Maguindanao kids get school supplies, books through Army outreach

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Students at a makeshift school in the Senamfledon area of Barangay Looy in South Upi town on Tuesday received school supplies from military personnel who dropped by for a visit.

Children at the school in Senamfledon hold classes in a makeshift shelter, where pupils from Grades 1 to 4 are cramped together on school days.

The school, which could be mistaken for a temporary shelter for evacuees, was established on land donated by a Teduray community leader for the use of poor farming families on hilly terrain in Barangay Looy.

"Looy," sometimes spelled "luoy" is Bisaya for "pitiful." 

Personnel of the Army's 6th Infantry Battalion—a unit of the 603rd Brigade under the 6th Infantry Division—visited the students there to distribute school supplies and books. The children at the school were also fed hot cereals that Army personnel and NGO staff had prepared for them.

The outreach mission, a joint initiative of civic groups, the 6th IB and local officials, was supported by entities of the United Nations involved in development projects in areas of Maguindanao province.

Maguindanao is one of the five provinces of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, or BARMM.

The Bangsamoro region also covers Lanao del Sur and the scattered island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.