COTABATO CITY—A mosque and school buildings will rise in Barangay Tukalinapao, Mamasapano town in Maguindanao.
The village was the scene of the Jan. 25, 2015 battle between the Philippine National Police Special Action Force commandos and Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
Slain in the encounter were 44 SAF members, 18 MILF and BIFF followers and five civilians, the ARMM Bureau of Public Information said.
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Mujiv Hataman said the ARMM-funded mosque, costing some P50 million, is being built along a newly concreted farm-to-market road in Tukalinapao by uniformed but non-combatant engineering personnel of the Maguindanao-based Army 6th infantry division.
He said the regional office of the Department of Education is funding the construction of nine school edifices in different Mamasapano villages which were entirely damaged during the fire fight even as thousands of displaced families had earlier returned to their respective homes with Army and Marine security.
DepEd regional Secretary John Magno said the new school buildings, now almost 90 percent completed, would enable close to 1,500 elementary and high school students to return to the learning centers when school year 2016-2017 opens on June 13.