Dilapidated classrooms in remote Moro village fixed

COTABATO CITY— Children of marginalized members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in a secluded barangay in Datu Montawal, Maguindanao del Sur now have newly-rehabilitated classrooms that were ruined by floods and armed conflicts in recent years.

Municipal officials in Montawal told reporters on Wednesday that the repair of the classrooms in the Talapas Elementary School in the remote Barangay Talapas was jointly facilitated by the office of Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and a member of the BARMM parliament, the physician-ophthalmologist Kadil Monera Sinolinding Jr.

Talapas Barangay Chairman Makabinbing Dima Mamondas said 216 Grade 1 to Grade 6 pupils from underprivileged families of MILF members are the main beneficiaries of the classroom repair project.

"The newly-fixed classrooms had been turned over to us, barangay officials and teachers. We are thankful to all who cooperated to have these classrooms fixed," Mamondas told reporters.

Sinolinding and field personnel of his office in the Bangsamoro parliament in this city and local members of the MILF facilitated the turn over last March 10 of the newly rehabilitated classrooms to teachers and barangay officials, according to Mamondas. 

The office of Sinolinding and the administration of Ebrahim, who is figurehead of the 80-seat BARMM parliament, are still fixing old dilapidated classrooms in MILF enclaves in Pikit, Carmen and Kabacan towns in Cotabato province and in Pagalungan in Maguindanao del Sur, expected to be fully accomplished by May this year.