MARAWI residents should now be allowed to return unhampered to sections of this Islamic City now that the government is beginning to start the process of compensation for lives and properties lost during the five months of fighting in 2017, an NGO leader said.
Moro Consensus Group leader Drieza Lininding said allowing the resident to return unhampered to closed sections of the city would restore normalcy to a city shattered by the war.
“Twenty-four barangays in the city are still off-limits to residents. Soldiers still control the flow of vehicular traffic to these closed sections,” Lininding said.
Lininding said it was clear that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., wants to bring back normalcy in Marawi City to clear the way for its rehabilitation.
During his second State of the Nation Address last Monday, Marcos Jr., reiterated his commitment to rebuilding Marawi City and its rehabilitation.
“Six years after the intense conflict. Marawi City is set to rise again. The community’s vibrancy is being restored. Numerous projects have been completed and infrastructure is being built,” Marcos Jr., said.
The government has provided P1 billion to pay for the lives and properties lost during the fighting between the military and Daesh-inspired Maute gunmen.
Its implementing agency, The Marawi Compensation Board started accepting applications for compensation on July 4 from the affected residents.
Lininding said the newly constructed mosques, sports stadium, and barangay halls should be made available for use by the Marawi residents otherwise they would fall to decay.
He said Marawi residents have to go through a myriad of army checkpoints to get through the receiving center of the Marawi Compensation Board in Barangay Marinaut West.
At the receiving center, “Zaud” and seven of his siblings accompanied their mother in processing their documents with lawyers from the board assisting them.
“ I am filing a claim of P250,000 for the loss of (pieces of jewelry) and other valuables,” said “Zaud,” who asked this reporter to use only his nickname.
He said this is one of the few times his siblings and mother came together after the fighting burned down their family compound of several houses.
Zaud said before the compound was destroyed, their family was closely-knit sharing tasks and enjoying moments as one big family.
“I miss those days when we were living closely together. True that we have now individual houses but we are living far away from each other,” he said.
He said these are things most Marawi residents lost because of the war.
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