DAVAO CITY—Pledges from the international community to help Marawi City get back on its feet from the ashes of war last year reached P35.1 billion ($670 million) during a pledging session here on Wednesday.
The amount of pledges, together with the proceeds from the Marawi bond float, will be enough to cover the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the besieged city for a period of five years, according to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III.
The Department of Finance (DOF) said the pledges for the Bangon Marawi Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Program (BMCRRP) were committed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
Dominguez also thanked China, which the DOF said was the first country to offer assistance to Marawi City; Japan, for its firm commitments to help the city rise from devastation; and Spain, which offered additional funds during the pledging session.
The DOF said the P35.1 billion in pledges consisted of P32.7 billion in concessional loans that carry lower interest rates, and P2.4 billion in grants.
Dominguez also said the government will push through with its planned issuance of Marawi bonds amounting to P13.5 billion to raise more funds for the BMCRRP.
In his opening remarks at the start of the pledging session on Wednesday, Dominguez said the DOF is the lead agency of the Task Force Bangon Marawi Finance and Resource Mobilization Support Group. He said the DOF has held several consultations with implementing agencies to verify the progress of the BMCRRP, as well as determine the available funding sources to complete the city’s rehabilitation.
A technical meeting held on November 6 updated the financial requirement of the reconstruction program, which ballooned to P72.58 billion ($1.39 billion), or an increase of P10 billion from its July estimate of P62 billion. Dominguez said the refined list of reconstruction and rehabilitation projects has been approved by the Investment Coordination Committee on October 25.
Of the estimated amount needed for reconstruction, P47.20 billion ($901 million) is needed by BMCRRP. Another P17.20 billion ($328.3 million) will be spent to rehabilitate the most affected areas.
Some P1.25 billion ($23.9 million) will be spent for livelihood assistance, to be sourced from the government. Also, P6.9 billion will be set aside for humanitarian assistance that will be extended in the early stages of the recovery program for Marawi, the DOF said.
At least 58 percent of the amount for reconstruction will come from foreign sources, and the remaining 42 percent, the government.
“Marawi City will be ready in due time to continue playing its historic role as a center of culture and commerce in this part of Mindanao,” Dominguez said.
Marawi City is the capital city of Lanao del Sur in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). A five-month battle last year to retake it flattened a wide section of the city as the government used air strikes to drive away fighters from the Maute Group and Abu Sayyaf who dug holes and tunnels inside the houses and laid landmines along narrow alleys.
The battle left several hundred people dead and displaced 77,170 families, Dominguez said, citing government statistics.
President Duterte later issued Administrative Order 3 creating the Task Force Bangon Marawi to oversee the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts for the city.
Dominguez also thanked the United Nations and the governments of the United States, Australia, China, Japan, Germany, Korea and Spain for their technical assistance to implement the Bangon Marawi program and for carrying out community-based initiatives.
He said the ADB and World Bank also provided technical assistance and support for community-based initiatives. The UN and its specialized agencies, as well as the governments of Australia, Italy, Japan, Korea and the US, and private groups extended P6.9 billion for relief operations and humanitarian assistance.
Watchdog
The Philippine office of the London-headquartered International Alert helped form a new watchdog organization, the Marawi Reconstruction Conflict Watch (MRCW), to “channel wider public attention and participation in the monitoring of the Marawi reconstruction process”.
International Alert said the MRCW will coordinate with government to help mitigate transition-induced violence and it will be on the lookout “for possible economic, social, and environmental effects of rehabilitation process, and if the process would lead to more violent conflict.”
It said the MRCW was the response to inquiries on “who will monitor, assess, and mitigate the impacts of the Marawi’s reconstruction on people’s lives?”
The International Alert said the MRCW will be composed of “local people from different sectors who have a deep understanding of the conflict landscape of Marawi and its environs.”
Image credits: AP