Marcos asked to form Marawi compensation board to aid siege victims

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. should immediately constitute the Marawi compensation board which will grant financial aid to the victims of the 2017 Marawi siege, Lanao del Sur Representative Zia Alonto Adiong said Monday.

The creation of the body is among the mandates of Republic Act 11696 or the Marawi Siege Compensation Act of 2022, which was passed during the Duterte administration.

Adiong noted that while the rehabilitation of program of Marawi City, held under siege by terror group Maute for five months in 2017, is now 80 percent complete, the Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM) still places the number of internally displaced persons at 85,335 individuals or more than 17,500 households.

"It takes more than rebuilding infrastructure, because we need to rebuild lives. ... Implementing the provisions of the said law heavily depends on the creation of the Marawi compensation board," Adiong said in a privilege speech.

"To establish the board is to commit strongly in supporting us — the people of Marawi City and Lanao del Sur —regain control of our circumstances. On this note, we respectfully appeal to the president to consider the immediate constitution of the Marawi Compensation Board," he added.

Under the law, the board will be composed of nine members, all of whom shall be appointed by the President.

Adiong also appealed for the reclassification and redistribution of lands to the rightful owners in the city.

The record of the task force have shown that the city's total land area nearly covers 9,000 hectares —more than two-thirds of which has been classified as a military reservation since the Americans built their first camp in the area during the 1900s.

"While we acknowledge the ongoing efforts of the Department of Agrarian Reform towards the distribution of lands in Camp Keithley to identified farmer-beneficiaries in the area, there is also a need to account for traditions and cultural sensibilities that are distinct to the people of Marawi City and their relationship to land," the lawmaker said.—LDF, GMA News