No need to earmark more funds for Marawi rehab, says Pernia

The government has enough funds to reconstruct Marawi City once the armed conflict plaguing the capital of Lanao del Sur is over, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said Tuesday.

"Government has a lot of fiscal space. [Budget] Secretary [Benjamin M.] Diokno and I had a meeting yesterday. There's no need for an additional allocation. There's already a fund reserved for that," the Cabinet official told reporters.

The clash between government forces and Islamic State-linked Maute group is now on its 29th day.

"We already have a rehabilitation and reconstruction plan, and NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) is going to be one of the lead agencies," Pernia said.

Pernia also part of the funding may come from foreign aid, but most of the rehabilitation efforts will be funded by the government.

"In terms of assistance from outside, I suppose there's some trickle of that ... (but) I think we should also be able to pull ourselves up from our bootstraps, as they say," the Cabinet official said.

The Philippines will reject any aid with conditions such as interfering in the country's campaign against illegal drugs, Foreign Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano said last month.

NEDA Undersecretary Rolando G. Tungpalan said Cabinet secretaries are still to meet on the rehabilitation efforts.

"Secretary Diokno said funding is available but we need to sit down," he told reporters separately on the sidelines of a book launching – the Asian Development Bank's history book "Banking on the Future of Asia and the Pacific: 50 Years of the Asian Development Bank."

"Government appropriations are available ... but ... there are things we need to ensure per-requisite to rebuilding. How will it be done? With whom? And how will it be started?" he added.

Tungpalan noted the government will give livelihood and basic services the priority in the rehabilitation efforts. "We just need to bring back livelihood, houses, basic services. That's a big challenge," he said.

As to how much the Marawi rehabilitation will cost, Tungpalan said the government has yet to come up with an estimate. — VDS, GMA News