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Gov't to begin evaluation of needs of displaced Marawi residents

August 7, 2017 | 8:40am

Gov't to begin evaluation of needs of displaced Marawi residents

In this June 9, 2017, photo, Nasir Abdul, second from right, and other evacuees look as a military helicopter passes by black smoke from burning houses outside a temporary evacuation center at the provincial government capitol in Marawi city, southern Philippines. Nearly every day for the past three weeks, the Philippine military has pounded the lakeside town of Marawi with rockets and bombs as it tries to wipe out militants linked to the Islamic State group in some of the most protracted urban combat to hit this volatile region in decades. AP Photo/Aaron Favila

MANILA, Philippines — The government will start assessing the needs of residents displaced by the Marawi siege today as security forces continue to flush out the remaining terrorists in the city.

Civil Defense Deputy Administrator Kristoffer Purisima said a post-conflict needs assessment or PCNA team would be deployed to determine the needs of affected communities.

The team will be composed of about 200 people and will have representatives from the national government, local governments, members of the academe and civil society.

READ: Philippines 2nd country with worst displacement in 2016 — report

“For the ways forward of the PCNA, a deployment plan is being prepared for the human recovery needs assessment and the deployment shall begin on August 8,” Purisima said in a press briefing yesterday in Malacañang.

“A national government agency shall lead the assessment of each sector namely infrastructure, the productive sector, social and cross-sectoral sectors,” he added.

Purisima said the team is expected to come up with a recovery strategy, which would become the basis for mobilizing resources.

Other methods for assessment would be conducted once the team secures a clearance from the military, he added.

READ: 100 bodies may still be in Marawi combat areas — crisis management exec

Purisima could not give estimates on the amount of damaged infrastructure, noting that government forces are still clashing with the Islamist terrorists. He also could not say when the assessment would be completed, saying the timeframe would depend on the situation on the ground.

“We would like to give a comprehensive picture. It’s hard to release piecemeal updates when it comes to comprehensive rehabilitation and recovery plan,” the civil defense official said.

“We still do not know our target because we have not seen the entire picture,” he added.

Marawi crisis update as of Aug. 6 @PhilippineStar @PhilstarNews pic.twitter.com/iSWK7zZ0WK
— Alexis B. Romero (@alexisbromero) August 7, 2017

A total of 528 terrorists from the Maute group, 122 government troopers and 45 civilians have died since fighting erupted in Marawi City last May 23. The successive attacks by Islamic State-inspired terrorists prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to place the entire island of Mindanao under martial law.

READ: Congress OKs martial law extension by overwhelming majority

The military said the problematic area in Marawi has been reduced to less than one square kilometer within the heart of the commercial business district.

“This fight, once it ends in Marawi, is only an indication that we have to strengthen and increase our security postures for any possible threats that may still emanate in the future, similar to what the President has been saying about terror threats that may be looming in the horizon,” Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said.

“Our forces are all in place and are doing their best to fulfill their mandate of liberating Marawi at the soonest time possible,” he added.

READ: Troops to focus on rescue not assault after capturing key Marawi bridge

Padilla said the Joint Task Group Ranao has been helping many residents in the surrounding areas of Lake Marawi return to their respective homes. He said Marawi residents could not return to the battle-ravaged city yet because the area is not yet cleared of militants.

“What we do request from the residents of Marawi is just to be patient because as soon as the coast is clear, we shall declare it as safe,” Padilla said.

Padilla also clarified that the explosions in Mindanao are just isolated cases caused by changes in the weather.

READ: 'Please ask what we feel': Maranao leader speaks up on martial law abuses

“Because of the hundreds of unexploded ordnance in the area, we believe that these could have been among those that have been in the area for quite some time,” the military spokesman said.

“And because of the changing weather patterns in the city of Marawi, which has been experiencing a lot of rainfall lately and potential changes of static electricity in the area, it may have triggered some of these unexploded ordnance to explode and may have been the cause of this reported explosion,” he added.

Padilla urged Mindanao residents to report threats and abuses by government troopers by sending text messages to the military’s hotline.

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