Marawi Compensation Board (MCB) Chairperson Lawyer Maisara Dandamun-Latiph said that they will begin this October the awarding of payment to claimants who filed for damaged structures and lost their loved ones during the 2017 Marawi siege this month of October.
According to her, they will first give compensation for the loss of lives and structures damaged since the volume of claimants for personal properties is many compared to the two.
"As of September 12, the Board had issued a resolution to prioritize first the loss of lives, then the structures, and lastly, the personal properties. The joint senate and congressmen directed us to prioritize because we might be overwhelmed by the volume of personal properties, and many structures may remain unpaid," said Latiph.
She also shared that from July to September 30 of this year, 6,048 claimants have filed for loss of lives and structural damages amounting to P9,153,122,126.
She added that out of 6,048 who filed claims, they have already evaluated 362 (59 death claimants and 303 structure) claims amounting to P1,023,648,550.
Latiph further said they are still in talks with the national government to increase the P1 billion budget given to their office as it is insufficient for all the claims filed to their office from July to September, amounting to P17.5 billion.
She stated that her office will give their full efforts to release the P1 billion budget and give it to the eligible claimants before the year ends.
Meanwhile, MCB Board Secretary Lawyer Sittie Raifah Pamaloy-Hassan said the lack of workforce is one of the challenges they currently face as the number of workers is small compared to the number of claimants.
"In terms of fiscal projections, one of the challenges facing the MCB is a shortage of manpower, which hinders our ability to deliver the targeted solutions. We request the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to approve hiring additional staff or 'plantilla positions," said Hassan.
She added that apart from the lack of manpower, they also need training in various units such as legal and technical writing; data banking; recording and transcribing under the adjudication unit; first aid training; recording and data banking under the intake area unit; investigation training; mediation and settlement; and information and dissemination under the legal and technical unit. (JND/PIA-10/Lanao del Sur)
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