MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Army carpenters are sure they can finish in October another Madrasah building for Islamic theology students in a village covered by a 17-year interim ceasefire between Moro rebels and government forces.
The building is being constructed inside a small Islamic school campus in Barangay Kulasi in S.K. Pendatun town in the second district of Maguindanao.
Major Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (ID), said the two-classroom building, whose construction is being funded by Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, can accommodate a hundred more students.
The project is being implemented by carpenters from the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion (IB) and the 601st Brigade, both component units of 6th ID.
Soldiers had constructed a Madrasah school building in the same campus last year, also built using funds from the office of Mangudadatu.
The provincial budget officer, Lynette Estandarte, said Pangilinan and Mangudadatu had set October 31 as deadline for the completion of the second school building.
“But it seems the project will be done, completely accomplished sooner because there is good weather in the project site and the soldiers building the classrooms are zealous, apparently due to the hospitality of the local folks,” Estandarte said.
Lt. Col.Ricky Bunayog, commanding officer of the 33rd IB, said his men will do their best to finish the project in the next three weeks.
Bunayog said he is thankful to residents of Barangay Kulasi for treating soldiers involved in the project as real members of the community despite their being in the Army.
Pangilinan said the school building project helped improve the cordiality between the military and local forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The MILF and the government have a standing non-aggression security pact meant to prevent conflicts in potential flashpoint areas.