“Amid much-publicized rehabilitation efforts in the city’s most affected areas, the promise to rebuild the lives of the victims and survivors of the siege remains utterly unfulfilled.”

CAGAYAN DE ORO — People in the Islamic City of Marawi commemorated on Friday, May 23, the 8th year of the 2017 siege, the five-month-long battle between government forces and the Maute Group that displaced thousands of residents. Since then, many of them have remained in temporary shelters, blaming it on the slow-moving rehabilitation and compensation process.

Marawi Advocacy Accompaniment (MAA), a network of internally displaced persons (IDPs), civil society organizations, and sectoral leaders, reiterated their call for Kambalingan—a Meranaw term for voluntary, safe, and dignified return—of displaced families. It also urged the national government to act decisively, stressing that lingering displacement deprived IDPs of their rights as human beings.

“Amid much-publicized rehabilitation efforts in the city’s most affected areas, the promise to rebuild the lives of the victims and survivors of the siege remains utterly unfulfilled,” the group said in a statement.

A total of 24 barangays were included in the so-called Most Affected Areas during the siege while another eight villages in Marawi City were considered Other Affected Areas.

Together with other advocacy groups, MAA co-convener Tirmizy Abdullah said that they organized a visit to the temporary shelters in Barangays Bonganga and Dulay as part of the commemoration to check the situation of the internal refugees, witnessing numerous times their dire living conditions.

Aside from compelling them to pay rent and electricity bills for their shelters, the group noted that these evacuated families no longer receive aid from the government despite the supposed promise of continuous support. The last government assistance they received was reportedly more than a year ago.

“In Bonganga, when it rains, they get flooded. The shelters are already dilapidated because they were not designed for the long term,” Abdullah told Bulatlat in Filipino. “It appears that Marawi is seemingly okay, but the problem is more complicated in temporary shelters.”

Read: Gov’t urged to take action as Marawi internal refugees face eviction

Water supply is also a long-standing issue in IDP communities, forcing these shelter occupants to use rainwater as their source. This was the situation observed by the Cagayan de Oro-based advocacy group Hirang ng Hiraya after visiting Marawi City in December 2024.

According to an IDP Protection Assessment Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR), citing the data from the now-defunct Task Force Bangon Marawi, there were 77,170 families or 353,921 individuals displaced after the siege. 

However, MAA was not able to find available data to determine the current number of displaced families in temporary shelter. The group therefore decided to conduct an independent monitoring.

The slow compensation process, Abdullah said, is perceived as one of the factors why many displaced families remain in shelters. He said that many of them are just waiting for compensation so that they can return to their homes and rebuild their lives. Hence, they call for a swift release. “As time goes on, the injustices done to them grow,” he said.

Republic Act No. 11969, or the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act, specifies the responsibility of the state to provide compensation or reparation to the displaced families after the siege in 2017. The Marawi Compensation Board (MCB) is the government body that awards monetary compensation to eligible claimants.

As of May 20, out of the 1,909 resolved claims, MCB approved a total of 1,480 claims amounting to over P2.54 billion. Of this, 1,124 claims amounting to over P1.93 billion have already been awarded.

Read: Group opposes Marawi Siege compensation planned changes

MAA also questioned the proposed amendments to the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the said Act, saying the changes should focus on expanding its coverage and not on transferring some tasks of MCB to other government agencies.

The MCB planned to coordinate with the National Housing Authority to expedite the compensation of properties affected by government programs that require demolition by entrusting the compensation process to the latter under the Right-of-Way Act.

Displaced families expressed concerns that the planned amendments would result in further delays because of possible new processes.

In addition, Abdullah said that the permanent displacement of residents from barangays Dansalan, Datu Sa Dansalan, Datu Naga, and Sabala Manao within Ground Zero, the battleground during the war, is also one of the factors. He said that the land issues there are not covered under the compensation because there was allegedly an assertion from the local government that these are reclamation areas.

Apart from visiting some of the temporary shelters, the advocacy groups also visited Maqbara Cemetery and offered a prayer for hundreds of still-unidentified slain victims during the Marawi Siege. They also staged a protest at Rizal Park, highlighting their calls for a faster and substantial compensation. 

They also met with the IDPs and MCB at the Mindanao State University in Marawi for a dialogue, where Abdullah demanded that the board have a constant information drive and consultation in every temporary shelter to address the confusions of the displaced families pertaining to the compensation.

“It has been eight years; the people are tired. Some of them were dead. I hope this rehabilitation and compensation are taken seriously,” he said. (DAA)