Lawmaker concerned over WB’s role in Marawi rehab
APARTY-LIST lawmaker has raised concerns over the participation of the World Bank in the rehabilitation of conflict-hit Marawi City.
Gabriela Women's Partylist Representative Emmi de Jesus on Tuesday said the multilateral body should have no role in rebuilding Marawi as it is known for pushing conditions that favor foreign investors.
“The World Bank should have no role at all in the Marawi reconstruction and rehabilitation given its notoriety in imposing loan conditionalities that push probusiness reforms and open up local economies for corporate plunder,” de Jesus said.
The World Bank earlier affirmed its commitment to help rehabilitate Marawi after President Rodrigo Duterte announced that it has been liberated from Islamic Statelinked terrorists.
World Bank Chief Executive Kristalina Georgieva said the bank, given its expertise, will help provide technical aid and other forms of assistance to the Philippines.
“WB and its pro-business rehab plan should stay out of Marawi,” de Jesus said, adding that the government must prioritize first the needs of the Maranaos for housing, food, education and for basic services instead of putting investor interests on top.
De Jesus said it is infuriating that the administration is too “giddy” at the thought of investors rushing into prey on the devastation in Marawi while thousands of families have no houses to return to.
Maranaos could be victimized, said de Jesus, as they could be robbed of their own resources if the World Bank continues to intervene.
“We fear that the WB template for rehab will open up Marawi City to foreign business interests eyeing tourism, trade, and oil, robbing Maranaos of their own resources while the corporate entities bank on the massive housing problem,” she said.
“This is a recipe for disaster equally worse or even much worse than terrorism,” added de Jesus.
De Jesus said it is becoming clear that the US instigated war on terror in Marawi is meant to open the city's rich resources to corporate plunder, as what the US did in Afghanistan and other countries.
The lawmaker explained that in the past, the World Bank has used its Structural Adjustment Program to extend financing to poor countries on the condition that they should implement trade liberalization, privatization, and deregulation.
On Monday, Defense Secretary Jesus Lorenzana announced the end of the 154 days siege in Marawi after government troops prevailed in the last standoff with the rebel group.
The martial law declaration in the entire Mindanao, which was extended until December 31, was not yet lifted.