Purisima: PHL rejection of EU grants won't stall efforts to rehab Marawi

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Philippines' decision not to accept future grants from the European Union (EU) would not thwart the government's efforts to rehabilitate the strife-torn Marawi City, an Office of Civil Defense (OCD) official said on Monday.

Assistant Secretary Kristoffer Hames Purisima, OCD's deputy administrator for administration, noted that the government had received numerous pledges from other nations, including China, India, and Thailand, to give donations for Marawi rehabilitation efforts.

"I don't think it (Philippines' refusal to accept EU aid) will be a setback. We’ve been receiving pledges of support and we’ve been receiving support from many other sectors. And therefore, we will be open to evaluating all their pledges and all the supports that they plan to give," Purisima told Palace reporters.

On October 20, Malacañang said the Philippine government would no longer accept "grants with conditions" from the EU in a bid to prevent the regional bloc's alleged intervention in the country's domestic affairs.

This developed after President Rodrigo Duterte said his administration was not keen to receive future aid from the EU, stressing that it would be better for the Philippines to remain "poor" rather than being dictated upon by the international parliamentarians.

Purisima said the Task Force Bangon Marawi's finance and resource mobilization subcommittee was now being assisted by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to assess pledges from other countries, as well as other sect or s.

The government was expected to issue P30-billion bonds in January to finance the rehabilitation of Marawi City, which was occupied by Islamic Statelinked Maute extremists on May 23 in an effort to establish caliphate for Southeast Asia militants.

Purisima said an estimate of P5 billion would be spent by year-end for relief efforts in the besieged city in the southern Philippines.

He said the government was also targeting to complete the construction of 1,100 transitional shelters for displaced Marawi residents by the end of the year.

(Ruth Abbey Gita/ SunStar Philippines)