Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa is seeking to amend Republic Act (RA) No. 11696 or the Marawi Siege Compensation Act of 2022 to include more barangays with families who also suffered from the Marawi Siege.
While the relatively young law is "stable,” Dela Rosa said that there are gaps that should be addressed to compensate victims in barangays that are not included in the list of Main Affected Areas (MAA) or Other Affected Areas (OAA).
"Though RA 11696 is stable, it cannot afford to stand still. Not in the face of a barangay’s pleas to be included in the list of Affected Areas. Not when, according to the victims themselves, the prevailing basis for determining the value of damaged structures is largely unfavorable to them. And most definitely, not when reparation, as the primary aim and vision of the law, remains elusive," Dela Rosa said.
In September, Dela Rosa filed Senate Bill 2828 which seeks to amend RA 11696 to include Barangay Bubonga in the list of OAA.
The bill was filed by the chairperson of the Senate Special Committee on Marawi City Rehabilitation upon consultation with the community of Barangay Bubonga Marawi.
In the implementation of RA 11696, Dela Rosa noted that many claimants and civil organizations are appealing for the reconsideration of the application of fair market value in determining monetary compensation.
"These concerns contradict the legislative intent of the compensation and reparation under RA 11696 as a matter of financial assistance as well as a crucial element of justice, addressing the material needs of victims and contributing to their recovery and reintegration into society," Dela Rosa said in filing the measure.
"To provide a more equitable and just approach in compensating the internally displaced persons of Marawi City, the proposed bill seeks to amend Section 15 of RA 11696 to remove the fair market value as basis for compensation award of lawful claimants," the Mindanaoan lawmaker added.
During the hearing last Tuesday, Dela Rosa said the Senate special committee is considering the inclusion of more barangays apart from Bubonga Marawi in the list of areas that will be compensated by the government after the damage brought about by the Marawi Siege.
This, after it was raised that there are 64 barangays that want to be included in the list of OAA due to damages in its residents' valued properties.
While the structural properties of the families in these 64 barangays are not totally destroyed, it was reported to the committee that their belongings were "ransacked to the core" and properties were either vandalized or damaged.
"Most of the concern of the 64 barangays are not really on damage to properties, but damage to personal properties... 'Yung kanilang claim ay personal properties dahil pagputukan, naiwan 'yung mga gamit nasa bahay at ni-loot," he added.
With this, Dela Rosa urged the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) to provide a post-conflict needs assessment so there would be a basis for the compensation of the families in the 64 barangays.
The OCD committed that they will provide data requested by Dela Rosa and they will set parameters on their post-conflict needs assessment because these concerns were not reported during their actual ocular inspection in Marawi City.
For its part, the Marawi Compensation Board said they will coordinate with the Department of National Defense and the OCD to come up with intelligent data in providing compensation to the families in these 64 barangays.
The MCB expressed no objection to the proposal.
"We can include this in our bill that we are going to pass, pero kaya kinokonsulta namin kayo [kasi] baka sabihin niyo not implementable ang batas na yan because you don't have the basis (but we're consulting you because you might say that that law is not implementable because you don't have any basis)," Dela Rosa said.