Marawi is not a ghost town - City Treasurer
MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur: The city treasurer here asserted that Marawi is too far from being a ghost town as its economy is quickly flourishing after the siege.
City Treasurer Sultan Anggay Abdullah told state media PIA that the economy of the city now is even way better than before the Marawi siege.
“The siege was hard for us, but everyone learned so much from it. That’s why we make it sure that everything is done legally right now,” Abdullah explained.
On February 1, The Washington Post came out with an article stating the city is still a ghost town which was belied by Task Force Bangon Marawi chief Secretary Eduardo Del Rosario.
Del Rosario said in a press conference that the reality on the ground had nothing to mean a ghost city “but instead it’s full of economic activity.
He stressed that the most-devastated area in the city was only 250 hectares as opposed to the city’s total area of 8,000 hectares.
“Two hundred fifty hectares is just .03 percent of the total area of 8,000 hectares. Mukhang masyadong na-dramatize negatively (ang situation),” the TFBM head claimed.
But Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) vice governor Haroun Alrashid Lucman, Jr. said Marawi is a ghost town. “Why can’t we be truthful about it?”
Lucman said, “It's obvious the Post refers to the MAA, which it is,” responding to others who called the Washington Post's article as merely semantics in using Marawi City.
Marawi civic leader and opposition senatorial candidate Samira Gutoc belied the claim of Del Rosario that the war-torn area was “alive and booming” and not a “ghost town.”
"It's really ghost. It is ghost when you have the commercial capital in Marawi City burned and you have not yet rebuild it after 20 months,” Gutoc told reporters.
She asserted, “We depend a lot on Marawi’s commercial site which was devastated and rehabilitation has not yet been started. What martial law are you talking about? Hindi na-marshal ang development para sa poorest of the poor.”
Marawi resident Aisah Gutoc-Macapundag believed that Marawi devastated area is really a ghost town, adding, “That is the saddest truth.”
Another resident Leah Tarhata Mehila said “Marawi is a ghost town and a very promising investment business for the few,” referring to the multi-billion peso aid to the city which is handled by a few.
But Abdullah said that after the siege, local traders flocked to the City Treasurer’s Office to apply for their business permits.
He explained that Marawi City’s commercial zone is expanding to remote barangays.
“As you can see, we have commercial spaces and businesses now even in transitory sites,” Abdullah added.
The official also confirmed that most of their business permit applicants are Marawi siege victims.
The city treasurer has appealed to local businessmen who have not yet applied for their business permits to visit their office so they can also contribute to the improvement of the services of the city government. (MASIDING NOOR YAHYA)
