By Froilan Gallardo
Special Correspondent
MARAWI rehabilitation czar Eduardo del Rosario on Tuesday said “75 to 85 percent of the reconstruction of the bombed-out city is already completed almost four years after it was destroyed in the five-month fighting between government troops and ISIL-inspired Maute group in 2017.
Speaking before the Senate Special Committee on Marawi Rehabilitation chaired by Senator Ronald de la Rosa, del Rosario said they have completed the construction of five mosques, major road systems, and major facilities like barangay halls in the Most Affected Area (MAA) in Marawi City.
Del Rosario, who heads Task Force Bangon Marawi, said residents of sector 4 to sector 7 in the MAA would be allowed to return and build their houses next month in time for the 4th anniversary of Marawi liberation from the ISIL-inspired Maute group who took over the city in 2017.
He said residents of sectors 1 to 3 have already been allowed to return and construct their homes since early this year.
Del Rosario said they had also completed the construction of some 4,916 temporary shelters and some 4,214 Marawi internally displaced persons have already occupied these houses.
He said 558 permanent shelters have been constructed out of the planned 2,706 houses.
“All of these constructions will be completed by December 2021,” del Rosario said.
Marawi Mayor Majul Gandamra said they have already approved 1,000 out of the 2,000 applications of residents who applied for building permits.
Gandamra said the delay in approval is land ownership and the difficulty in meeting the requirements by the applicants.
He said they have required landowners to present documents that they gave their consent in case there are other applications on their property.
“Mostly the applicants are siblings since the land was not legally divided by their parents,” Gandamra said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for refugees, in its May 2020 report said 120,000 Marawi residents are still displaced and in need of protection and support.
The report said Covid-19 heightens the risk of the families and their communities because of limited access to hygiene facilities like water that is difficult to come by in the transitory shelters.
Del Rosario and Gandamra testimonies before the senate committee received some flak from Marawi civil society groups and leaders.
Former Rep. Faysah Dumarpa (1st district, Lanao del Sur) said only 207 shelters, not 4,916 as reported; five barangay halls out of 25; and only five mosques out of 37, finished construction by Task Force Bangon Marawi.
“But all of that will not be used if the Marawi residents are not allowed to go back to their homes,” Dumarpa told the Senate Committee.
“What use will be the mosques, barangay halls if there are no people to use them,” Dumarpa said.
Bangsamoro Transition Authority Member Anna Tarhata Basman said the non-return of Marawi residents to their ancestral homes inside the city has become “an emotional issue.”
Aside from returning to their homes, Basman said the unresolved issues of the looting during the Marawi siege and the killings of Maranaos have thinned out the patience of the residents.
Another BTA member parliament Maisara Dandamun-Latiph said she received complaints that the local government of Marawi City is asking for “excessive property taxes.”
Latiph said it would be unfair to require landowners to pay the taxes considering they lost everything during the siege.
Gandamra denied this saying the City Council has passed a resolution in 2020 condoning the payment of taxes as a requirement for the application of building permits.
