Gov’t to set aside P10B to rebuild war-torn Islamic city

The government would set aside P10 billion to rebuild war-torn Marawi City after Islamic State (IS)-linked terrorists who besieged the city were wiped out or driven away, Malacañang said on Saturday.

The “Bangon Marawi” recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation program will be led by the Department of National Defense and will involve the Departments of Public Works and Highways, Education, Social Welfare and Development, Energy, and Trade and Industry, said presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella.

“We assure you that the President is deeply concerned for the city, the region and the island’s well-being and is very hands-on to ensure that normalcy will be restored at the soonest possible time and serve people’s aspirations for a comfortable life for all,” Abella said on state-owned Radyo ng Bayan.

An executive order to be issued by President Duterte would set aside the funds and assign the agencies that would be mobilized for the rebuilding of the Islamic city.

It is being reviewed by the Office of the Executive Secretary, according to Abella.

Large swaths of the city of more than 200,000 have been destroyed or severely damaged by gun battles, airstrikes and shelling since May 23 when Abu Sayyaf and Maute group fighters started their siege in what the military said was an attempt to turn Marawi into a wilayat, or a province, of the IS.

The attacks prompted the President to declare martial law in the whole of Mindanao.

Reconstruction efforts would begin after fighting stops and the military clears the city to ensure it is safe for residents and workers.

The clearing operation would take about two weeks, and reconstruction and rehabilitation work would run for at least six months, Abella said.

“Bangon Marawi will be undertaken by the engineering brigade of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under the auspices of the to be named undersecretary, with the expressed purpose of bringing back residents and normal everyday life as soon as possible,” Abella said.

AFP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla earlier said the military was preparing the units that could assist in rebuilding Marawi.

“We want to tell our countrymen in Marawi that we will not leave Marawi just like that,” Padilla said.

The fighting has killed 58 soldiers and police, 21 civilians and 138 terrorists as of Saturday. Nearly all of Marawi’s residents have fled the gun battles to nearby towns and cities with hardly any of their belongings.

Pictures and videos of parts of the devastated city showed bombed out and burnt buildings, pockmarked with bullet holes while concrete rubble littered the streets—scenes similar to the IS battlegrounds in the Middle East.