Low-rise residential buildings eyed in Marawi

MANILA - The National Housing Authority (NHA) is proposing the construction of at least four low-rise residential buildings in Marawi to assist city hall employees, teachers and other government personnel.

Task Force Bangon Marawi spokesman Assistant Secretary Toby Purisima said the proposed buildings are set to have 60 condo-type units, and will be constructed at the same time as the permanent shelters in Marawi.

The condo-type units, however, will not be free, but will be offered at an affordable price.

"As I understand it, hindi natin ito kayang ibigay ng libre sa ating mga employees, particularly ng Marawi City. Pero titignan natin ang pinaka-affordable price. Siyempre marami tayong options na tinitignan, ano. And it's still very early. Pero isasabay ito sa pagtatayo ng ating permanent shelters," Purisima said.

Aside from permanent shelters, the task force is now expediting the construction of temporary shelters to accommodate thousands of internally displaced persons scattered in evacuation centers and other areas.

The task force assured that the transitional shelter sites will come with adequate provisions for power water and other utilities.

Fighting between state troops and Islamic State-linked terrorists has been raging for four months in Marawi, leaving at least 893 dead, mostly terrorists, and hundreds of thousands displaced.

The prolonged conflict has left much of the once bustling urban center ravaged, and the government has begun plans for its rehabilitation.

After months of fighting and with the terrorists’ movements restricted to a fraction of the city, government troops have expressed confidence that the battle will soon be over, although it did not give a definite timeline.

The violent clashes prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to place the entire Mindanao under martial law until the end of the year, saying the local terrorists were aiming to establish an Islamic State province in the Philippines.

The emergence of groups pledging allegiance to Islamic State or ISIS is now considered the biggest security problem to face the year-old Duterte administration.

The rise of pro-Islamic State groups in the country has also raised alarm in Washington and the Philippines’ neighbors in the region, which fear that the notorious terror group was seeking to establish a new front in Asia amid its successive losses in Iraq and Syria.