Armm to survey lands in Marawi city

By TENG DATU
Cotabato City Bureau Chief

Marawi City — As part of Task Force Bangon Marawi’s (TFBM) recovery, reconstruction, and rehabilitation program, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, through its Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-Armm), will survey the lands in Marawi City in line with the establishment of additional temporary and permanent shelters.

During TFBM’s meeting with regional, provincial and national government officials in Marawi on Wednesday, Armm Governor Mujiv Hataman has committed to help the task force in conducting a comprehensive survey of lands in Marawi City to determine the political boundaries of local government units and the properties of private owners.

“We assure help in the land surveys in Marawi for the fast set up of the shelters,” Hataman said. “This is also the Armm’s counterpart for the rehabilitation program in the sub-cluster on housing,” he added.

Following the creation of Task Force Bangon Marawi by President Rodrigo Duterte, Hataman established an internal task force to ensure proper coordination and implementation of programs and projects in Marawi City when the current crisis is over. Official data from the DENR-Armm showed Marawi has a total land area of 8,407 hectares.

TFBM executive director and concurrent National Defense undersecretary Cesar Yano said the local government of Marawi City must submit immediately the list of families who want to stay in permanent homes and those who prefer to stay in temporary shelters while the recovery and rehabilitation of the city are ongoing.

“As soon as possible, we need to have a location for temporary and permanent shelters for displaced residents in Marawi City,” Yano said.

Chairperson Eduardo del Rosario of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council said the government will provide shelter units that are culturally and socially acceptable.

“Para po sa temporary at permanent shelters, uunahin po natin yung mga residenteng walang bahay, walang lupa, yung wala talagang mauuwian,” del Rosario said. “We will develop a township with social services, schools, health centers, and mosques,” he added.

After the TFBM meeting, the national, regional and local officials visited the 11-hectare temporary transitional shelters in Barangay Sagonsongan that will serve as a temporary resettlement for displaced residents of Marawi. The shelter units, to be completed within a month, would accommodate at least 1,200 families.

“The main purpose of building transition shelters is to decongest evacuation centers and to provide them with more conducive areas,” Hataman said. (with reports from bpi armm)