Low-cost houses turned over to families of Moro guerrillas

DATU MONTAWAL, Maguindanao — Authorities turned over 100 low-cost core houses to families of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels here last Thursday.

The military and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao government jointly built the dwellings as part of efforts to rehabilitate war-devastated communities.

ARMM Gov. Parouk Hussin, who led the symbolic turnover of the newly built houses to the beneficiaries of the "Bangsamoro Pabahay Project," said soldiers and technical staffers of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) are still constructing 687 more core shelters for residents here and in nearby Pagalungan town.

The housing project, bankrolled by Malacañang, is a joint undertaking of Hussin’s office, the DSWD, the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and 54th and 55th Engineering Brigades.

The project aims to rehabilitate local farming communities affected by the military’s recent takeover of rebel enclaves here and in Pagalungan.

Among the recipients of the 100 core houses were dependents of MILF leaders in the two towns, all of them given certificates of ownership to the dwellings built on public land.

The certificates were handed out by Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman; Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga, 6th ID commander; and Brig. Gen. Eduardo Lena of the 54th Engineering Brigade.

The 100 core houses were built only in 40 days, according to Hussin, a feat he attributed to the MILF’s cooperation in helping maintain the fragile peace in the project sites.

"There were no disturbances and armed confrontations in the surroundings of the project sites while Army and Marine combatants were building the houses, an indication that we have the passive support of local rebel forces to our peace-building missions here and in other parts of the ARMM," Hussin said.

The ARMM has targeted the construction of 3,776 core shelters in 16 Maguindanao towns affected by MILF-military hostilities early this year.

Hussin said the ARMM government has also constructed 180 core shelters in Patikul, Sulu for Tausog families deported from Sabah, Malaysia last year.

Hussin cited the extensive support of Senga and Lena, whose unit also has infrastructure projects at Camp Abubakar, the MILF’s former major enclave.

Senga said their Sallam (Peace) Unit, composed of Muslim soldiers, some of them Islamic missionaries, will be fielded in the newly established villages to help implement community-based projects.