Displaced residents of Marawi and civil society groups welcomed the signing into law of Republic Act 11696, or the Marawi Siege Compensation Act of 2022, but some sectors said the law’s implementation will depend on the next administration.
The next administration will be “very crucial to the implementation” of the landmark law, said lawyer Antonio La Viña, former dean of the Ateneo School of Government.
He said the next president should be supportive of the law and the Muslim community in Mindanao.
RA 11696, which was signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte on April 13, will compensate residents of Marawi who lost their homes and loved ones in the five-month shooting war between government forces and extremist groups in 2017.
The law grants private property owners compensation based on the sum of the current market value of the land and the replacement cost of structures and improvements.
La Viña said an administration headed by Vice President Leni Robredo “will be a good development,” adding that “she knows the situation on the ground in Marawi.”
The professor said former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will have to go out of his way “to show good faith” with the people of Marawi once he is elected.
“Marcos has to show good faith that he now supports the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front as well as the overall aspirations of all Muslims,” said La Viña.
He noted that some Moro leaders have slammed Marcos who courted the Muslim vote even after he rejected the Bangsamoro Basic Law.
Meanwhile, International Alert Philippines, the secretariat of the Marawi Reconstruction Conflict Watch, said the new law establishes a precedent for future victims of war and destruction.
“Through this law, no victim shall be left uncompensated,” said the group in a statement. “We celebrate this milestone with the [internally displaced persons] and victims of the Marawi war for this hard-earned victory.”
Saripada Pacasum Jr., member of the Marawi Reconstruction Conflict Watch and convenor of Lanao del Sur Early Response Network, described the new measure as “one of the most important laws passed under the Duterte administration.”
“With the president’s signing of this law, he delivered justice and equal priority to the Maranaos who have lost and sacrificed so much in the past five years,” said Pacasum in a statement.
Dr. Fedelinda Tawagon, a member of Marawi Reconstruction Conflict Watch and president of Dansalan College, expressed hope that the law’s implementation “will be smooth, fair, and just.”
“This law is a moral and legal victory for the Meranaw IDPs whose lives have been suspended in the long process of rehabilitation and recovery of Marawi City and its people,” she said.
