Construction workers walk past damage buildings inside the “Most Affected Area” in Marawi City on April 27, 2022. MindaNews photo by FROILAN GALLARDO
MARAWI CITY (MindaNews / 29 April) – The General Appropriations Act (GAA) must include an allocation for the compensation of victims of the five-month long Marawi siege in 2017 to ensure payment for the affected residents, Musa Sanguila, director of Pakigdait, a peace-building civil society organization said.
“Without the money, compensating the residents would be nothing but cheap words,” Sanguila said Wednesday.
The GAA sets the budget for all government expenditures in a given year.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act No. 11696, or “An Act Providing Compensation for the Loss or Destruction of Properties and Loss of Lives as a Result of the 2017 Marawi Siege, and Appropriating Funds Therefor” on April 13,” two days before the bill would have lapsed into law.
The approval of the measure was announced Wednesday by Communications Secretary and acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar.
The law provides for the creation of a nine-member board that would process compensation claims, but does not say how much each claimant could receive.
The core of Marawi, which was totally destroyed during the siege, remains uninhabitable. Thousands of residents are still living in transitional shelters at the outskirts of the city.
Zia Alonto Adiong, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao Parliament Member said RA 11696 “unequivocally” acknowledges the claims of Marawi residents to their land and reparations.
“The people of Marawi know how difficult the process of healing and rebuilding but having the law affirms our years of struggle and suffering,” said Adiong whose ancestral home was among those destroyed during the fighting.
Drieza Lininding, head of the Marawi Consensus Group said RA 11696 would become a precedent for any future conflicts that would affect the lives and properties of the Moro people.
“There will be no more Moro life, properties and communities that can be destroyed without due compensation or paying the price,” Lininding said.
The NGO International Alert Philippines said the Act establishes a precedent for future victims of war and destruction and an important milestone for the Marawi residents.
“We now have a stronger resolve to move forward, begin rebuilding our properties and trace our path to recovery,” Jalilah Saplin, a member of the Marawi Reconstruction Conflict Watch, said.
Charlito Manlupig, chair of Balay Mindanaw Foundation congratulated Marawi residents and the survivors, saying RA 11696 “is not just about compensation but more importantly about pushing what is just for the residents.
