Make Marawi an election issue

Readers, I refer to the moribund compensation bill for Marawi war victims gathering dust in the archives of Congress. With every passing day, the promise of reparations is getting dimmer.

Yes, there are crumbs distributed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and other government agencies, but they hardly made a dent on the need of victims. Every time a national catastrophe breaks out, man-made or natural like the recent Taal Volcano eruption, the issue is relegated to the back burner.

What to do? Maranaos should make the bill an election issue. Don’t vote for candidates who are seen oblivious or even lackadaisical to the need. Better still, campaign against them and the party they represent.

Last month, I received a text message from the Office of Senator Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa inviting me for a virtual committee hearing. The topic: Marawi Compensation Bill and related issues referred to the Special Committee chaired by the good senator. To say that it brightened my day was an understatement. We have waited too long for the bill to move. It gave us a flicker of hope that the promised assistance was gradually taking shape, thanks to a newbie senator who is more on action than rhetoric. At last, the matter was being extricated from the morass of dormancy. Senator Bato, who proudly claims affinity with the Maranaos because of his studies at the Mindanao State University, was finally taking the cudgel to put the matter on the legislative agenda. It was a breeze of fresh air to victims of the war.

Unfortunately, a few days later, I received another call canceling the meeting. The Senate declared a recess and there is difficulty constituting a quorum.

I was ready for the hearing, hoping I could verbalize and articulate my insights on the issue.

The government has both legal and moral obligation to pay compensation. This is simply because the wanton and reckless bombing of the city violates fundamental human rights and the International Humanitarian Law. The victims are entitled to restitution, reparation and rehabilitation. This theory stands on solid historical and jurisprudential grounds.

The United Nations Basic Principles on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims and the Statute of the International Criminal Court support such right.

From the Napoleonic War and the Treaty of Paris (1815) to World War 1, victims of war were compensated. In fact, after World War II, pursuant to the San Francisco Peace Treaty (1951), Japan paid reparation to the

Philippines.

State immunity? No way. When the generals ordered their centurions with malice to bomb recklessly the city without regard to life and property, they ventured outside the ambit of that immunity. There was conspiracy of the highest order.

The Philippine Civil Code provides monetary compensation for victims of unlawful acts or injustice. The law on torts establishes this precept. Having served as Undersecretary of the Department of Justice, I know that the department has always an item in its budget to compensate those wrongfully accused and later found not guilty by the court for their physical, psychological pains and social stigma.

In the last administration, about 11,000 victims of the Marcos martial law were compensated by legislation (Republic Act 10368).

Nobody can dispute the fact the Maranaos were caught in a crossfire in the war between the combined forces of the Maute Group’s Dawlah Islamiya and the Abu Sayyaf of Isnilon Hapilon and the full might of government forces. The almost daily bombing like clockwork of the city, which flattened it into ruins, was caught live on television and radio for all the world to see and hear. In fact, if truth be told, seeing the damage done to the city, the rebels made overtures for their surrender to spare the city, but these were ignored for reasons only our generals knew.

In sum, government will be doing the right thing to facilitate passage of the bill. Senator Bato with his close affinity with President Duterte can ask for certification of the bill as an urgent administration bill to cut short the long legislative process. Time is of the essence. If this is not passed under this administration, we might as well kiss goodbye to hope for its passage.

“Maranaos were caught in a crossfire in the war between the combined forces of the Maute Group’s Dawlah Islamiya and the Abu Sayyaf of Isnilon Hapilon and the full might of government forces.

“Government has both legal and moral obligation to pay compensation. This is simply because the wanton and reckless bombing of the city violates fundamental human rights.