By: Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos
President Duterte has ordered the creation of an inter-agency task force that will oversee the rehabilitation, reconstruction, and rebuilding of war-torn Marawi City.
Duterte signed Administrative Order No. 3 on June 28 creating the Task Force Bangon Marawi headed by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana as chairperson and Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark A. Villar as vice chairperson.
Members of the task force are Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Año and the Secretaries of the Departments of Education, Budget and Management, Energy, Health, Information and Communications Technology, Interior and Local Government, Science and Technology, Social Welfare and Development, Trade and Industry, Transportation, chairpersons of the Local Water Utilities Administration, Mindanao Development Authority, and National Electrification Administration;
General Manager of the National Housing Authority, Director General of the National Economic and Development Authority, Director General of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Secretary of the Office of the Cabinet Secretary, Administrator of the Office of Civil Defense, chief of the Philippine National Police, and a representative from the Office of the President.
Among the duties of the task force is the deployment of a quick response team that will provide for the immediate needs of displaced or adversely affected families in Marawi.
It is also tasked to conduct a post-conflict needs assessment in order to develop and implement a comprehensive rehabilitation and recovery program for Marawi and other affected localities.
In addition, the task force has been ordered to ensure to facilitate and oversee the construction of temporary and permanent shelters for displaced persons as well as to coordinate the immediate restoration of water and electricity utilities and the repair and reconstruction of public buildings and infrastructure.
Lorenzana, handpicked by Duterte to lead the task force, said the rehabilitation of Marawi will start as soon as the armed conflict is over.
He said they are now preparing the mechanisms of the rehabilitation program. “We are now preparing the mechanism to go into the rehabilitation and recovery, as soon as the fighting stops in Marawi,” Lorenzana said.
Lorenzana said the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council which he heads will implement the rehabilitation of Marawi as they consider the conflict as a man-made disaster.