Robin Padilla: Hontiveros backs resolution on urgent vetting process for MCB nominees

FILE PHOTO: The bullet-ridden Mindanao Islamic Center (balcony photo), in a photo taken in 2017, stands amid ruined structures following the five-month war between government troops and Islamic State-linked terrorists in Marawi City. —JEOFFREY MAITEM

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Risa Hontiveros is also supporting a resolution calling for an urgent vetting process for nominees in the Marawi Compensation Board (MCB).

This was according to Senator Robin Padilla, noting that the opposition lawmaker backs his Senate Resolution No. 8, which urges the Office of the Executive Secretary to conduct the vetting process for MCB nominees.

“Humingi tayo ng tulong kay Sen. Hontiveros. At siya, in-endorse niya. Bakit si Ma’am Risa? Kasi siya ang nasa minority. Wala pong pinakamaganda kundi majority at minority ay nagkakasundo,” Padilla, who filed the resolution, said in an interview at Net-25 on Wednesday night.

(We asked Sen. Hontiveros’ support for the resolution, and she endorsed it. Why Ma’am Risa? Because she’s in the minority. Nothing is more appealing than seeing the majority and minority being united.)

The neophyte senator earlier got the support of the majority through Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, who gave assurance that the resolution would be prioritized.

Republic Act 11696, or the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act of 2022, became law in April, paving the way for the establishment of the MCB to process the victims’ compensation.

However, Padilla said that since the measure’s enactment, Marawi siege victims have been calling the MCB to perform its functions, organize, and promulgate the implementing rules and regulations. — Christian Paul Dela Cruz, INQUIRER.net trainee

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