Who will Rebuild Marawi? President’s Blame Game Escapes Media Lens

THE MARAWI SIEGE left a trail of death, destruction and destitution in the city in 2017. Nearly two years after the radical Islamist Maute group laid siege on the country’s only recognized Islamic City, it is still in ruins, with over 12,000 families still displaced from their homes.

In a previous monitor following the groundbreaking ceremony for its rehabilitation in October 2018, CMFR noted media’s disinterest in the Marawi rebuilding efforts. Since then, media attention has declined even more. Media reported President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial remark about how he would leave the reconstruction to affluent Maranao business tycoons, but the remark did not provoke any interest in the administration’s plan to rebuild Marawi and the coverage has remained surprisingly scanty.

Calling the siege a “man-made calamity,” the president said, “it was bound to happen because of what they were doing there.” Some media organizations reported Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo’s interpretation which did not help.

The Duterte statement should have prompted media to restore Marawi into the news agenda. Obviously, the perpetual delay in the city’s reconstruction is in itself a huge story: government has not done what it promised to do, nor does it seem to know what exactly it should do. Reports have not reviewed the pledges made by foreign governments, by private corporations and development agencies to rebuild the city, as well as the government’s dealings with Chinese state-owned companies involved in the multi-billion project. Simple question for a reporter to ask: What happened to them?

CMFR monitored the reporting of Manila broadsheets (Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star, and Manila Bulletin) and primetime newscasts (ABS-CBN 2’s TV Patrol, GMA-7’s 24 Oras, TV5’s Aksyon, and CNN Philippines’ News Night) and selected news websites from April 24 to May 6, 2019.

“Business Tycoons”

On April 23, during a situation briefing for the earthquake in San Fernando, Pampanga, the President said, “Marami man ‘yang pera, ‘yang mga tao diyan. (Those people have a lot of money.) Every Maranao, there is a businessman. Kasali na ‘yang shabu. (That includes shabu.) May pera sila. (They have money.) The debate there is whether I would be also building the same kind that they lost. I don’t think I am ready for that.”

The statement, incoherent as it was, showed up the source of inaction on the part of the government.  The president seems not to have made up his mind after two years and several missteps in the awarding contracts for rebuilding. With most media focused on the quake coverage, this statement escaped the attention it deserved. The few reports on the president’s callous statement did not emphasize the gravity of what he said, especially for those directly affected by the siege.  

A few noted the sentiments of Marawi residents. Online site news.ABS-CBN.com reported how Marawi civic leader Samira Gutoc slammed the president for his statement. Gutoc called it “a lousy excuse” for the administration’s equally lousy efforts. A report by ABS-CBN’s late-night newscast Bandila featured interviews with Maranao businessmen. Former Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Assemblyman Zia Alonto-Adiong said that it is not an issue of who can afford to rebuild for themselves, but an issue of accountability and the right of the citizens to service from their government.

Meanwhile, a report by BusinessWorld cited Marawi civil society organization leader Drieza Lininding who said that the president’s remarks clarified the government’s stance on the reconstruction. Lininding said they might file charges against Duterte and others accountable for the siege. “We will see in the near future, ‘pag hindi na s’ya (when he is no longer) president, we might consider… Sana buhay pa sya para maramdaman n’ya ‘yung sakit na naramdaman namin (We hope he will still be alive then so he can feel the pain that we feel),” he said.

On April 27, Panelo clarified that the president was only referring to big businesses. “He said the buildings of businessmen were damaged. He said they should shoulder the expenses. We cannot spend for that. We will prioritize the people, not you. You have to spend also for that. You cannot rely on us on that,” he said. Media unwittingly or not carried this spin. Obviously, if journalists really understood the issues involved; they should have taken the cue from the Marawi residents’ who were the victims of this tragic episode.

“Blacklisted Chinese Companies”

Neither did the coverage follow up on the failure of the negotiations between Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM) and two Chinese-led consortiums which caused further delays in the rehabilitation.

The task force applied the Swiss Challenge in choosing the Bagong Marawi Consortium (BMC) and the Power Construction Corporation of China, Ltd. Two of the Chinese firms under the BMC — the state-owned China State Construction Engineering Corp Ltd. and the privately owned China Geo Engineering Corp. — were  blacklisted by the World Bank in 2009 for allegedly conspiring with Philippine companies to manipulate the bidding of road projects.

Exceptions in Coverage

This being said, CMFR cheers the exceptional reports which went directly to the heart of Marawi’s continuing plight.   

Davao-based online news site MindaNews has been consistent in its coverage. It had already published two separate stories even before the president’s statement. On April 8, it published a comprehensive update on the rehabilitation, reviewing the facts of its funding. While most reports mentioned the amount, MindaNews was the only one to present a breakdown of the PHP72.58 billion requirement for the project, considering the large sum involved and the extent of rehabilitation to be done.

On April 16, it published another report on the TFBM’s “Final Timetable” for the residents’ return to Marawi’s ground zero. It noted that TFBM’s Eduardo Del Rosario, gave a different timetable in March, when he announced during a House sub-committee hearing that the residents can return to their homes by September 2019. On April 12, Del Rosario backpedaled and said that the debris management will be done only by November 30.

For its part, the Inquirer also published a special report on April 29. The report noted that local civil society groups and traditional leaders blame the delay on the government’s slow response and the failed arrangements with Chinese companies. It also cited Lininding who stressed that China had a “notorious reputation” in investing in other countries, pertaining to Sri Lanka, which is struggling with its $8-billion debt to state-owned Chinese companies.

Rebuilding Marawi, Rebuilding Peace

War does not end when the smoke and the dust clears. Post-conflict areas are afflicted with ruined infrastructure and the absence of social services. Instead of the government working closely with affected communities, the Maranaos have had to suffer government’s incompetence; and as though that was not enough injury, the insult coming from the president who blamed the victims for the war which so many have they barely survived.