P1B for Marawi victims a cruel joke (1)
The sparse appropriation has triggered unkind comments from citizens, calling the proposed amount outrageously deficient, a cruel joke, and an insult to the victims.
I beg my readers' kind indulgence for using this column as a platform to air our grievances.
This is something personal to us, and it is my moral obligation to add my voice to the public indignation sweeping a part of Morolandia. For transparency and disclosure, my family was a victim of the war and is seeking compensation for the damage to our precious possessions.
Having said that, as the national budget deliberations for 2024 draw to a near conclusion, the public discourse in Morolandia on the compensation for the 2017 Marawi Siege victims heightened. It's the issue much discussed in public fora, coffee shops, and social media platforms of Muslims.
The Moro attention is largely riveted to the budget deliberations in the House of Representatives, where the budget bill originates by provision of the Constitution. Social media likewise reported the hearing conducted by the Oversight Committee for the Marawi Compensation Law jointly chaired by Senator Ronald dela Rosa and Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong.
According to reports, P1 billion is proposed in the 2024 budget for compensation, which is the same amount appropriated in the current budget, alarmed resident victims. They have reason to fear that P1 billion is becoming the appropriation template for the ensuing years.
The Marawi Compensation Board or MCB, created to process, approve and pay legitimate claims, will fold the tent and become a functus oficio in 2028 because the law provides for a five-year life span. Let's do the math. If the budget is not increased, the aggregate appropriation for Marawi victims will only be P5 billion, which is ridiculously insufficient vis-a-vis the number of victims and the magnitude of their claims.
From an unofficial report, we gathered that "as of 18 September 2023, there were 75 death claims, 74 structural claims, 1,858 other properties claims, and 4,041 multiple claims. Hence, there were 6,048 claims as of the latest report by the in-take team from July to September. (And) 362 claims have been evaluated or are ready for final deliberation."
The claims statistics are increasing exponentially by the day, with the list of claimants getting longer. The MCB asks for something like P10 billion or more as an aggregate ballpark figure to compensate all the victims.