By Raymund Antonio
Vice President Leni Robredo’s criticism of the delayed rehabilitation of Marawi City is a reminder to the Duterte administration that it needs to do better for Filipinos, her spokesperson Barry Gutierrez said on May 25, Monday.
“We appreciate the update on ongoing actions by the national government on the rebuilding of Marawi. We don’t doubt that action was taken, the question is, and has always been, whether that action is sufficient and timely enough,” he said in a statement.
Gutierrez was responding to Task Force Bangon Marawi Chairman Secretary Eduardo Del Rosario who defended the government’s efforts in rebuilding the war-torn city.
On the third anniversary of the Marawi siege last Saturday, May 23, Robredo called out the administration for the “three years of inaction and neglect in Marawi” that have gone “a thousand days too long.”
But Del Rosario took offense to Robredo’s remark, calling it “very inaccurate and unfair” to the 56 agencies involved in the Marawi rehabilitation.
Gutierrez stood by Robredo’s statement about the government’s inaction in Marawi, which continues to be in ruins to this day.
“More than a thousand days have passed since the siege began, and still, many of our fellow Filipinos whose lives were disrupted by this catastrophe continue to await a full restoration of their homes and livelihoods,” Gutierrez said.
“The VP’s statement on the third year after the commencement of the Marawi siege is simply a reminder that thousands of Filipinos need the government to do better for them,” he added.
The siege erupted on May 23, 2017, when the ISIS-linked Maute Group attacked and tried to take over the Islamic city in an attempt to turn it into the capital of the terror organization’s province in Southeast Asia.
A five-month long battle lasted between the local terrorists and military and decimated much of the city’s busiest districts.