DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 15 October) — The Marawi Compensation Board (MCB) aims to compensate next year 2,500 claimants out of 11,200 validated owners of structures destroyed in 2017 during the five-month war in Marawi City between government forces and the Islamic State-inspired Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups.

But with only a billion pesos approved as compensation fund in 2024 instead of the MCB’s proposed P7 billion,  only around 300 claimants can be compensated, further delaying the return of some 80,000 residents displaced by the war whose “liberation” marks its sixth year on Tuesday, October 17. 

Lanao del Sur 1^st district Representative Zia Alonto Adiong, chair of the House of Representatives’ Special Committee on Marawi Rehabilitation and Recovery and chair of the House Oversight Committee on Marawi victims’ compensation, told MindaNews they will continue to push for the increase during the Bicameral Conference Committee hearings. 

MindaNews sought Adiong’s counterpart in the special Marawi committee and oversight committee, Senator Ronald dela Rosa, but he had not replied as of 9 p.m. Sunday. 

Senator Risa Hontiveros, who was among the principal authors of the compensation law,  told MindaNews she would forward the MCB’s appeal to her budget team. 

In his State of the Nation Address last July 24, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared “babangon na ang Marawi” (Marawi will rise now), noting the completion of projects, including infrastructure, and the start of processing of compensation claims for victims of the Marawi Siege “upang sila ay makapagsimula muli” (so they can start anew).  “Nawa’y mamayani ang pag-asa. Nawa’y magpatuloy ang pagkakaisa, pagmamatyag, at paghahangad ng kapayapaan at kaunlaran” (May hope prevail. May the unity, vigilance, and pursuit of peace and prosperity continue), he said.  

Marcos appointed the nine-member board on January 31 this year, seven months after he took over as President. The nine-member MCB, chaired by lawyer Maisara Latiph, set up the office, came out with the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) in May and started receiving claims on July 4.

Under RA 11696 or the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act of 2022, the Board ceases to function five years after the effectivity of the IRR. Signed last May 23, on the sixth anniversary of the siege, the IRR took effect in June and will cease to function by June 2028. 

The law provides that Marawi residents displaced by the siege in 2017 will receive tax-free monetary compensation for those whose properties were destroyed; those who lost their loved ones; and those whose properties were demolished during the implementation of the Marawi Recovery, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction Program (MRRRP). 

To be compensated are those who suffered total or partial destruction of their residential property; cultural property and facilities such as mosques, madaris, schools and colleges, hospitals and other health facilities; commercial property or those used exclusively for commercial or business purposes; and other properties such as “house appliances, jewelries, machineries, rice mills, and other equipment of value” in 32 of Marawi City’s 96 barangays that were devastated by the war, 24 of these in the former main battle area or what is now referred to as the Most Affected Area (MAA) and eight other barangays also affected, referred to as Other Affected Area (OAA).

6,048 claims; P9.15 billion worth

In its presentation before Congress, the MCB said that from July 4 to September 18, it received a total of 6,048 claims: 65 for death, 74 for structural, 1,858 for other property and 4,041 for multiple claims. The total amount of claims is P9.15 billion, P9.1 billion of that for structural and P45.3 million for death. 

According to the MCB, it has evaluated 362 claims, amounting to P1,023,648,559 as of September.

In his manifestation on the floor of the House of Representatives on September 27, Adiong noted that based on a conservative estimate of P3.3 million per structure and P890,000 for personal property claims, there is a need for P10.475 billion to ensure compensation for 2,500 structures for 2024, keeping the Board on track to accomplish its mandate within five years. 

The MCB noted that the average claim, “based on historical data,” is P3.3 million or P8.2 billion for 2,500 claimants. Latiph said this is just an estimate and “will still be subject to adjudication.” For 2024, the MCB proposed a budget of P7.2 billion, P7 billion as compensation fund and the remaining P247 million for personnel services, maintenance and other operating expenses and capital outlay.

The MCB also pointed out that the target of 2,500 claimants next year represents less than 25% of the 11,800 validated structure owners.  

Adiong said there is an “urgent need” to increase the budget allocation for the compensation fund because a billion peso budget is “not sufficient to provide for the completion of our lofty goal within the five year period … given by law.”

Adiong said displaced Marawi residents have been waiting for six years to return home. 

When the Board ceases to function by June 2028, it will have been 11 years since the 2017 siege. 

“Wait and suffer a while longer”

“How does the government ensure that it can compensate them in time? How will the government respond if the number of validated and approved claims exceeds the allocated amount of P1B for FY 2024? Will we tell these victims to wait and endure their suffering a while longer?” Adiong asked. 

He appealed for an increase in the budget for the victims of the Marawi Siege “upang makakamit nila ang ganap na hustisya?” (so they can achieve full justice).

“If the amount of claims exceeds the allocated amount, may we be assured that the additional funds needed be chargeable against the FY 2024 unprogrammed allocations?” Adiong asked. 

Latiph said the one billion pesos allocated for compensation this year will be fully utilized by yearend. On September 21, Latiph said they had 900-million peso claims assessed and evaluated and “ready for adjudication by the Board before the year ends.” 

Compensation amount 

According to the IRR, the minimum amount of P350,000 will be given to the heirs of those who died or are legally presumed dead during the siege; that for damaged structures of the lawful owner/s, the amount will be “based on the fair market value 

or replacement cost of totally or repair cost of partially damaged structures of residential, cultural, commercial properties located in the MAA or OAA, whichever is lower.”

For totally damaged structures, the standard replacement costing shall be used as a basis for valuation by the Board upon the recommendation of the Secretariat: P18,000 per square meter for pure concrete; P13,500 per square meter for mixed concrete and wood; and P9,000 per sqm for light or pure wooden.

For partially damaged structure, the standard costing for repair per scope of work are: P12,000 per sqm for pure concrete; P9,000 per sqm for mixed concrete and wood; and P6,000 per sqm for light or pure wooden.

Deputy Minority Leader Mujiv Hataman of Basilan, who served as Governor of the now defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao from December 2011 to February 2019, last month said the displaced Marawi residents have waited so long to rebuild their lives. 

“Hangga’t hindi sila nakakabalik sa kanilang mga tirahan at hindi naitatayo ang kanilang mga tahanan, patuloy ang bangungot para sa kanila” (Until they return to their villages and rebuild their houses, their nightmare will continue), Hataman lamented.

Before the House and Senate bills on Marawi compensation were consolidated into what is now RA 11696, most of them proposed 30 billion pesos compensation fund at 10 billion pesos a year for three years. 

But RA 11696 is silent on the amount to be allocated. It merely says that “such amount as may be necessary for the implementation of this Act shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.”  (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)