By FROILAN GALLARDO
Special Correspondent
MARAWI City ― With one year and nine months left for President Duterte administration, a beehive of construction activity can be heard across the ruined city.
Workers are busy pouring cement on Marawi’s main street, Quezon Avenue; construction of barangay halls; and groundbreaking of the Bato Mosque topped the agenda on October 17, the day when President Duterte declared Marawi City “free from terrorist influence.”
Task Force Bangon Marawi Chief Eduardo del Rosario expressed confidence that the government reconstruction efforts can be completed by December 2021, six months before the term of President Duterte ends.
“We can complete all the public infrastructure by the end of December 2021,” Del Rosario told reporters as he toured the project sites on Saturday.
Del Rosario said five construction companies are now engaged in the reconstruction of Marawi’s road system.
He said these construction companies have donated money and labor to rebuild 30 mosques destroyed in the five-month fighting.
“Bato Mosque and Grand Mosque will be the first and four more mosques will follow,” Del Rosario said.
Del Rosario said the construction of barangay halls in Marawi is ongoing and on schedule.
He said the United Nations Human Settlements Program has provided free permanent shelters for 1,500 residents in Barangay Kilala, Marawi City.
Del Rosario said much of the funding for the construction of public buildings came from the 2020 budget for the Marawi rehabilitation amounting to P3.56 billion.
He said out of the total approved budget, P1.91 billion will be given to the National Housing Authority (NHA) for the continuation of the temporary and permanent housing programs.
Del Rosario said about P155.7 million is allocated for the Marawi Permanent Shelter Program of the Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC)
“I am confident we can finish eighty percent of the construction of all public infrastructures in nine months,” he said.
Del Rosario they have already allowed Marawi residents to return to their homes provided they get their own building permits and can provide their own financing.
He said construction for the houses of residents destroyed in the fighting is waiting for the passage of the “Marawi Compensation Package still pending in Congress.
The House Committee on Disaster Resilience chaired by Leyte 4th district Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez approved the draft committee report on the still unnumbered substitute bill for the proposed “Marawi Compensation Act” and has endorsed for plenary passage.
The proposed measure seeks to provide for the monetary compensation for the loss or destruction of residential houses, commercial buildings, and other properties in Marawi City during the 2017 siege.
Drieza Liningding, chair of the Moro Consensus Group said all the efforts made by Task Force Bangon Marawi will amount to nothing without the reconstruction of the houses of Marawi residents.
“Marawi is made up of its residents not public buildings,” Liningding said.
Liningding said the government should have secured first the funding for the reconstruction of houses.
Bangsamoro Parliament Member Zia Alonto Adiong said Del Rosario makes sure that the money for the construction is already on the pipeline.
“It is a welcome development but much of this is pinned on the budget. If you do not have the money, you can not continue,” Adiong said.
“Otherwise the reconstruction of Marawi will haunt the Duterte administration forever,” he added.
Liningding said the residents will continue to demand the reconstruction even if a new administration will come to power after 2022.
Disclaimer
Mindanao Gold Star Daily holds the copyrights of all articles and photos in perpetuity. Any unauthorized reproduction in any platform, electronic and hardcopy, shall be liable for copyright infringement under the Intellectual Property Rights Law of the Philippines.
