MARAWI DESTRUCTION In this photo taken in May 2020, Marawi residents are allowed to return to their communities and inspect their homes destroyed by the fighting between government troops and gunmen who laid siege to the city. (Photo by JEOFFREY MAITEM / Inquirer Mindanao)
ILIGAN CITY—Internally displaced persons (IDPs) of Marawi City welcomed the Senate’s approval Monday on third and final reading of a proposed compensation law for those who lost their properties to the five-month war spawned by a siege by Islamic State terrorists in 2017.
“Today, with the passage of Senate Bill 2420 or the Marawi Compensation Bill, we are one step closer to enacting the law that will help Marawi IDPs rebuild their lives,” said a statement from the network Marawi Reconstruction Conflict Watch (MRCW) which had lobbied for the measure, along with International Alert, since 2018.
The House of Representatives had passed its version of the proposed measure in September last year.
“We profoundly thank our legislators from the House of Representatives and the Senate, our champions from the local governments of Lanao del Sur and Marawi City, the Bangsamoro parliament, and peers from civil society for stepping up to uphold the rights of the Maranao IDPs and recognize their suffering,” MRCW said.
“This legislation was passed unanimously by both Houses in recognition of the moral and legal obligation of the state in this long process of rehabilitation and recovery of Marawi City and its people,” MRCW added.
Apart from helping drive the reconstruction of private homes in the war-ravaged villages of the city, the provision of compensation is also thought to be a measure of justice for the Maranao people.
“We ask both Houses of Congress to work hard towards consolidating the two versions for its final passage and signing by the President before they go into recess for the election season,” MRCW appealed.
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