Building a better and stronger Marawi City from the ashes of war

By

(University professor and former president of Mindanao State University. Prof. Muslim obtained his Ph.D. and M.A. on Political Science from the University of Hawaii where he wrote a dissertation on the Moro armed struggle, which was later published into a book. He specializes in governance and peacebuilding in multiethnic countries.)

AFTER five months of joint military operations, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) finally defeated the group of Isnilon Hapilon and Omar Khayyam Maute, on October 16, 2017. This war showcased the Duterte administration’s unflinching stronghand approach against terrorism and the impressionistically high level of professionalism of the AFP and PNP in waging the military operation and in the implementation of martial law in Mindanao.

The Marawi siege conveyed one clear message – it is not good to trivialize the threats posed by violent extremism and radicalism that sordidly continue to suck an increasing number of our youth in Mindanao, and the urgent imperative of shielding our communities and country from this global menace.

The Marawi war reduced to rubble practically the whole central district which became the main battle area (MBA) for 153 days. This area contains the main bulk of the commercial, educational, health, religious, and cultural infrastructure and facilities of Marawi City, aside from a big number of huge concrete residential buildings.

The destruction was estimated to be worth at least P50 billion. The five months of heavy clashes resulted in the killing of 920 MauteGroup-Abu Sayyaf Group (MG-ASG) rebels, 165 soldiers, 3 policemen, and 47 civilians. In addition, it displaced more than 400,000 residents who were forced to evacuate to neighboring municipalities in Lanao del Sur and to Iligan City, Cagayan de Oro, and a few other areas in Mindanao.

The sufferings of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the destruction and dislocations brought by the war were ameliorated significantly by the large-scale relief efforts of national and local government agencies, private/business firms, religious organizations, and civil society organizations.The strong family ties among M’ranaws also helped minimize the pains of dislocations. Donations from some international agencies and foreign countries also contributed significantly to the alleviation of these sufferings. Collectively, all these relief efforts helped mitigate the humanitarian crisis spawned by the siege.

The liberation of Marawi City signals the beginning of the much needed massive rehabilitation, reconstruction, and modernization work which, owing to their urgency, complexity, and enormity, require a more elaborate planning process to produce a responsive blueprint. It is in this light that this paper was conceptualized: to propose intervention measures that consider the cultural and religious practices of the people of Marawi.

The pointers or recommended interventions are classified into five categories:deconflictualization, economic rehabilitation, rebuilding and modernization, governance reforms, and peacebuilding.

Deconflictualization

The siege physically ravaged the previously beautiful and dynamic “Islamic City of Marawi,” pauperizing its population that continues to suffer dismally (destroyed houses, lost properties and lives of relatives among collateral victims, lost livelihood, lost communal life, lost community facilities/services).Due to this situation, coupled with the growing disillusionment with the never-ending Mindanao peace process and the perceptible spread of violent extremism and radicalism to the Muslim communities in Mindanao, Marawi City today is essentially a “powder keg”(i.e., a simmering social volcano of anger, tension, hatred, and animosity spawned by the war and the underlying conflictual issues or circumstances).

While many of the affected residents generally blame the MG-ASG for attacking Marawi City, some of them resent the government’s use of massive air strikes and heavy artillery fires which caused much of the destruction of their houses and properties. One source of conflict is the expected retaliatory initiatives of the slain leaders and members. The possibleeruption of violent feuds between families adversely affected by the war and the families of the leaders of the forces that attacked Marawi City is another incendiary factor.

The following interventions may be considered:

A.)Focus on the rehabilitation, reconstruction, and development of Marawi City and avoid diversionary or contradictory activities. President Duterte can make a post-siege visit to IDPs in the evacuation centers outside Marawi City and to the barangays in the city where the residents have returned recently.

B.) Hasten the return of the IDPs to the barangays in Marawi City which were not affected or were minimally affected during the siege. This recommendation is based on the M’ranaws’ maratabat (or sense of pride) and close family ties. In M’ranaw culture, seeing your close relative in an evacuation center or in a sordid situation is shameful to clan members. Allowing the immediate return of families outside the MBA would capacitate them to start their economic recovery efforts and possibly help their relatives and friends from barangays within the MBA.

C.) Enlist the active participation of local government units (LGUs) and other sectors of Marawi City and Lanao del Sur in conducting the required rapid damage appraisal, needs identification and assessment, program planning, plan implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

D.) Initiate the release of the lands within the military reservation to rightful owners in accordance with the order issued by the late President ElpidioQuirino in 1953.

E.) Complete as early as possible the physical cleaning and clearing of Marawi City, particularly the main battle area (MBA). The suggestion to make it as a war museum will only institutionalize and perpetuate the wounds and pains of the war in the minds of M’ranaws.

F.) Fast-track the construction of transitional shelters and their award to deserving IDPs from barangays within the MBA and those from outside it whose houses were destroyed. Validation of data for applicants or recommendees for award of transitional shelter is necessary to screen out applicants who were not affective by the siege.

