FOR 52-year-old Johary Naga Pacasum, eight years at a temporary shelter has felt like a lifetime. He had long given up hope that he and his family would ever return to their ancestral home in what is known as Marawi City’s “Most Affected Area.”
Clutching a thick folder of papers, Pacasum said the documents were proof of his application for government compensation promised to residents whose homes were destroyed and who were displaced during the five-month battle to retake the city from ISIS-inspired militants in 2017.
Pacasum said he filed his claim with the Marawi Compensation Board (MCB) two years ago. Since then, his application — along with thousands of others — has remained in limbo.
“I’ve literally given up hope of returning. Even Barmm (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) couldn’t help us. They’re busy with their own problems,” he said.
According to MCB data, as of September 2025, only 1,455 claimants have been paid out of the 14,495 residents who filed compensation claims since the board was created in 2022 under the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act (Republic Act No. 11696).
The MCB was established to process payments for Marawi residents affected by the siege.
MCB spokesperson Johary Lumna said the board has released P2.447 billion to the 1,465 claimants whose applications have been processed and approved.
Lumna said 64 disapproved death claims, were denied due to the claimants’ failure to provide substantial evidence, as required under RA 11696 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations.
He added that the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) were amended in June 2025 to clarify how compensation for private properties would be handled.
“The majority of approved claims fall under Multiple Claims (MC), which include residential structural claims and their corresponding personal property claims,” Lumna said.
He added that the business sector and damaged school structures have been included in compensation processing for structural damage, with only the valuation of contents pending under the Optional Standard Valuation (OSV), which the MBC is currently finalizing.
Under the revised IRR, compensation for private properties demolished during the Marawi Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program — including those cleared for unexploded ordnance — will now be handled by the National Housing Authority (NHA).
Lumna said 3,388 claimants from four barangays — Datu Naga, Datu sa Dansalan, Dansalan and Sabalamanaw — will be affected by the transfer.
“People do not want to be transferred to the NHA; they want to remain under the MCB,” he said.
For Pacasum, the wait has become unbearable. He wishes the board would simply distribute the compensation money in lump sums to claimants like him.
He said his family — his wife and five children — continue to endure daily hardship at the temporary shelter in Area 6A, Barangay Sagonsongan, in Marawi City.
“The profits from our small sari-sari store and bakery can barely feed us,” he said.
Each morning, Pacasum steps out of the cramped shelter with one thought in mind: to find any job, no matter how small, that might stretch their meager meals for another day.
