Marawi remains a problem – Robredo

MANILA, Philippines — On the third anniversary of the Marawi City siege, Vice President Leni Robredo called on concerned government agencies to accelerate their response to solve what she described as an “ongoing problem.”

Calling for accelerated actions with full transparency, Robredo said three years of inaction and neglect in Marawi is a thousand days too long.

“To this day, the city lies in ruins, and its people’s lives are frozen in time. Many of its residents remain in temporary shelter communities,” she said in a statement.

“Marawi is not merely a tragedy to be remembered; it is an ongoing problem that needs to be solved,” she added.

The Battle of Marawi or the Siege of Marawi started on May 23, 2017 when government troops clashed with members of the Maute extremist group and Abu Sayyaf bandits.

Military and police units cleared Marawi of Muslim extremists on Oct. 23, 2018 after five months of urban warfare that resulted in the death of over 1,000 people, mostly terrorists, and reducing the city to ruins.

Three years since the Marawi siege, the Duterte administration paid tribute to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in defending the country from Islamic terrorists during the five-month long armed conflict in Marawi.

“Today, as we remember Marawi, we pay tribute to the heroism of our fallen men in uniform during the siege of the Islamic City,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said yesterday.

The Duterte administration has made inroads in relocating internally displaced persons (IDPs) and building the key infrastructure of Marawi, the official said.

Citing the report of Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM), Roque said the National Housing Authority has programmed a total of 4,866 transitional shelters for IDPs and 2, 911 units have already been occupied as of January 2020. 

“The remaining balance of housing units are in different stages of completion and it is expected that they will be finished before yearend,” he added.

Robredo noted that Marawi continues to suffer even as the country faces challenges brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

“The ongoing crisis should have by now made us realize: The suffering of one redounds to the suffering of all… Healing requires the entire nation to bring its resources to bear,” she said, stressing that the message of compassion and inclusiveness 

of the Muslim holiday of Eid’l Fitr on Monday should resonate with every Filipino regardless of creed.

“Let us also remember that temporary shelter communities pose an even more profound challenge given the virality of COVID-19. Any outbreak in these tightly-packed communities will increase the risk for all of us and affect a public health system that is already under tremendous strain,” she added.

Impact on children

Children and their families living in temporary shelters in Marawi are more at risk to disease such as COVID-19 due to problems with clean water, toilets and hygiene facilities, according to Save the Children Philippines.

“Children bear the brunt of armed conflict as they suffer from severe malnutrition, diseases including COVID-19 as healthcare and food supplies are disrupted,” said Save the Children Philippines chief executive officer Alberto Muyot.

Muyot also stressed the need to provide continuing education to children even in times of emergency.

The organization recently distributed handwashing facilities in checkpoints and quarantine facilities in the city to help in the response to the pandemic.

It also distributed hygiene kits to children and their families, as well as food packs to medical frontliners.

For the past three years, Save the Children has been providing emergency and recovery assistance to children and their families affected by the Marawi siege.

These include learning materials, psychosocial first aid and temporary learning spaces to ensure children will continue learning during the crisis.

Edwin Horca, head of Save the Children Philippines-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) offices, said “education is a life-saving response as it provides children a safe space to learn, provides normality, routine and ensures their protection.”

He said Save the Children Philippines provided temporary learning spaces, back to school kits and hygiene kits to motivate children to go back to school.

“Learning spaces also provide protection to children from threats of sexual violence, harmful work and recruitment into armed groups,” Horca said.

The humanitarian support given by the NGO also includes training of teachers on child protection and the minimum standards on education in emergencies, as well as art workshops themed on peace for children and youth. 

Children’s access to education, water, sanitation and hygiene and child protection were supported by the Department of Foreign and Trade of the Government of Australia, Radiojhalpen/Swedish Music Aid and European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.

Save the Children Philippines said it will continue to provide emergency assistance for the reconstruction and recovery of Marawi with new partnerships with the Asian Development Bank and the private sector and such efforts will be aligned with the national government’s recovery and rehabilitation plan under Task Force Bangon Marawi.

Horca said the new programs would complement the recovery and rehabilitation programs of the national government and SCP-BARMM to ensure access to income and livelihood of conflict-affected families and those in the communities. Christina Mendez, Michael Punongbayan