Marawi Leaders Undergo Legal Literacy Training by Concern-We Effect Project

On February 23-25, 2022, CONCERN Inc. with the support of We Effect has organized a 3-day Legal Literacy Training of Trainers, entitled “Emphasizing Local Participation and Empowerment in Securing our Right over our Domain”. This further capacitated the IDP leaders and representatives of the Reclaiming Marawi Movement (RMM) on understanding their rights to land, housing and property, as well as their right to just compensation and reparation. The activity gathered 19 participants; 7 men and 12 women from the transitional shelters of Boganga, Rorog-Agus, Sagonsongan in Marawi City and Bakwit Village I in Matunggao.

Ms. Ica Fernandez, a registered spatial planner that specializes on land issues facilitated an Individual Mapping Exercise with the participants through a participatory mapping method to extract experiences and legal issues relevant to land, housing and property.

She emphasized the importance of the spatial orientation of people in their environment. In that spatial orientation is not just limited to space and place. Not just about legal territory, or mappable physical space, but even more so on the relationships and use, as well as the values, customs, culture, and history of people who identify with the place.

She also then discussed the framework of IDP rights, focusing on the International standards provided by the United Nations, i.e., Housing, Land, and Property Rights (HLP) lens. She gave a primer on understanding “adequate housing”, which then the IDP participants identifies their transitional shelters as “slum” and does not follow the standards of an “adequate shelter” .

She also lectured on the unpacking of the multiple legal frameworks in the Bangsamoro. She gave emphasis on the root cause of land conflict issues from histories of colonial experience, marginalization through land dispossession, historical injustice, and contemporary impacts.

Atty. Buboy Mendoza, legal officer of BALAOD Mindanaw discussed the existing Philippine national laws and policies pertaining to land. He shared a clear explanation on land classifications in the Philippines; lands that are publicly-owned by the government and can be privatized; or that are considered as alienable and disposable (A&D); also the existing rules on easement zones; which are some of the particular issues that IDPs of RMM are concerned of as they were displaced from lands some of which were located in the lakeside or considered to be no-build zone.

Atty. Mendoza, together with BALAOD Mindanaw, expressed their commitment in helping the IDPs document their cases on land disputes and file claims over their land to further take legal actions.

He also provided an input on land registration, transfer of lands, expropriation of property, the IPRA law and the right to return to ancestral domain.

Some specific issues were raised by the participants, i.e., on land without titles, lands that are now built with public infrastructures, understanding the situation of recognized ‘reclaimed areas’ inside the Most Affected Area (MAA) of Marawi City, etc.

Atty. Virginia Lacsa Suarez, labor lawyer and Chairperson of women’s federation Kaisa Ka shared her inputs on the Right of the IDPs to just compensation and reparation. She briefly discussed the salient points of the 2420 Senate Bill or the Marawi Compensation Bill. She put emphasis on the moral, psychological and emotional impact that must also be taken into account, more than the structural damages that is to be compensated. The government must be held accountable for the lives loss during the siege and for the continuing struggle of the people who are still displaced for almost five years now.

The participants of the activity are set to roll-out the training to the different transitional shelters. This is to further help drumbeat the IDP campaign both at the local and national level bringing specific issues on the rights to land, housing and property; and to influence the recognition of a more just compensation that will serve justice to the moral, psychological and emotional impact to the resident IDPs from the effects of war in Marawi.

CONCERN Inc., with the support of We Effect, continuously supports the political empowerment of the IDPs of Marawi, in partnership with Reclaiming Marawi Movement through the “Capability Assistance for People’s Initiatives at Transformative Actions and Leadership in Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience to Disasters” or CAPITAL in CCARD Project.