Majority Leader and Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin G. Romualdez
Romualdez lauds PRRD
For malasakit to compensate 2017 Marawi siege victims
HOUSE leaders on Thursday welcomed President Rodrigo “Roa” Duterte’s decision signing the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act of 2022.
“We laud President Duterte’s act of malasakit to compensate 2017 Marawi siege victims. This will help them recover from the trauma of terrorism. Healing is true liberation,” said House Majority Leader and Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin G. Romualdez, chairman of the House committee on rules.
“The government is working very hard to help the victims return to their normal lives from the cycle of violent conflict. Let’s rebuild trust and help the people build their homes,” added Romualdez, Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD).
Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and House Deputy Speaker Mujiv Hataman of Basilan were also elated by the passage of Republic Act No. 11696 or the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act of 2022.
“We applaud President Rodrigo Roa Duterte for signing the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act into law, which is a priority legislation of the 18th Congress designed to help Marawi residents rebuild their lives and pave the way for the city’s full recovery,” Velasco said.
Hataman, one of the principal authors of the Marawi Siege Victims Compensation Act, said the law is good news for the victims.
“Malaking bagay ito para sa mga kababayan nating taga-Marawi na halos limang taon na naghintay ng tulong para makapagpatayo ng bahay nilang nasira ng digmaan, makabili ng gamit na nasira at maibangon kahit papaano ang kabuhayan na nawala,” Hataman said.
Hataman underscored the importance of immediately allocating funds for the implementation of the law.
Through this new law, Velasco said “we hope to see the return to glory of this once beautiful city and its people back on their feet.”
“We also hope to ease the burden of those who lost their properties and loved ones during the war by providing them just compensation. We see this legislation as one of the important legacies of the Duterte presidency and the 18th Congress. Thus, we call upon our next set of leaders to the proper enforcement of this law so that we can achieve our goal of seeing Marawi rise again sooner rather than later,” Velasco added.