G.) Establish a strong multisectoral support group for community healing, which shall consist of LGU leaders, ulama, officials of field offices of national departments, traditional leaders, the academe, AFP and PNP officials, business leaders, professionals, women, youth, and civil society organizations. This group shall develop and implement interventions to eliminate issues that undergird violent extremism and radicalism and spearhead efforts to win suspected vulnerable individuals or groups from their extremist or radical views or activities.

H.) Sustain existing efforts of the AFP and PNP in pursuing complaints of affected residents or concerned citizens regarding alleged violationof human rights, looting, harassment, discourteous behavior, and other offenses or infractions during the five-month siege.

I.) Prioritize the construction or reconstruction of destroyed mosques (e.g., Sultan Bato Ali Mosque and the Islamic Center), madaris(madrasah schools), and torils (live-in Islamic schools).Adequate consultation with stakeholders (barangay, city, ulama, and traditional leaders) must be ensured. Mosques, madaris, and torils are symbolically important for confidence building and deconflict- ualization purposes becausethe issue of extremist groups is anchored largely on religion.

Economic Rehabilitation

The unexpected prolonged largescale war has practically transformed the huge concrete buildings, houses, and structures in the central district into ashes. The devastation and dislocations impoverished not only the great majority of poor families in Marawi City but also the rich ones – M’ranaw businessmen based in Marawi and other areas outside Lanao del Sur including Metro Manila, professionals and government officials and workers, etc.

M’ranaws are known to be good entrepreneurs, hardworking, generous, hospitable, and have strong attachment to families and ancestral roots. With appropriate compensatory or remedial economic assistance or intervention, the affected families can regain their lost economic capabilities, strengths, and resources, and subsequently help in building a better and stronger Marawi. Hereunder are some proposed interventions:

A.) Focus on weaning the residents from dependence on relief assistance to economic empowerment for selfreliance. This proposal should cover not only the relief operation activities of the government but also those private/ business companies and other nongovernment entities.

B.) The national government should provide immediate livelihood displacement assistance fund to all affected families or households. Instead of continuously giving relief goods to IDPs after the liberation of Marawi City last October 2017, the government should provide a livelihood displacement assistance fund of R30,000-R50,000 as seed money to support small business activities, or other appropriate livelihood activities to generate income for the IDPs daily subsistence requirements.

C.) Implement massive livelihood skills training to members or dependents of affected families, in addition to the existing training activities of TESDA, to cover a bigger number of IDPs.

MSU Marawi campus can contribute substantially to the livelihood skills training program, through its 17 colleges. A good template for this is the “Public Service Outreach Program” of MSU which I conceptualized in 2014 when I was its president.

D.) Provide a “training-to-livelihood implementation” support program that involves job placement assistance (domestic and foreign), small business start-up assistance, technical support services for livelihood projects, livelihood project monitoring, marketing and other appropriate support services.

E.) Providea multiple service delivery mechanism to address the urgency,complexity,and enormity of needs.

Rebuilding and modernization

The following interventions are recommended for Marawi’s rebuilding:

A.) The reconstruction or rebuilding works should be restorative, basic needs-oriented and culture friendly. Works should be non-disruptive or should focuslargely on restoration of destroyed buildings, structures and facilities. The property ownership rights and cultural sensibilities of the residents must be recognized and respected. Changes or modifications should be limited to urgently needed road construction and widening, improvement of water system, power, drainage and sewerage system, garbage management, and zoning policies and standards, and other indispensable works. Rehabilitation and reconstruction initiatives should avoid trampling on some sacred or important aspects of M’ranaw culture and Islamic identity. The compounds of some houses or residential buildings in Marawi City (including the central district containing the main battle area) have the graves of the parents or clan leaders that should be left as they are. Similarly, the high level of religiosity of the M’ranaws that entails easy access of family members to mosques, madaris and torils must be preserved, in respect of the mandatory five daily prayers (in jamma or group prayer).

B.) To revive community life in Marawi City, basic local services and community facilities must be restored. Hence, partially damaged buildings and infrastructures like public markets, mosques, schools, madaris, torils (live-in Islamic learning centers), health centers, offices, police stations, sports facilities, multipurpose halls, etc. should be repaired, renovated, and reconstructed. Damaged buildings and facilities must be replaced.

C.) Provide appropriate amounts of house repair and rebuilding assistance to owners of private houses and buildings (residential or commercial) which were partially or wholly damaged during the war. The owners should undertake the said repair and reconstruction works, subject to zoning policies and guidelines, engineering standards and other government regulations. This will help in hastening repair and reconstruction works.

D.) Encourage the adoption of creative approaches in generating additional funds for rehabilitation works involving common-use structures or facilities. These may be in the form of adopt-a-school program, adopt-a-health center program, adopt-a-mosque program, adopt-a-madrasah program, and adopt-a-toril program. DFA officials or Muslim leaders can tap philanthropists who can be potential sponsors/financers for the reconstruction program. (To be continued)