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THREE years after the liberation of the city of Marawi from the Islamic State-inspired Maute group, President Rodrigo Duterte said it could take some time before residents can once again call the city home.
In a public speech on Monday, Duterte said that the rehabilitation of Marawi is not so easy due to the cleaning of pumps and problems over property titles.
“You know the Marawi [rehabilitation] it’s not that easy. We started it and we are already doing so because… the cleaning of explosives in Matagal (takes time) ”, said the President.
“So, you have to deal with titles, titles’ yung mga n’yo diyan double-double (your titles overlap).”
“So, there is no title that is really very clean. In fact, the land itself belongs to the military, the entirety, ”Duterte said.
The president added that there are many things that need to be resolved at the local level and “the problem is about the Marawi community itself, not about the government.”
He made the statement after Marawi Reconstruction Conflict Watch and the Moro Consensus Group noted the slow rebuilding of Marawi City.
The groups said there is no release to speak of as thousands of city residents remain in temporary shelters and have yet to receive compensation for their damaged properties, caused by the Maute siege.
President Duterte said the city of Marawi has long been liberated from terrorists.
“These people who complain, say (those who say) that there is still no release of Marawi. Look, the government freed Marawi not from the people of Marawi. We don’t do that and we never did. We liberate Marawi [from] the terrorists, Maute, pati ‘yung (included) [Islamic State]Duterte added.
Amid the complaints, he told Marawi residents not to worry as the funds for rehabilitation are intact and the government will continue to spend until the war-torn city regains its former glory.
“It is not easy to do that. It could take some time before we can get to the ideal place that I would call home, ”said the president.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Malacañang spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said that the Marawi rehabilitation project is underway and will be completed in December 2021, according to the chairman of the Bangon Marawi Task Force and the secretary of Housing, Eduardo del Rosario.
The president declared the city of Marawi liberated on October 17, 2017 after a five-month battle between government forces and the Maute group.
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