The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Funding will not be a problem in the rehabilitation of Marawi City, which was recently declared liberated from the clutches of pro-Islamic State (IS) groups, as government had prepared for the reconstruction effort while several countries have committed to provide aid, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said.
Diokno added the government is set to issue its planned Marawi bond in the first quarter of 2018.
“It’s a go…We’re planning to float one by January,” he said, citing that they are now discussing the specifics of the debt paper.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana pegged the cost of rebuilding Marawi City at around P100 billion.
He said a meeting with officials of the defense department, among others, would be held to discuss the rehabilitation plan, which he said might be finalized by the end of this month.
Marawi City residents should rest assured that the government has the funds for the area’s rehabilitation, he added.
Diokno said the DBM had an available P5 billion from the national risk reduction fund for this year to immediately start rehabilitation of the city devastated by almost five months of skirmishes between state forces and IS sympathizers.
“We will not be constrained by funding,” he said, adding that there are groups like the World Bank (WB) that had committed to help in the rehabilitation..
Diokno, who was in the US last week to attend the annual meetings of the WB and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC, said WB experts had discussed with the Philippine delegation ways on how to rehabilitate Marawi City.
He said among the options cited are the mechanics on the rehabilitation of Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.
He pointed out that what the government really needs now is the technical assistance from experts and not primarily funding, citing also that under the proposed 2018 national budget about P10 billion has been allocated for Marawi City’s rehabilitation.
“We expect to hit the ground running on rehabilitation in the next few weeks,” he said.
“Now is the time to move forward and rebuild Marawi into the inclusive, inter-faith, international and modern city it deserves to become,” he added.
World Bank chief executive officer Kristalina Georgieva confirmed the institution’s commitment to work with the government in helping conflict-torn Marawi City rise from devastation, along with scaling up support for peace-building efforts in Mindanao.
In a meeting in Washington with economic officials led by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Georgieva said the World Bank, with its capability and expertise in rebuilding conflict-hit areas, can provide technical aid and other forms of assistance to the Philippines to help rebuild Marawi City.
Georgieva also welcomed Dominguez’s plan to tap domestic resources to raise funds for Marawi’s reconstruction, which she said, was “the right thing to do” and underscored the importance of “inclusive development” as a key aspect of the rehabilitation strategy for the city.
“We can only express all of our sympathy for what has been going on in Marawi,” said Georgieva during the meeting held at the World Bank Office here. “As an institution that has committed to peaceful development and dealing with conflict situations, we would be honored in helping in terms of [re]building and engaging in any possible way what we can do in this situation,” she said.
Besides Dominguez, also at the meeting were Secretaries Alan Peter Cayetano of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Ernesto Pernia of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
Mara Warwick, the World Bank country director for Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, was also at the meeting.
On behalf of the Philippines, Dominguez thanked the World Bank “for its generous assistance to the Philippines through the years” and welcomed its offer of aid for Marawi City.
Dominguez emphasized the need for World Bank’s technical advice and expertise in reconstructing the entire city of Marawi as the Philippines has very limited experience in handling a large-scale rehabilitation program.
“(The rehabilitation of Marawi) is a complicated situation,” said Dominguez, noting as an example the issue involving land titling for its returning residents, many of whom are informal settlers living in multi-storey structures.
“The World Bank has the experience in reconstruction. We want to rebuild the entire city and keep a part of it as a memorial,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez informed Georgieva that with the approval of President Duterte, the government has opted to raise funds “domestically” for Marawi’s recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction program by, among others, issuing bonds.
“I would like to introduce the concept that the rest of the country is involved in Marawi, that we have to contribute ourselves to the reconstruction and we are going with the bond issue,” said Dominguez.
Georgieva said that the Philippine government and the World Bank “need to work together” even as she cited the strength and resilience of Filipinos in dealing with conflict and tragedies.
