Oversight? Village where Marawi siege started excluded from compensation law

Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr. and other leaders in Lanao del Sur draft their own version of the implementing rules and regulations of the Marawi Siege Compensation Act in a bid to hasten the creation of the nine-member compensation board tasked to evaluate, process and investigate applications from Marawi residents for payment for the loss of lives and properties during the 2017 siege. MindaNews photo by FROILAN GALLARDO

MARAWI CITY (MindaNews / 13 October) — Basak Malutlut, site of the first battle between government forces and ISIS-inspired militants during the 2017 Marawi siege, was not included in the list of affected villages due for reparations and compensation.

Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong said that because of this oversight residents of the barangay could not demand payment from the government through Republic Act No. 11696 or the Marawi Siege Compensation Act of 2022.

“But how can this be when Barangay Basak Malutlut was the place where the fighting started in 2017?” Adiong said.

The governor said he can not understand why the framers of RA 11696 made the mistake of not including Basak Malutlut.

“There were less damage in the buildings in the village but most of the residents have lost money and jewelries in the looting that followed,” he said.

He said this is one of the reasons why Lanao del Sur and multisectoral groups in Marawi drafted their own Implementing Rules and Regulations for the Marawi Compensation Board last Tuesday.

“So we can still correct this injustice so the residents there can ask compensation,” Adiong said.

RA 11696, signed into law by then President Rodrigo Duterte on April 13, 2022, provides for reparations and compensation for Marawi residents whose properties were either lost or damaged during the five-month siege.

The law, however only recognized 24 barangays as within the “Most Affected Area” and eight others as part of “Other Affected Areas.”

“I lost a lifetime of memories,” Norain Cabugatan says after visiting her house in Barangay East Basak Malutlut on 26 October 2017. She joined a peace caravan to Marawi but decided to proceed to her house even as they were not supposed to do so. Her village is one of nine whose residents will be allowed to return home in batches, from October 29 to November 2. MindaNews photo by FROILAN GALLARDO

Basak Malutlut and seven other villages destroyed during the fighting were not included in the list, according to Lanao del Sur officials.

On Monday, October 17, residents here will observe the 5th anniversary of the end of the bloody siege that left over 84,000 families or 388,000 individuals homeless.

Adiong said most of the affected areas are still without water five years after. He said only a few pipes were laid out by the Local Water Utilities Administration.

Assistant Secretary Felix Castro Jr., Task Force Bangon Marawi manager said the government’s rehabilitation work in Marawi slowed down, first during the election period and then after the replacement of officials when President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took over.

Castro said that while TFBM has completed many projects like the construction of roads, mosques and government buildings, many projects have been slowed down. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)