Media on the much delayed rebuilding of Marawi

TWO YEARS after the liberation of Marawi, government announced the rehabilitation of the ruined city without apologies for its long and unexplained delay.

Media headlines announced the start of rehab, with scant reference to the series of false starts, among them, almost awarding contracts to Chinese companies which had been blacklisted by the World Bank. The groundbreaking ceremonies last year have also been postponed several times, which President Duterte skipped. The plight of the people of Marawi hardly received media attention it deserved.

CMFR monitored the leading Manila broadsheets (Manila Bulletin, Philippine Daily Inquirer and The Philippine Star); the primetime newscasts (ABS-CBN 2’s TV Patrol, CNN Philippines’ News Night, GMA-7’s 24 Oras and TV5’s Aksyon) and some online news sites from October 14 to 17.

This time, reports on October 16 on the readiness of Marawi for rehabilitation trumpeted the announcement of National Housing Authority (NHA), that the end of the clearing operations signaled the start of rebuilding. Most media reported this development as framed by government.

The Bulletin reported with optimism saying “Hope springs eternal as Marawi heals, rebuilds” while the Inquirer ran the headline “Once a battleground, Marawi now poised for rehabilitation” on its front page. Unfortunately, the headline seemed out of sync with the story which led with the search for remaining bombs in some areas. Indeed, rehabilitation could and should begin everywhere else in the city.

CMFR cheers media reports that recalled serial delays and other points of contention involved in the rehab of the city.

Rappler’s report on October 17 noted the “excruciating pace of rehabilitation” – recalling how the collapse of a China-led consortium to rebuild the Islamic City halted plans for rebuilding. It also noted the lack of a clear timeline for the return of the displaced and flagged possible complications from the peculiar system of land ownership in Marawi.

The online news site sought views of Drieza Lininding, leader of the Marawi-based civic organization Moro Consensus Group. He criticized the failure to consult the residents.  Lininding also said there’s nothing to commemorate. “We don’t feel liberated at all. We are still in a state of martial rule,” he was quoted saying.

During its October 16 newscast, GMA News TV’s State of the Nation with Jessica Soho briefly recalled the contentious issues that have hounded rehab efforts. Soho mentioned the shared concerns of residents: the need to properly delineate boundaries of properties and whether as well as the option to renovate destroyed building and homes or to demolish damaged structures completely in order to give way to new ones.

As CMFR has pointed out in previous monitors, little was said about the government’s lack of a master plan for rehabilitation, without which, rebuilding the city could further delay or stall actual reconstruction.