By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
A mosque badly damaged in the Southern Philippines' bloody Mamasapano incident has been reopened to the public just in time for Ramadan.
Capt. Jo-ann Petinglay, chief of the Army's public affairs office, said in a statement emailed to Anadolu Agency on Friday that the mosque had been inaugurated and turned over to the residents of Tukanalipao in Mamasapano early Thursday.
"The construction of the mosque was jointly ventured by the three government agencies of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the 6th Infantry Division and Province of Maguindanao who worked day and night in order to finish the project before Ramadan started," Petinglay added.
On Jan. 25, around 400 police commandos descended on Mamasapano township, Maguindanao province, in search of two of Southeast Asia’s top terror suspects, only to run into members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and splinter group the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters BIFF.
In the ensuing gunfight, Malaysian bomb-maker Zulkifli bin Hir - alias Marwan - was killed along with 44 commandos, along with 17 MILF members and five civilians.
According to Petinglay, unarmed Army engineers rebuilt the mosque using funds from Governor Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) - part of his initial P70 million ($1.55 million) budget to hasten the restoration of normalcy in the conflict-wracked municipality.
In another statement, James Mlok, chief of Maguindanao's 2nd District Engineering Office, said all of the current infrastructure projects in the west of Mamasapano are going smoothly owing to the cooperation of locals.
Among the projects is a P17 million concrete footbridge just meters away from spot where MILF and BIFF fighter clashed with police commandos for some 10 hours on Jan. 25.
On Friday, Major Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan thanked community elders and religious leaders in Barangay Tukanalipao for helping secure the safety of the soldiers involved in the reconstruction.
"It was indeed a very promising day which brought new light to the lives of the people from Tukanalipao," he said.
"It is hoped that the scars of the wounds created by an unfortunate incident that occurred in the area five months ago will totally be healed so that the people of Tukanalipao can celebrate Ramadan more meaningful and peacefully."
