Nobody won war in Marawi – Duterte
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte said nobody came out as winner from the five-month war of the government troops against the Daesh-inspired terrorists in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur.
This, as Duterte reiterated his promise to rebuild the city which was reduced to wreckage due to the offensives from the sides of the government and the terrorist.
Duterte said that following the collection of billions of pesos in unpaid taxes, the government can start rebuilding and improving the city so as to prevent the same situation from happening again.
"So as not to repeat the kind of thing that we fought for about four months and at the expense of the lives of many people, Christians and Muslims alike," he said Sunday in his speech at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Business and Investment Summit at Marriott Hotel in Paranaque City.
"We get nothing. Nobody won that war, not government," he added.
According to Duterte, despite the neutralization of many of the terrorists who laid siege in the city, even being able to kill the leadership, peace was not promoted during the war.
"We’re able to kill, how many? Terrorist and even? It does not promote peace in this world. We were just acting on a police punitive action," Duterte said.
The President assured that with the money collected from the unpaid taxes, the rehabilitation of Marawi City can start as soon as the clearing operations are over.
"I said, we collected so much taxes. I was informed by my revenue officials that there’s enough (money) to start laying down the foundation of the city again," Duterte said.
Duterte has initially allotted P20 billion for the rehabilitation of Marawi City.
Task Force Bangon Marawi has started to hold their Post-Conflict Needs Assessment (PCNA) in Marawi City. However, it was suspended due to the stragglers that still linger inside the war-torn city.
The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) earlier reported that it was able to complete the PCNA in 49 barangays. PCNA is yet to be conducted in 47 more barangays.
"So it is suspended and we hope that by the end of the month or early December, we can start with the PCNA so that we will have a complete data before we can come up with a complete package of the Master Rehabilitation Plan," The HUDCC earlier said.
"So hopefully, by third week or last week of November, it will be done already so that we can start with the PCNA at the soonest possible time," they added.
HUDCC chairman Eduardo del Rosario has also bared the plans of the Task Force to develop Marawi City by first flattening around 200 to 250 hectares.
"I would like to focus on the 24 barangays that cover about 200-250 hectares that was destroyed 80-90 percent. The focus of the rehabilitation will be in this area and we intend to develop this 80-90 percent destroyed community. We will flatten it," he said.