Compensation for 362 Marawi siege victims set

RECOVERY Final touches await the Marawi Peace Park in this photo taken on May 19, 2022. Many of the public infrastructure projects in war-torn Marawi City have been completed, leaving the reconstruction of homes as the largest missing piece in its rebuilding. —DIVINA M. SUSON

MARAWI CITY—The payment of compensation for victims of the 2017 Marawi siege is starting this month after funds have been released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), officials said.

Marawi Compensation Board (MCB) chair Maisara Dandamun-Latiph said they would begin payment to claimants who filed for compensation for the loss of life of their loved ones, then those whose houses and business establishments were either destroyed or damaged in the five-month battle between government troops and Islamic State-linked militants six years ago.

Latiph said the MCB had decided to prioritize the death and structure claims and leave those for personal properties last. The expected volume of claims for lost personal properties, she said, may overwhelm the body and many destroyed and damaged structures may remain unpaid.

The payment of compensation, among others, is expected to drive the massive reconstruction of homes in war-ravaged villages, in turn hastening the rebuilding of the city.

Tax-free

From July, when the MCB opened its doors for compensation applications, until Sept. 30, the body had catered to 6,048 claimants, with claims amounting to more than P9 billion.

Of these, the MCB had evaluated 362—59 for death and 303 for structures—all amounting to P1,023,648,550. These would be the first ones to receive tax-free compensation this year.

READ: Marawi siege victims file over ₱17 billion in claims

Under the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Law, the MCB is the main agency that will receive, process and approve claims, as well as release the amount of approved compensation to eligible beneficiaries.

Destroyed (“totally damaged”) properties are to be paid P18,000 per square meter if these are made of concrete, P13,500 if mixed concrete and wood, and P9,000 if light materials or mainly wood. Damaged (“partially damaged”) structures will be compensated P12,000 per square meter if it is concrete, P9,000 if mixed concrete and wood, and P6,000 if light materials. Each death will be compensated with P350,000.

Potential compensation claimants are given a year to file their applications with the MCB.

Under the law, compensation for the victims will be part of the country’s annual budget. For this year, Congress has allocated P1 billion and for next year, P1.1 billion, which local officials said might not be enough to cover the expected volume of claims, hence could affect the pace of payments.

Latiph said they were negotiating to have the allocation raised as it was insufficient to pay even the claims filed as of Sept. 30.

Over 20,000 claimants are projected to file for compensation applications. The Office of Civil Defense is updating the loss and damage assessment in order to aid the compensation process.

Manpower problem

According to MCB executive director Sittie Raifah Pamaloy-Hassan, the body is facing some manpower challenges in order to speed up the processing of claims, reiterating their request for the DBM to approve the hiring of additional plantilla positions.

Hassan said MCB personnel also needed training in various skills areas, such as legal and technical writing, data banking, recording and transcribing, investigation, mediation and settlement and information outreach.

Meanwhile, Lanao del Sur Vice Gov. Mohammad Khalid Adiong told reporters that four landowners in Barangay Rorogagus had consented to the continuing free use by displaced families of their property for another year.

Adiong made the announcement to help allay fears that the displaced families, who are staying in transitory shelters in Rorogagus, would be evicted from their temporary homes as the usufruct agreement covering the evacuation site expires on Oct. 15. INQ