DESPERATE internally displaced Maranaos have given the new administration of presumptive President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., to clean up the mess in the rehabilitation of Marawi City and allow them to go home before December ends this year, or else they would be forced to take direct action.
Amenodin ‘Ding’ Cali, director of Reclaiming Marawi Movement (RMM) said after staying in temporary shelters on the outskirts of the city for the last five years, many IDPs are fed up that their pleas to go home were not heeded by the government.
“The IDPs are fed up with the unreliable livelihood they have in the temporary shelters. They have (had) enough of it. They want to go home to rebuild their homes,” Cali said.
Cali said the IDPs are adopting “a wait and see stance” on who Marcos will appoint to the Marawi Compensation Board.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11696 or the Marawi Siege Compensation Act of 2022 last April 13, which provided the creation of the Marawi Compensation Board that would be headed by a chairperson and eight members.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said in its May 2020 report that more than 120,000 people live in permanent and temporary shelters outside Marawi City.
“The IDPs do not want the board to be politicalized. They want the board to help them,” Cali said.
More than 500 IDPs living in temporary shelters that dotted the outskirts of Marawi City, staged a rally on Monday, marking the 5th year they were displaced by the months of intense street fighting between government forces and Maute militants who seized the city in 2017.
Several students also joined the rally staging a street play on the streets of Marawi City.
“Until when do we remain to be a bakwit (IDP). We did not wish this thing to happen. We left our homes in without money or clothes,” Aisha Radia, a mother of 10 children said.
Radia said she and her family spent the early months at the Lumbacatoros Saguiaran shelter begging for food and money.
She broke into tears as she narrated her experience eliciting cries from the students of “Allahu Akbar!” and “Makibaka Huwag Matakot.
Radia said she would not hesitate to join her fellow IDPs if they would call for more protest actions by December end.
Task Force Bangon Marawi Office Manager Assistant Secretary Felix Castro Jr., dismissed the rally of the IDPs and their demands as “untrue.”
Castro said more than 1,000 residents have been given permits to rebuild their homes in the Most Affected Area (MAA) in Marawi City.
He said they are encouraging the IDPs to secure the permits to rebuild their homes with the Office of the Building Official in Marawi City.
“Apparently many are waiting for the money that they could get from the Marawi Compensation Board,” Castro said.
He said the board has yet to decide how to compensate for the businesses and homes that were destroyed in the five-months fighting.
Castro said the Lanao del Sur Electric Cooperative has already energized the three sectors of Barangays Tolali, Daguduban, and Moncado Kadingilan
Task Force Bangon Marawi, tasked by President Rodrigo Duterte to rebuild the city, presented a new sports stadium, a convention center, and newly reconstructed mosques and parks as part of the reconstruction efforts.
“All these newly constructed government buildings and mosques are nothing without the residents returning to their homes. The residents did not ask for them,” said Tirmizy Abdullah, national coordinator of the Interfaith Cooperation Forum.