By Froilan Gallardo
Special Correspondent

DESPITE funding considerations the Senate Committee passed on the second reading of the Marawi compensation bill last Friday that would indemnify property losses and lives lost during the siege in 2017.

The Senate Committee on Finance chaired by Senator Juan Edgardo Angara passed the two bills, Senate Bills no. 1395 and 2394 after a resolution was raised by Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri and seconded by senators Ronald Bato and Risa Hontiveros.

Angara said the two bills would be merged in the next hearing that would be scheduled in the next few days.

The House of Representatives has already passed House Bill 9925 providing compensation at the current market value for all of the properties lost in the 2017 siege of Marawi.

“We are happy that the legislation for the compensation of Marawi residents has inched closer into law,” Drieza Liningding, chair of the Moro Consensus Group, said.

Bangsamoro Transition Authority Member Anna Tarhata Basman said the passage of the compensation bill would bring “the final healing process” of the Marawi residents who have lost their properties during the five-month fighting.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Eduardo del Rosario, who heads the Task Force Bangon Marawi, also expressed support to the passage of the bills by the Senate Finance Committee.

“If this comes to the law, it will blaze a trail on how to compensate property losses in future similar incidents in the country,” del Rosario said.

Del Rosario said government-led rehabilitation in Marawi is 85 percent completed and is hopeful all infrastructure projects would be done before President Rodrigo Duterte’s term ends in 2022.

Department of Budget and Management Assistant Secretary Cristina Clasara, however, raised concerns about where the money for compensation would come from.

Citing a 2018 opinion by former DBM Secretary Wendel Avisado, Clasara said the current Covid-19 pandemic has already put so much strain on the country’s finances.

“We might not hit our financial targets if we proceed with the compensation bill,” she said.