Faith-based groups meet to draw up coordination plan for Marawi rehab

Faith-based organizations (FBOs) in the country, including the social action arm of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, gathered last Tuesday in Quezon City to hammer out a plan for their brand of rehabilitating war-ravaged Marawi City.

In a statement sent to GMA News Online on Thursday,  the group said that helping in efforts to rebuild the city from the rabbles of war is a test case of “transforming faith into action,” which they said is FOBs' calling.

A total of 51 representatives from 23 FBOs in the country gathered for a round-table discussion on October 17, to strengthen coordination and action-response for Marawi.

President Rodrigo Duterte declared last Tuesday that Marawi City is already "free from ISIS-Maute threat" after the death of Isnilon Hapilon and Omar Maute in a predawn assault last Monday.

Leading church groups represented in the discussions include the Catholic Church through the CBCP's NASSA/Caritas Philippines, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), and the Philippines Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC) – Philippine Relief and Development Services (PHILRADS).

“We are now considered to be the strongest alliance of FBOs in the country with over 30,000 local churches, national organizations and international affiliations, and it is imperative that we do our share to help our Maranao brothers and sisters,” said Bishop Noel Pantoja, PCEC nation director.

^{Members of the different Christian and evangelical groups from NASSA/Caritas Philippines, NCCP, and PCEC-PHILRADS during the "FBO Roundtable" for Marawi on October 17, 2017. --NASSA photo}

Also, the statement said that the group, as of Octover 17, had a combined P28.5 million worth in "direct response, helping more than 10,000 internally displaced families ...through collective efforts in providing food packs, hygiene and shelter kits, essential non-food items, medical and psycho-social support and other capacity-building activities for the IDPs and volunteers in Marawi City, Iligan City, Cagayan de Oro and other neighboring provinces."

It said that member-FBOs will always put the Marawi war victims at the center of any intervention effort, by consulting the victims on what they really need and not on preconceived and generalized rehabilitation plan. The group vowed to listen to the victims.

“Ang gusto po namin, maibalik ang Marawi as it was before. Nabuhay po kami ng simple sa community without any presence ng complex infrastructures katulad ng nakaplanong itayo sa aming lugar,” the statement quoted Arwa Macasayan, 20, an evacuee from Tindeg Ranao as saying.

(What we want is for Marawi to return to normal. We lived a simple life in our community without any presence of complex infrastructures like what are being planned in our place.)

Arwa identified as priority needs the rebuilding of their houses, schools and mosques. 

“While we see these efforts as still needed on the ground, we are also intensifying our campaign to promote peace, solidarity and cooperation among Christians and Muslims,” Fr. Edwin Gariguez, executive secretary of NASSA/Caritas Philippines said.

“We are happy to see that an alliance [among] the three Christian councils in the Philippines and other FBOs [has] seen the necessity of working together ... to respond to the Marawi crisis," said Ms Darlene Marquez-Caramanzana, executive assistant of NCCP stated.

“Part of the action plan now is to come up with a Philippine FBO Forum (PFF) that would be the central platform of the FBOs in responding to humanitarian and development needs of the poorest and the most vulnerable, and the displaced and the marginalized,” Fr. Gariguez said. —LBG, GMA News