/ AFP photo / Ted Aljibe
(Eagle News) – A group of Maranaos asked President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday to put a stop to the government’s plan to build an economic zone and a military camp in Marawi City.
In a statement, the Ranaw Multi-Sectoral Movement urged the President to let the Maranaos lead the rebuilding of Marawi for the purpose of preserving “cultural identity.”
According to the multi-sectoral group, the Maranao people were “largely left out” in drafting the plan, which they said was made without their participation, unclear, and neither bore the “stamp” of their will nor “reflect” their culture.
“Those who came to present the plan dismissed our comments, recommendations, and protestations as though we knew nothing and have no business getting involved in rebuilding our very own city,” the group said.
It said that the proposed blueprint for the Marawi City rehabilitation was “an invasion of a different kind,” and “threatens to rob” their soul.
The group added that the blueprint of Marawi was in the “hearts and minds” of the Maranaos, not in the “drawing boards of urban architects and master planners,” and that buildings and structures do not represent a city and its people.
“A city symbolizes its people. Built upon the aspirations and dreams of its people. Nurtured by and reflective of the identity of its people. We are not building a city from debris. We are rebuilding a city from history and from memory,” it said.
“Mr. President, you belong to our people. You know we will not keep quiet and simply accept this. We cannot accept that those who know so little of us would map out how to rebuild our city. Our home since time immemorial,” it added.
The government has allowed residents to go back to their homes in Marawi for the first time on Friday, months after the city’s liberation from the ISIS-inspired Maute group in October.