MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Vice President Leni Robredo on Friday, June 28, turned over 3 new classroom buildings in war-torn Marawi City, funded through her flagship Angat Buhay  anti-poverty program.

Robredo flew to Marawi City to officially unveil the new classroom buildings in Mapandi Elementary School, Harat Medina Central Elementary School, and Bae Inomba Blo Bacarat Elementary School. 

The buildings were funded by donations from Angat Buhay partners Philam Foundation, Double Dragon Properties Corporation, Jollibee Group Foundation, LBC Foundation, and Team Energy Foundation.

Robredo said sites of the new school buildings were chosen upon consultation with local Department of Education officials, who recommended schools in remote areas. She added that this also hewed to the thrust of her program.

“Iyong mga malalayong paaralan, hindi sila kagaya noong mga centrally located na mas mabilis makita kaya mas mabilis makatanggap [ng tulong]. So kung napapansin niyo, iyong lahat na pinuntahan natin ngayon, ito iyong nasa outskirts, ito iyong mga nasa malalayo. So iyon pa rin iyong priority natin – na pinipili natin iyong mas kaunti iyong tulong na dumarating,” said Robredo.

(Far-flung areas do not receive help as fast as those in centrally located areas do. So if you noticed, all of the areas we are visiting today are in the outskirts. So that is still our priority – we choose the areas where there’s barely any help coming in.)

The Vice President’s anti-poverty program has also built 72 transitional shelters at Barangay Sagonsongan, called the Angat Buhay Village, for families displaced by the Marawi siege. Robredo said her office targets to complete building 28 more housing units within the year, with the help of private sector partners.

She turned over 12 more homes on Friday, built  through donations from the Latter-Day Saints Charities, another Angat Buhay partner. 

The Vice President hopes the rehabilitation of Marawi would be completed at the soonest possible time.

Still, Robredo counted as a good sign the demolition efforts she has seen around the city. 

“Noong pagpunta ko dito noong April, mas inip iyong mga tao dahil matagal na nga. Pero ngayon, parang iba iyong atmosphere. Siguro dahil…may nakikita silang gumagalaw na. So siguro ngayon mas hopeful kaysa noong April,” said Robredo. 

(The last time I came here in April, the people were impatient because the reconstruction efforts were delayed. But now, the atmosphere is different. Perhaps this is because they can see progress. So maybe they are more hopeful now compared to April.) 

Robredo’s office and its partners earlier gave P11.53 million worth of resources to help residents of Marawi recover from the war. – Rappler.com