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Risa Hontiveros urged the government to hasten the rehabilitation of Marawi City as thousands of displaced residents faced the danger of contracting the new coronavirus disease as they celebrated Eid al-Fitr.
She lamented that over 120,000 children in Marawi stand to lose their childhoods as they spend crucial development years in displacement.
The senator said the situation in the cramped relocation sites in Marawi were more difficult for children, many of whom were forced to work or marry at an early age after they stopped going to school.
“It’s not enough to just give them hope. We need to bring them home,” Hontiveros stressed.
—MARLON RAMOS