A House majority leader has urged President Rodrigo Duterte to convene the National Security Council and the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council to discuss the progress of the Marawi City rehabilitation program and the Bangsamoro Organic Law.
Camarines Sur Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., committee on rules chairperson, said the rehabilitation efforts in war-torn Marawi and the BOL must be discussed in the deliberation of next year’s P3.757-trillion national budget.
“I would suggest that Malacañang call a meeting of the NSC or even Ledac,” he said.
Andaya is pushing for a supplemental budget to be able to meet the financial requirements of the implementation of the BOL.
“What are the financing bottlenecks, for example? The bottomline is the people of Mindanao should be consulted,” he said.
“At the House, the views of the Mindanao bloc are important. The people in or around the so-called ground zero should be consulted. Civilian views should be part of the discussion,” Andaya added.
Task Force Bangon Marawi head Eduardo del Rosario said changes in the reconstruction of Marawi City would not cause a delay in their target project completion of 2021.
The task force earlier faced a setback after a failed negotiation with the developer, the Bangon Marawi Consortium.
Falconi Millar, task force secretary-general, said the Chinese-led consortium failed to satisfy the financial, technical and legal requirements of the project.
As this developed, the Department of Trade and Industry is planning to provide more assistance to affected Maranao entrepreneurs in Marawi.
“We plan to allocate more budget for this year to support the Bangon Marawi programs to provide livelihood assistance to around 80 percent of identified internally displaced persons in 2018,” Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said.
DTI Regional Operations Group Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya said that the agency has set aside P50 million to fund the Shared Service Facilities project and will seek additional budget to fund the provision of livelihood starter kits, micro loans, mobile rice mills, tricycles, construction of public markets, and provision of retail spaces in major malls to promote Maranao products, among others.
“We will continue to provide assistance to our brothers and sisters in Marawi. As of now we are working to assist Maranao entrepreneurs with microloans through the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso or P3, mobile rice mills, tricycles, and equipment,” Maglaya said.
The P50 million SSF fund will help address the needs of Maranao entrepreneurs in the aspect of loom weaving, woodworking, and brasswares by providing equipment that matches their needs, she added.
The agency, through the Small Business Corporation, also released a total of P375,000 microloans to 37 Maranao borrowers.
