THE Department of Finance (DOF) will issue P13.5 billion worth of Marawi Bonds Series 1 for the Bangon Marawi rehabilitation program, a member of the House of Representatives Committee on Economic Affairs said on Tuesday.
Iligan City Rep. Frederick Siao, who commended the DOF on its decision, said the bonds is a big help to the effort to rebuild Marawi, which in 2016 was laid siege to for five months by Islamic State-inspired homegrown terrorists.
“Using the online retail Treasury bond format for the Marawi bonds will enable wide and international participation of ordinary Filipinos and other citizens in the recovery of Marawi,” according to Siao.
“Given the global awareness about the plight of Marawi and its surrounding areas, including Iligan City, I am confident the demand for Marawi bonds will be high and there could very well be oversubscriptions,” the lawmaker added.
Siao also expressed hope that the Al Amanah Islamic Investment Bank “will have an active role in the promotion of the Marawi bonds and that Islamic banks that will open up in the future will be invited to participate in the follow-up bond series.”
In September Task Force Bangon Marawi head Eduardo del Rosario said the government is eyeing to issue some P50 billion in Marawi bonds in support of rehabilitation efforts for the once progressive Islamic city.
Del Rosario said the rehabilitation of areas outside of ground zero would entail a budgetary requirement of about P47.2 billion, while the total cost of rebuilding ground zero itself would be around P15 billion.
The timetable for the rehabilitation of the most affected areas in Marawi City was seen to take three years, while the reconstruction of areas outside ground zero would take until the end of President Duterte’s term, or in June 2022.
The DOF earlier said the Philippine government has, so far, identified 902 priority projects and activities for the rehabilitation and recovery of Marawi City and its surrounding areas, with close to half of the funding to be drawn from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Project Fund.
In May this year the Philippine government, with officials from Japan, signed a ¥2-billion grant agreement to support ongoing efforts for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the war-torn capital of the province of Lanao del Sur.