Task Force Bangon Marawi abolished

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has abolished the controversial Task Force Bangon Marawi and instead ordered regular line agencies to hasten the rehabilitation of the Islamic City of Marawi.

The President signed Administrative Order No. 14 on Dec. 22 “to reduce delays due to redundant and superfluous bureaucratic layers in the national government and to accelerate reconstruction and recovery efforts in the City of Marawi and other affected localities.”

Most of Marawi, which was for decades a thriving mercantile city on the shores of Lake Lanao, was reduced to rubble after the Islamic State-linked Maute terrorist group staged a five-month siege of the city in 2017.

Task Force Bangon Marawi was created even before the siege ended in October 2017, but it was repeatedly delayed because it took security forces months to clear unexploded ordinance in the most affected area of the city.

There were also conflicts in funding and planning rehabilitation projects because officials wanted to relocate residents to the outskirts of the city and redevelop the city center through private or foreign capital.

Marcos’ AO 14 did not mention previous plans to redevelop the city, but said “it is imperative to institutionalize and strengthen the functions of implementing government agencies involved in the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in the City of Marawi and other affected localities.”

Under AO 14, Task Force Bangon Marawi will “terminate its operations” on Dec. 31, 2023, and will be deemed functus officio by March 31, 2024. Its unused funds should be turned over to the Office of the President.