Marawi board signs P1-b reparations for conflict victims

MARAWI Compensation Board signed the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) on Tuesday, enabling the disbursement of P1 billion in tax-free reparations to those who suffered property loss and casualties during the five-month battle between government forces and militants in Marawi City in 2017.

Lawyer Maisara Dandamub-Latiph, chair of the Marawi Compensation Board said the suffering of thousands of residents displaced by the fighting would soon be over with the signing of the IRR.

Latiph said what is left to hurdle is the publication of the IRR in two newspapers with national circulation—for transparency

“After 15 days, the real work will begin as board will start evaluating the claims and schedule the payments,” Latiph said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has tasked the  nine-member Marawi Compensation Board to facilitate the tax-free reparations payment for residents who lost properties and lives during  the five-month fighting in 2017.

Latiph said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) had already allotted P1 billion for the reparations.

Marawi Compensation Board member Atty. Mabandes Diron Jr.,  said government would pay P35,000 per square meter for any concrete building that have been destroyed and alloted  P18,000 per square meter  payment for wooden houses destroyed.

Diron said the board is authorize to give a P350,000 compensation package  for families who lost a relative who got killed in the crossfire during the fighting.

Another MCB member Atty. Moslemen Macarambon Sr., said the board, however, would be strict in requiring that all claims would be supported by documents.

“If they say their hardware store was burn down, they must present invoices of their stocks. No document means no pay,” Macarambon said.

After waiting for six years, 47-year-old Jaslia Abbas is elated that she would finally be compensated for her house that was destroyed in the five-months fighting between government soldiers and Maute gunmen in Marawi City.

Abbas, mother of six children, said she could finally rebuild her destroyed home in Barangay Moncado in Marawi City which she left  in 2017 to leave a life of a nomad, transferring from one evacuation camp to another.

“I have waited for six years for this. I pray that the money will bring some closure to the pain of uncertainty I bear for all these years,” Abbas said.

Abbas sat on the sidelines at the newly renovated Rizal Park in Marawi City as  the nine-member Marawi Compensation Board signed the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) that would roll out the P1-billion tax-free reparations payment for residents who lost properties and lives during the five-month fighting.

Rep. Zia  Alonto Adiong  (1^st district, Lanao del Sur) reminded the board that  its main job is not only to give the financial compensation to the affected residents.

“The board should see to it that it is just and it should listen to the people who have suffered so much in the past six years,” Adiong said.

Adiong said most Marawi residents are still in shock after seeing their city razed to the ground during the fighting.

“The bullet-riddled and flattened houses that we see is a constant reminder of the cries of the children who lived in evacuation camps,” Adiong said.

Drieza Liningding of the Marawi Consensus Group said 5,000 families are still living in temporary shelters six years after the Marawi siege and almost all are struggling to get back their lives.

Most of Marawi’s section called the Main Affected Area (MAA), where the militants made their last stand, is still off-limits to residents although the government has constructed new mosques, buildings and a sprawling sports stadium.