ARMM to construct larger bridge in scene of `Mamasapano incident'

MAGUINDANAO --- The government will start constructing this month a P180 million worth bridge to connect the scenes of the January 25, 2015 Mamasapano incident to trading centers in Maguindanao.The bridge project, funded with an allocation from the annual infrastructure subsidy of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), shall be implemented by a private contractor, the Roma Construction Company.The firm will work along with the office of Engineer James Mlok, chief of Maguindanao’s Second District Engineering Office and the Department of Public Works and Highways-ARMM.Engineer Don Loong, regional secretary of DPWH-ARMM, on Monday said the new larger bridge will connect the banks of the Tukanalipao River in Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano.Mamasapano town, located in the second district of Maguindanao, is an agricultural area where there are government-recognized strongholds of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) covered by an interim non-aggression pact between the group and the government.The P180 million worth bridge shall be parallel with the smaller one built by the ARMM government after the January 25, 2015 hostilities in Tukanalipao and three other barangays in Mamasapano.The incident resulted in the deaths of 44 personnel of the elite Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police, 17 MILF guerillas and five innocent civilians who were killed in the crossfire.The Office of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, through the DPWH-ARMM, immediately constructed after the carnage new school buildings in five public school campuses around Barangay Tukanalipao.The ARMM government also built a mosque in the barangay and a concrete road connecting its center to the smaller bridge traversing the Tukanalipao River.The ARMM government is presently constructing the P14 million worth concrete Malingao-Libutan Road and the P28 million worth Tukanalipao-Pidsandawan-Pimbal kan Road straddling through villages within the vicinity of the areas rocked by the Mamasapano incident two years ago.The office of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu also built in early 2016 a covered court in Barangay Tukanalipao farmers now use for peace dialogues and other community activities.Local officials are certain the productivity of farmers in Barangay Tukanalipao and nearby peasant villages will improve after the construction of the P180 million worth bridge over the Tukanalipao River.Ethnic Maguindanaon farmers in Mamasapano rely mainly on rice and corn farming as their main means of livelihood. They sell their farm products to merchants in nearby Maguindanao towns along the Cotabato-General Santos Highway.The ARMM government has allocated P365.2 million for various projects in Mamasapano town out of the region's 2015, 2016 and 2017 infrastructure budgets. A total of P237 million, from the total grant, is allocated for what engineers call vertical and horizontal infrastructures in Barangay Tukanalipao and nearby areas affected by the gruesome Mamasapano incident.