DESTRUCTION The government has set aside funds to compensate residents of Marawi whose properties were destroyed in 2017 during the five-month battle between Islamic State-linked militants and government troops in the city. In this 2018 photo, displaced residents are allowed to visit their communities where intense fighting happened. —JEOFFREY MAITEM
ZAMBOANGA CITY—Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman has vowed to push for the quick replenishment of the funds for compensating families who lost properties during the 2017 Marawi City siege amid its looming depletion this year.
“I was not surprised by the (looming) depletion of the P1-billion Marawi Compensation Fund in just one day of filing for claims. The current budget for it is truly measly,” Hataman told the Inquirer.
During Monday’s hearing of the House ad hoc committee on Marawi rehabilitation, Marawi Compensation Board (MCB) Chair Maisara Dandamun Latiph said the claims awaiting adjudication by the nine-member quasi-judicial body amount to about P800 million already.
These were the 2,073 claims that passed three stages of evaluation and filed on July 4 alone, when the board first opened for the submission of claims, she said.
Increased allocation
Latiph had asked for an increase of the MCB’s operation budget and personnel, as well as bigger allocation for the compensation fund in the 2024 national budget.
The grant of compensation to those who lost their properties during the five-month siege in 2017 is mandated by Republic Act No. 11696, or the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Law.
For 2023, Congress had allocated P1 billion for the compensation fund.
“In the deliberations for the 2024 budget, I will fight for increased allocation for the Marawi Compensation Fund to ensure that what the MCB needs to cover for the claims will be met,” Hataman said.
In previous years, Hataman, along with then Anak Mindanaw Rep. Amihilda Sangcopan, proposed P30 billion in allocation for the compensation fund, at P10 billion annually, to be included in the yearly appropriations.
Moro Consensus Group chair Drieza Lininding said an updated post-conflict needs assessment (PCNA) would have helped guide Congress on how much to allocate for compensation, apart from the estimate of the MCB.
The PCNA done in 2018 pegged the damaged properties at more than P18 billion, although the estimate glossed over those lost to the looting of homes amid the intense fighting between Islamic State-linked militants and government troops.
A profiling done by the Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM), National Housing Authority and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources estimated that some 12,500 structures were either destroyed or damaged in the 24 villages of Marawi where the fighting was concentrated.
Another process, called Kathanor and done by TFBM, counted more than 15,000 families, or over 77,000 people, who were uprooted from their homes in the so-called most affected area.
Hataman said that amid this challenge of ensuring sustained funding for the compensation effort, he was satisfied that the process had finally taken off.
“I laud the MCB for doing the best it can, given the time it was allotted to organize, craft and approve rules and regulations, and initiate the compensation process,” Hataman said.
“What is important is that the compensation process is now set into motion. It is no longer an uncertainty but already a reality,” he added. INQ
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