P5M spent for hajj trips part of social healing process —Task Force Bangon Marawi

The Task Force Bangon Marawi on Wednesday defended the use of funds intended for the rehabilitation of the war-torn city for a pilgrimage of victims to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

In its 2018 audit report, the Commission on Audit (COA) demanded from the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) the return of the expenses incurred for sending internally displaced people in Marawi to the hajj.

State auditors said the diverted fund, which was drawn from the P500-million allocation for the operational expenses of the task force, was supposed to be used for the  recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation of Marawi and other affected localities.

Sought for comment, TFBM chairperson and HUDCC chief Eduardo del Rosario said the P5 million released to the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) was “part of the social healing process in the overall rehabilitation of Marawi.”

“We sponsored IDPs who were then living in the evacuation centers and transitional shelters. We had a raffle conducted in front of the IDPs themselves and immediately announced the names of those who were luckily picked,” Del Rosario said in a message to reporters.

“Now, the NCMF's inherent task is to facilitate the processing of travel documents, payment of airfares and billeting while in Saudi Arabia for a month. Hajj is a solemn obligation and wish of every Muslim. It is so important to them that social healing is envisioned in the process.”

Del Rosario said they would ask COA “not to disallow this vital transaction, and besides, the P5 million was properly dispensed by NCMF.”

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said on Tuesday he would ask the HUDCC to explain the alleged fund diversion.

“That would be technical malversation kung totoo. Hindi pa natin alam,” Panelo said.

“We’ll ask the HUDCC to explain kung totoo 'yun o hindi. But I think they will already explain kasi COA has raised it.”

Twenty-four out of the 96 barangays in Marawi City were devastated by the deadly clash between the government forces and the ISIS-inspired Maute group which began on May 23, 2017 and ended five months later.

Two years later, over 400 displaced families are still staying in three evacuation centers while 11,000 others were classified as home-based or currently staying with their relatives elsewhere inside and outside Marawi City, according to the Task Force Bangon Marawi. —KG, GMA News