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Marawi rebuilds from the ruins of May 23, 2017 infamous siege
By Nash B. Maulana
THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has denied a P15.3-million demand payment made by Impact Hub Manila for expenses incurred in the 2022 presidential and vice presidential debates due to lack of documentary requirements.
The Comelec, in a letter dated May 19, 2023 and signed by executive director Teofisto Elnas Jr, noted that requests for payment should be made with an invoice. It added that “claims for payment not compliant with the pertinent procurement, accounting and auditing rules will not be processed” as this could result in disallowance by the Commission on Audit. “In this regard, the Commission is constrained to deny Impact Hub’s claim for P15,300,000,” it added.
Impact Hub Manila tried to collect from the poll body last week.
In a letter dated April 27, 2023, Impact Hub said the memorandum of agreement it entered with Comelec still stands even if the poll body “decided to unilaterally reschedule and eventually cancel the debates.”
Impact Hub Manila warned that it will “avail legal remedies under the law to recover the debt and to protect the company’s interest” should Comelec fail to respond or to make a payment arrangement within the next five days upon receipt of the collection notice.
In its reply, the Comelec invoked the rules provided by the Generic Procurement Manual Volume 2-Procurement of Goods and Services, which states that requests for payment “shall be made in writing, accompanied by an invoice describing, as appropriate, the goods delivered and/or services performed, by documents submitted pursuant to the contract, and upon fulfillment of other obligations stipulated in the contract as well as upon inspection and acceptance of the goods by the appropriate Technical and Inspection Committee.”
Elnas said the payment necessitates that the supplier fulfilled its obligations in accordance with the contract and delivery of goods or performance of service, must be duly substantiated, and found compliant with the terms and conditions of the contract.
“Claims for payment not compliant with the pertinent procurement, accounting, and auditing rules will not be processed,” Elnas said.
“Otherwise, such payment can be the subject of disallowance by the Commission on Audit, together with its concomitant consequences, i.e. criminal, civil, and administrative liabilities,” the Comelec official added. Vito Barcelo
DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said earlier the country would receive within the week some 390,000 doses of the adapted version of the original vaccine.
“As per the DOH - Bureau of International Health Cooperation (BIHC), there shall be a slight delay in the arrival of the bivalent vaccines as there are permits that are still needed to be coordinated,” the DOH said in a statement.
“Rest assured that the Department of Health is exhausting all efforts to receive the vaccines by the end of the month,” it added. Bivalent vaccines are modified jabs
A department memorandum regarding the administration of the omicronspecific vaccines has been signed, the DOH bared.
“With regard to the preparation and implementation of the roll-out of the bivalent vaccine, the Department Memorandum has already been signed and only awaiting for its release,” the DOH added.
Delivery of the bivalent vaccines was first put on hold in March while the DOH explored other legal remedies.
The delay came after the country’s state of calamity for COVID-19, which had clauses on indemnification and immunity from liability, expired on December 31.
FOR the people of Marawi City, the fateful date of May 23 not only reopens a lot wounds, but also inflames with even greater vigor their will to face the future, along with the peace and prosperity it may bring.
There were untold stories of daring escapes, rescue, and starvation, and the residents’ will to survive, and their tenacity found comfort in economic and social displacements.
It may be recalled that one vital component of the city’s defense from the terror siege six years ago was the communications base set up for the residents by Lanao del Sur Gov. Bombit Alonto Adiong Jr. at the provincial capitol building, and unaltered since Day One. This had kept Marawi City within the sphere of monitoring and information exchanges with the rest of the world.
The masked black-dressed extremists had occupied the Marawi City Hall and the functional uninterrupted radio and other communications systems helped authorities reach out to Marawi City Mayor Majul Bandambra at his office at the height of the siege.
Lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo dared to enter Marawi City for the kindred and his wife Ross who was in the city on the first day of the siege on May 23. He recalled that residents fled the heavy fighting that lasted for weeks, escaping through the “backdoor” to reach peace and quiet within the mountain ranges of Kapai and Tagoloan townships northeast of strife-torn Marawi.
The Philippine Army Scout Rangers took the same route to reach Marawi and reinforce government troops already in the thick of the fighting on “Ground Zero.”
The augmentation units included the elite Marines of the Philippine Navy to buttress an assault force moving toward the Banggolo Bridge on the third day of the siege.
By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Maricel V. Cruz
AFTER more than 30 hours, fire authorities officially declared the blaze at the historic Manila Central Post Office tapped out.
Meanwhile, Senate Finance committee chairman Juan Edgardo Angara said he was directed by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri to work with the budget department following the post office fire.
At the Lower House, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers urged the national government to rebuild the Central Post Office for its historical significance, cultural heritage and national pride, with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) taking the lead role.
The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), in an update report, said the conflagration was over at i6:33 a.m. Tuesday.
Fifteen people, most of them firefighters, were reported hurt due while trying to put out the fire that broke out late
Sunday night. Their injuries ranged from lacerations to first-degree burns.
Some of the firemen also felt dizziness and chest pains.
The BFD estimated the damage at P300 million, saying at least two structures of the complex burned to the ground.
Manila Fire District chief of intelligence and investigation division senior inspector Alejandro Ramos said they had to make sure that the fire would not rekindle. Ramos said the extreme heat and lack of ventilation in the basement of
Sinarimbo now heads the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MILG-BARMM)
But the memories and emotional scars of the that nightmarish weeks of siege of their beloved city lingered even as the people began picking up the pieces to rebuild their shattered lives after the last bullet was fired. Even the womenfolk walked the extra mile to help in the reconstruction process.
Amir Sab Paisal Macatanong opened his family-owned two-hectare fertile agricultural land for the evacuees to grow vegetables in and sell their products to neighboring provinces to survive the famine and poverty that followed not much later.
Mariam Naik, the municipal agriculture officer of Saguiaran, Marilou Sopocado, provincial coordinator of the High-Value Crop Development Program, and Senior Agriculturist and Alfreda Telto—all women— helped develop a model self-reliant relocation site for the Marawi evacuees, hosted by residents of Barangay Pagalamatan in nearby Saguiaran town. Efforts were heightened to effectively prevent all possibilities for the infamous siege to ever happen again.
Improving governance and security preparedness at community level in the neighboring villages is the key to sustainable recovery, says Minister Sinarimbo of the MILG- BARMM.
The MILG implements the BARMM counterpart of the Marawi Rehabilitation Program, allocated with a Special Development Fund Program for Marawi Rehabilitation (SDFPMR) under the Office of Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Al-Hadj Murad Ebrahim.
Lady Mayor Khalida Palao Sangila of Pagayawan said as a mother that she is, there is a soft spot in one’s heart. But as a leader a woman has to be firm and decisive on issues affecting her more than 6,000 constituents.
