Marawi siege survivors wait as Muslim region vote nears

Survivors of the 2017 Marawi siege in the southern Philippines are still waiting for answers, compensation or a return home as the now semi-autonomous Muslim region prepares for its first elections on Monday.

Sophia Aminolla, a nurse and mother of two, told AFP she still does not know whether her missing younger brother Amerel is alive or buried among numbered graves near a resettlement site for siege survivors.

Philippine forces and gunmen linked to the Islamic State group fought in Marawi from May to October 2017, leaving the city's 400-hectare business district in ruins. More than 1,000 people were killed by official count, most of them civilians.

The number of missing people varies. The International Committee of the Red Cross lists more than 300 individuals as missing.

Relatives of those killed and people displaced by the fighting are eligible for compensation. A special government board has paid about 6.5 billion pesos, or $104 million, while at least half of an estimated 14,000 claimants are still waiting.

Johary Lumna, spokesman for the Marawi Compensation Board, said the board requires a government-issued death certificate for claims involving presumptive deaths. Aminolla, who leads an advocacy group for families of the missing, said her family's claim was rejected.

Majul Gandamra, who was mayor during the battle, estimated that about 10 percent of Marawi's 2017 population of around 200,000 have not returned or been resettled.

Some rebuilding is under way in the former battle zone, and business has grown in a new commercial district. But displaced families still live at the temporary Sagonsongan resettlement site, where residents described cramped housing, no tap water and intermittent power cuts.

The compensation board's mandate is due to expire in 2028, leaving thousands of cases still to be processed.