P90B needed to rehabilitate Marawi City – town chief

The local government of Marawi City would need P90 billion to fully rehabilitate and rebuild the war-torn area, its mayor said on Friday.

Marawi City Mayor Majul Usman Gandamra said the amount would cover not just the rebuilding of the destroyed structures and facilities but also different social and economic programs.

“Kung aayusin po natin ang (If we will rebuild) Marawi City, hindi lang po natin ibabalik sa dati (we will not only rebuild it to its previous state) but, of course, we will make it better than it was before, yun po ang ating gusto (That’s what we want),” Gandamra said in a press briefing.

“And of course, no amount of money that can compensate what happened in Marawi City,” he added.

Gandamra said almost 100 percent of the city’s economic operations collapsed because of the war.

The amount would also cover peace-building activities to prevent extremist ideologies from seeping through the community again.

“And of course, in terms of peace-building kasama rin po yan. (that is included) Hindi lang po in terms of rehabilitating or reconstructing physical structures or the damage sa structures,” he said.

In September, President Rodrigo Duterte said that P50 billion would not be enough to rebuild Marawi City.

The Senate, on the other hand, has earmarked P10 billion from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (NDRRM) 2018 fund to rehabilitate the war-torn city.  /kga