By Froilan Gallardo .
MARAWI City—The iconic Dansalan Bato Ali mosque where Daesh Maute gunmen held their hostages during the 2017 Marawi siege, is scheduled to be demolished on Monday.
The structure of the mosque is heavily damaged by the five months of fighting during the siege.
An aerial bomb even punched a huge hole from its roof down to its basement.
“It is so structurally damage that it is impossible to rebuild it. We have to demolished the mosque and build a new one,” Task Force Bangon Marawi Chair Secretary Eduardo del Rosario.
He said the old structure of the Dansalan Bato Ali mosque will be the demolished and replaced with a new one at the cost of P105 million.
Del Rosario said the family of Marawi Mayor Majul Gandamra and the 21 sultans of Dansalan or Marawi City have given the approval to demolish the mosque.
He said the money would be coming from the donations from the contractors who have business interests in the reconstruction of Marawi City.
“We could not have done this if this is government funded because the Commission on Audit would never allow this,” Del Rosario said.
He said aside from Dansalan Bato Ali Mosque, Task Force Bangon Marawi are eyeing to demolish Jamie’O Mindanao Al Islami or the Grand Mosque; Disomangcop Mosque; Sultan Macabando Mosque; the Shiek Abdul Rahman Pacasum Mosque or the White Mosque; and the Masjid Darussalam.
Del Rosario said they are hoping the demolition of the Grand Mosque would follow if the negotiations with its administrators would succeed.
He said they designed a budget of P900 million to rebuild the mosques but only have P300 million on hand.
Del Rosario said Maranao architects were hired to design the new mosques with provisions that their owners would have a free hand to change it to their satisfaction.
Sultan Nasser Sampaco who were among those who approved for the demolition of the Dansalan Bato Ali Mosque said the mosque was constructed in 1950s.
During Martial Law, Sampaco said they mosque was burned to the ground and the land was converted into a cemetery.
“It took many years to rebuild it through donations from our community,” he said.
Sampaco said the construction of the Dansalan Bato Ali Mosque was finished in 1980.
