Lanao Sur lawyers urge Congress to pass Marawi bill

By MASIDING NOOR YAHYA 

July 24, 2019 

MARAWI CITY: The Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Lanao del Sur Chapter (IBP-Lanao del Sur) has appealed to Congress for the re-filing and subsequent passage of the Marawi compensation bill which the last 17th Congress was not able to pass. 

The IBP-Lanao del Sur has also expressed congratulations to Congressman Alan Peter Cayetano for being newly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

In a letter to Speaker Cayetano, IBP-Lanao del Sur president Aminoden L. Macalandap expressed the congratulations of the people of Marawi for his (Cayetano’s) election as the new Speaker. “The people of Marawi are confident that Cayetano will lead the refiling and passage of the bill,” he added. 

The compensation bill intends to lessen the losses suffered by residents, especially of the City Most Affected Areas (MAA) whose houses and personal belongings were turned to dust by the Marawi siege which was perpetrated by terror groups. 

Macalandap said Cayetano’s election will lighten the gigantic task of completing the yet to be fulfilled vision of President Rodrigo R. Duterte to the country in the next three years that would bridge the transformation of the nation as an economic powerhouse of Asia proffered by stable peace and security. 

“In this aspect, we are one of the millions of Filipinos who will extend our support in your bid to hurdle all the challenges ahead,” he added. 

Macalandap said the Marawi victims are thankful to the administration’s determination to have their lives return to its normalcy prior to the spiteful siege of May 2017. 

“The need of the passage of the bill at that time in the 17th Congress was a pressing legislative agendum to uplift the shattered morale and dreams of the MAA residents who were housed in the different evacuation centers in neighboring communities,” he pointed out. 

“However, due to circumstances, primary of which, was the national and local elections of 2019, the same did not reach fruition. Sad to note, the surrounding conditions of the necessity of filing the compensation bill in the 17th Congress is still prevalent.” 

Hundreds of thousands are still suffering in evacuation centers and temporary shelters provided by the government with limited capacity to rebuild their lives starting with the reconstruction of their houses. 

“Not unless this burden is shared through the passage of a law that will somehow provide an adequate aliquot part of what they have lost, normalcy is far from reality,” Macalandap said. (RSP)