Effective roadmap to compensate Marawi siege victims sought

MANILA – The Marawi Compensation Board (MCB) must develop a five-year roadmap on how it will go about its gargantuan task of compensating tens of thousands of Marawi siege victims.

Deputy Minority Leader and Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman on Tuesday said that even if Congress can always extend the MCB's life, the board can aim high and achieve all objectives within the time frame allotted to it.

Hataman lamented that for the second straight year, the Development and Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) allotted only PHP1 billion for the Marawi Compensation Fund for 2023 and 2024.

"Does this mean that the Marawi victims will get only PHP1 billion for every year that the MCB is in operation? Mukhang hindi kasya ang PHP5 billion sa compensation, baka nga hindi man lang maka-kalahati (It seemed PHP5 billion is not enough for the compensation),” Hataman said in a news release.

The solon added that the DBCC needs to know what plan and strategies the MCB has to justify a bigger allocation.

“Kaya gusto nga nating malaman sa DBCC kung anong basis nila ng PHP1 billion a year para sa (That’s why we like to know from DBCC the basis of its PHP1 billion a year for the) Marawi Compensation Program. And the MCB, for its part, should come up with a credible figure on the costs of compensation, backed up by actual data,” he added.

During the hearing of the joint congressional oversight committee on the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act of 2022 on Monday, the MCB said from July 4 to Aug. 31, it received 4,762 filed claims, which translates to roughly PHP17.46 billion for claims filed in just two months.

The MCB expects an estimated 23,489 claimants until the end of 2023.

“According to the MCB, it receives over 200 claims a day, makes 150 recommendations a week and renders about 600 decisions in a month. Ang pagbaha ng claims ay inaasahan naman natin dahil mahigit anim na taong naghintay ang ating mga kababayang taga-Marawi para dito (The overflow of claims is expected because our countrymen from Marawi have been waiting for this for over six years),” Hataman said.

Hataman believed that the PHP1 billion per year would surely be insufficient.

“Kaya dapat sana (So it’s a must), MCB should justify the need for bigger allocations, bigger than PHP1 billion budget a year,” he added.

The Office of Civil Defense said during the same hearing that out of the more than 11,000 structures, they already validated 4,310 and their estimated cost is around PHP12.17 billion.

Validation means that the property/structure and its owner have been ascertained.

Hataman said the MCB can also request for an increase in personnel service and operating expenses to accomplish the roadmap. (PNA)