One year after Marawi City was almost obliterated in the aftermath of the unremitting joint military-police offensive following the controversial declaration of martial law on May 23, 2107, the promised rehabilitation of Marawi has barely started.

The displaced Maranaos and other residents of Marawi City are mostly still homeless amidst the ruins of an improvident war.

Maranaos fear that land ownership problems will lead to (a) land grabbing; (b) appropriation by the State of ancestral lands for government projects; and (c) bank foreclosures of mortgaged properties.

These problems may further enflame extremism in the area.

With the inadequate response of the Duterte administration, the seeds of rebellion and terrorism continue to germinate which gave the government the convenient excuse of imposing a yearlong extension of martial law in Mindanao.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN