By Divina Suson and Irma Boza – PNA News
MARAWI CITY — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has allotted an estimated USD400 million (PHP20 billion) worth of grants and loans to the government for the rehabilitation of this city, more than a year after the five-month siege by ISIS-linked Maute gunmen.
In his visit to the city Tuesday (November 13), ADB Vice President Stephen Groff and his team assessed the most affected areas in the city.
“It is important that we get the real picture of the situation of what Marawi is and talk to government officials and beneficiaries in order to ensure that the package that we are putting forward to our directors is going to provide the necessary kind of support,” Groff said.
Groff said ADB is in the process of preparing for the rehabilitation program that focuses on the city’s 24 barangays that were heavily damaged by the siege.
As part of the process, Groff said they met with local officials and interacted with displaced families still housed in a temporary relocation site in Barangay Sagonsongan.
He said ADB’S rehabilitation package includes infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges, as well as water supply and sanitation, social infrastructure, reconstruction of schools, health centers, and hospitals.
“This is a major undertaking and we are encouraged by the dedication of the local government of Marawi and of Lanao del Sur on the focus of putting this reconstruction effort,” he said.
Earlier, Groff visited the transitional shelter in Barangay Sagonsongan lwith Task Force Bangon Marawi (TBFM) field manager, Assistant Secretary Felix Castro.
The ADB official then proceeded to the most affected area in the city–known as “ground zero”–to inspect the proposed roads and bridges and other infrastructure that were totally damaged by the siege.
“Our assistance is going to focus more on infrastructure elements,” Groff said, adding they are leaving the housing projects to the government and other partner agencies.
‘Going home’
Mother of two Caironisa Laguindab, 38, asked Groff’s help for her family to return to their residence in Barangay Daguduban, one of the most affected villages.
Laguindab said that although they live comfortably well in the temporary shelter in Sagonsongan, they prefer that they be allowed to go back to their home and start life anew.
She said her family used to have stable finances until the war erupted. Their grocery store, she said, was now gone, and her husband had been reduced to driving passenger vehicles from a lucrative career as a sales agent.
“I want to go home with my family, my parents, my relatives. We were living there together, we helped one another. I want to go back to that kind of life,” Laguindab said
