Budget chief assures enough funds to rebuild Marawi

October 18, 2017

The Department of Budget and Management assured on Wednesday the government has sufficient budget for rebuilding war-torn Marawi City and it would not need to borrow from donor agencies. At a breakfast forum in Manila, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said assessment has been ongoing on how much would be needed to reconstruct Marawi, which was declared by President Rodrigo Duterte as already been liberated from the hands of the Islamic State-inspired Maute terrorists. "Funding is not a concern. I think we can manage," he said when asked if the government would seek financial assistance from lending agencies, such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency. He also said the P30-billion "patriotic" bond for Marawi rehabilitation "is a go" and this could take place by January next year. He also said for the remainder 10 weeks of the year, the government has P5 billion fund which could be disbursed to start the rehabilitation of the city. Diokno noted that Japan, through JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), and China have committed to extend grant assistance to rebuild Marawi. >Diokno said World Bank has offered technical assistance in rehabilitating the battle zone city, which was occupied by the militants since May 23, prompting Duterte to place the whole of Mindanao under the state of martial law. For 2018, the budget chief said P10 billion has been included in the proposed budget to be spent for Marawi. He also reiterated that the Palace is ready to seek supplemental budget from Congress if needed, citing the availability of the P30 billion and P6 billion from cigarette manufacturing Mighty Corporation and the Philippine Airlines, respectively. Celerina Monte/DMS