Road leading to Abubakar reopened today

COTABATO CITY — Authorities will reopen today the road connecting the Secretary Narciso Ramos Highway to Camp Abubakar, a former enclave of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which the military overran in 2000.

While repairing the 9.5-kilometer road, at least 51 soldiers had been killed in skirmishes with Moro guerrillas.

The road starts from Barangay Langkong in Matanog, Maguindanao, traverses the former headquarters of Al-Haj Murad, the MILF’s military chief, and ends at Camp Abubakar.

"Instead of getting demoralized, our men were even motivated to proceed with the project. The concreting of the road will start soon," said Col. Eduardo Lena, commander of the Army’s 54th Engineering Brigade.

The 54th EB earlier had reconstructed the mosque beside Murad’s house which was destroyed when state forces drove MILF guerrillas away from the area.

Villagers displaced by the hostilities here two years ago have long returned to their farms.

Maj. Gen. Roy Kyamko, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes and Executive Secretary Nabil Tan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will grace the road’s reopening today.

Kyamko said the road is part of the Ambal Irrigation Road Component Project, a complex network of farm-to-market roads criss-crossing former MILF territories.