HOPEFUL Residents of Marawi City walk home amid buildings ruined by the 2017 siege in this photo taken in October 2024. The city pins its hope on compensation for damaged properties for its full recovery from the five-month conflict eight years ago. 鈥擱YAN D. ROSAURO
ILIGAN CITY鈥擟ivil society organizations in Lanao del Sur have expressed ambivalence over proposed changes in the implementing rules of the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act (Republic Act No. 11696) which are supposedly aimed to hasten the pace of the process of compensating those who lost properties and loved ones during the five-month battle in 2017 between government forces and Islamic State-linked militants.
On Thursday, the Marawi Compensation Board (MCB) held a public consultation to seek views from residents, especially the claimants, on the proposed changes.
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Enacted in 2022, RA 11696 provides compensation to those who lost loved ones and properties during the siege that devastated Marawi鈥檚 main commercial district.
The law also provides compensation for those whose properties were taken from them by the government as part of the rebuilding of public infrastructure or were destroyed in the course of clearing the war-affected communities of unexploded ordnance, all under the Marawi Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Program (MRRP).
Based on a draft of the amended implementing rules, the MCB had sought to transfer responsibility for overseeing claims by property owners affected by the MRRP to concerned agencies.
NEW STRUCTURE A sports complex has been built in an area in Marawi City that used to host a residential district and commercial shops before terror groups laid siege to the city. 鈥擱YAN D. ROSAURO
Fear of another delay
According to Johary Ayo, Lanao del Sur coordinator of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society, the impending transfer of responsibility could potentially affect 2,500 claimants, some of whom had already received checks from the government after their claims had been approved.
These claimants are from the villages of Datu sa Dansalan, Dansalan, Datu Naga, and Sabala Manao, which host, among others, the Marawi Convention Center, sports stadium, peace park, heritage center, and other facilities.
Another concern for the claimants, Ayo said, is the fate of applications for compensation they had submitted to the MCB.
鈥淭here is apprehension these could start from square one, which naturally upsets them. The claimants should not bear another round of delay,鈥� Ayo explained.
The MCB opened the filing of claims on July 4, 2023, and concluded on July 3, 2024, garnering a total of 14,495 applications for compensation. Of these, 8,393 were for multiple claims, 209 for structures, 5,701 for other property claims, and 192 for deaths.
As of March 24, 1,391 claims had been approved, amounting to some P2.39 billion, and about P1.44 billion of these had been paid to 848 claimants.
13,000 claims left
Barring any extension to its mandate, the MCB has just over three years to process over 13,000 claims.
A proposed change in the decision-making process on claims, which is sought to be reflected in amended implementing rules, is thought to help expedite the MCB鈥檚 work.
In the proposal, claims amounting to P5 million will be adjudicated by an MCB division composed of three members. This means the nine-member MCB will have three adjudicating divisions.
Appeals by the claimants will be resolved by the MCB en banc. Claims above P5 million will also be handled by the MCB en banc.
The body is now led by former judge and Commission on Elections Commissioner Moslemen Macarambon Sr., who replaced lawyer Maisara Dandamun-Latiph.
Macarambon had vowed to keep, if not improve on, the momentum set by the previous MCB leadership.