MANILA – How exactly the government will rehabilitate Marawi remains unclear a year after war between state forces and Islamic State-linked militants erupted in the southern city, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said.
A fierce critic of the Duterte administration, Trillanes sought an investigation into rehabilitation efforts in the conflict-stricken areas.
The government has yet to present a “comprehensive” rehabilitation plan, said the senator.
Trillanes also wanted to look into the circumstances that led to the five-month clash between government troops and the Maute group.
The government’s efforts “are hampered by a number of issues, from questionable contractors that would rebuild the city to displacement or land-grabbing fears of affected residents,” he said.
In Senate Resolution 742, Trillanes said the Senate Special Committee on Marawi City Rehabilitation must examine the status of reconstruction plans, and relief and rehabilitation.
On the other hand, his Senate Resolution 743 urges the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security to institute policies to avoid similar conflicts from happening again.
“There should be joint efforts between the Department of National Defense and other government agencies to assess the lessons, including lapses on the part of the government, why the battle between the government forces and the terrorists lasted five months,” Trillanes said.
“Months before the siege, the government knew about the impending crisis,” the senator claimed.
President Rodrigo Duterte “even challenged the Maute group to burn Marawi,” said Trillanes. “Despite this, the government was not able to prevent the conflict.”
A year after the war, affected residents “continue to suffer and remain to be on the losing end of this crisis,” he added. “How can the government alleviate their suffering if until now it has no final and comprehensive rehabilitation plan?”
Sen. Panfilo Lacson defended how to the Duterte administration dealt with the war in Marawi City.
“The way (Duterte) responded to the Marawi siege was more than all our expectations,” said Lacson. “Without mental reservation, I’d say none of our leaders before him could have done better than he did.”
After the clash erupted, Duterte on May 23 last year declared a 60-day martial law in Mindanao – which was, with approval from Congress, extended until the end of 2018.
“Decisive, strong-willed, focused, and strong” was how Lacson described the declaration of martial law in the southern major island.
For his part Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian urged the government to “renew its commitment to helping the people of Marawi rebuild their homes, their communities, their lives.”
The Department of Education should also “mobilize all of the necessary resources to ensure that the right to education of the 31,000 displaced students will not suffer,” he said.
“The fighting has long ended but the difficult task of getting things back in order has only just begun,” he said. “We must take this occasion to reiterate our full support for the government’s efforts to build Marawi into a peaceful and prosperous city.”/PN
