Houses to be built for displaced villagers

COTABATO CITY — The military and line agencies of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will start building on Monday 50 low-cost core houses for displaced residents in each of the war-devastated towns of Maguindanao to complement President Arroyo’s peace initiatives with secessionist forces in the province.

ARMM Executive Secretary Nabil Tan, speaking on behalf of Gov. Parouk Hussin, said the P3.7-million project, bankrolled by the national government, will be carried out by the regional social welfare department, the Army’s 54th and 55th Engineering Brigades and the office of Maguindanao Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan.

Records of the ARMM’s social welfare department show that the conflict affected 43,906 families in 165 Maguindanao barangays, apart from exacting heavy toll on both the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Tan said the Moro National Liberation Front, through Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema and ARMM Assemblyman Hatimil Hassan, both members of the MNLF’s central committee, will help oversee the project.

Tan, Sema, Hassan, Brig, Gen. Eduardo Lena of the 54th Engineering Brigade, Maguindanao provincial administrator Norie Unas and ARMM Social Welfare Secretary Bainon Karon signed here yesterday a memorandum of agreement detailing the involvement of their respective offices in the building of the core houses. — John Unson