Marawi folk protest ‘unjust’ valuation of damaged properties

RALLY Residents of Marawi City’s “most affected area” on Friday troop to ground zero of the 2017 siege to protest what they consider “unjust” valuation of their properties destroyed during the fighting between government troops and Islamic extremists. —photo courtesy of Drieza Lininding

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Residents of Marawi City displaced by the five-month war between government forces and Islamic State-linked militants in 2017 trooped to the conflict’s “ground zero” in the city on Monday to protest what they claimed as an “unjust valuation” of their properties destroyed during the siege.

Drieza Lininding, chair of the Moro Consensus Group, said at least 300 of the displaced residents also signed a position paper during the rally held at the Rizal Park questioning the use of a Lanao del Sur provincial ordinance setting the fair market value of properties in the province as the “sole basis” for computing the value of structures lost or destroyed during the war.

The valuation is being used to compensate the property owners, in keeping with Republic Act No. 11696 or the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act of 2022.

The position paper, which still has to be sent to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Senate President Miguel Zubiri, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, among other top officials in the country, questioned the use of the ordinance as the basis for evaluating the residents’ damaged properties as, according to the protesters, it ran contrary to what was specified in RA 11696.

Lamentable

Lininding said the Lanao del Sur Provincial Board earlier adopted the local ordinance for the valuation of real properties in the province but not for the purpose of evaluating the fair market value of structures or properties lost during the five-month fighting between government troops and Islamic extremists who laid siege of the city from May to October 2017.

“Lamentably, the MCB (Marawi Compensation Board) surprised the claimants and the public when it applied Ordinance No. 02 Series of 2021 ordained by the Provincial Board of Lanao del Sur in the determination of the fair market value,” read part of the position paper, copies of which would also be sent to Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman and Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa, head of the Senate oversight committee on Marawi compensation.

Aside from Liniding, the other Maranao leaders who signed the petition included Khuzaimah Maranda, executive director of Thuma ko Kapagingud Service Organization; Abulkhair Alibasa, chair of the Bangsamoro Successors Generation Network; Mohammad Saad Indar, vice president of Mindanao Center for Local Governance Inc.; Mayhara Radia, board member of the Provincial Women Council; Bai Padoman Paporo, convenor of the Marawi Civil Society Organizations Convergence Group; and Musa Sultan, president of Saksi Radio Forum and Frequency.

Too low

Bringing placards that read, “No to Depreciation, implement the law,” “Scrap the depreciated fair market value method used by the MCB,” “Give justice, we are [behind] 7 years,” the protesters braved the heat of the sun to express what they felt was an unjust implementation of the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act.

Speaking during the rally, Sahara Macapundag Tambara, a resident of Barangay Lumbac Marinaut, said at least 70 percent of her bungalow glass house was destroyed during the siege, but the technical committee tasked with assessing the destruction of her property only pegged the destruction at 30 percent.

“What can P240,000 do to repair the damaged part of my house? That will only repair two rooms,” she said in Tagalog. She said her roof still appeared to be complete because it was sturdily built by skilled carpenters from Cebu City, but much of the other parts of the house were already damaged.

Barangay Lumbac Marinaut was among the villages considered the most affected by the fighting in 2017.

In a message to the Inquirer on Monday, the MCB said it used the fair market value set by the Lanao del Sur provincial government to compare with the replacement cost, as computed in the updated Post-Conflict Needs Assessment done for Marawi.

According to the MCB, it applied the lower amount to award the compensation. —with a report from Ryan D. Rosauro