JV SEEKS TO CREATE AD HOC COMMITTEE FOR MARAWI REBUILDING

SENATOR JV Ejercito has "commenced" the process of rebuilding Marawi City although several members of the Islamic State-inspired Maute bandits are still holed up in some areas resisting government forces.

This developed as Ejercito sought for the creation of an ad hoc committee tasked to oversee the rehabilitation of the Marawi City and other areas affected by the fighting.

"Considering the gravity of the destruction brought about by the Marawi crisis, there is a need for the creation of an ad hoc committee which shall exercise jurisdiction over all matters directly and principally relating to the construction and rehabilitation of Marawi City and other affected areas," Ejercito said in Senate Resolution No. 428 which he filed last week, July 18.

Ejercito said the ongoing crisis has forced some 389,300 residents to flee their homes and sought temporary shelters in evacuation centers nearby provinces.

"The continued crisis has left the city with ravaged and shattered buildings, houses, public infrastructures and utilities," he said.