Nation

Construction of P180M bridge in Mamasapano to begin

John Unson - Philstar.com

February 6, 2017 | 10:16pm

Construction of P180M bridge in Mamasapano to begin

Farmers in Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano stand to benefit from more infrastructure projects of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in their villages this year. John Unson

MAGUINDANAO — The government will start constructing this month a P180 million worth bridge to connect the scenes of the Jan. 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 with the office of Engineer James Mlok, chief of Maguindanao’s Second District Engineering Office and the Department of Public Works and Highways-ARMM (DPWH-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 Jan. 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 guerrillas and five innocent civilians who were killed in the crossfire.

The Office of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, through the DPWH-ARMM, immediately constructed new school buildings in five public school campuses around Barangay Tukanalipao after the incident.

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-Pimbalkan 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 now used 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.