P1B needed to pay property owners for damage during Marawi siege, lawmaker says

A P1-billion budget has been proposed by the current administration to Congress to compensate the victims of the Marawi siege, whose private properties were destroyed in the 2017 armed conflict.

The Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Fund was included as special provision in the proposed P31 billion budget for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (NDRRMF) or calamity fund for fiscal year 2023.

Surigao del Sur Representative Johnny Pimentel said on Sunday that this reparation fund was pursuant to the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Law of 2022 or Republic Act Number 11696.

He said the P1 billion would be used to provide tax-free compensation to:

• Lawful owners of residential, commercial and other properties, including cultural structures, destroyed or damaged, either totally or partially, on the occasion of the Marawi siege; and
• Owners of private properties demolished in accordance with the Marawi Recovery, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction Program.

“We expect the compensation payout to rev up reconstruction activities in Marawi by private property owners,” Pimentel said in a statement.

“The private rebuilding activities in turn will have a multiplier effect on the local economy in terms of creating new jobs and income that tend to benefit low-income households,” he added.

The Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act of 2022, signed by former President Rodrigo Duterte in April, aims to compensate those who suffered loss and destruction of property during the Maute terror group's months-long siege on the Islamic City of Marawi in 2017.

With this, any owner of a residential, cultural, commercial structures, and other properties in Marawi’s most affected areas or other affected areas who met the requirements is entitled to receive a tax-free compensation from the government.

The legal heirs as provided for by the Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines or the Civil Code of the Philippines shall also receive the compensation of the deceased owner. —LBG, GMA News