‘Bridge of Peace’ connects former MILF community to Lanao del Sur town

ILIGAN CITY—For years, people in the remote village of Masalag in Masiu, Lanao del Sur province, had to use a zipline to cross the Malaig River on their way to town.

“People who wanted to reach town even used to swim across the river, which was too dangerous because the river was deep. That was how they came up with the zipline,” said Halil Amerol, regional manager of the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA) for Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte.

“For years, the place has been isolated,” he said.

But this finally came to an end on March 6 when a hanging bridge opened here to connect this former camp of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to the Lanao del Sur town.

The 70-meter long, 1.4-m wide bridge, which was turned over here in a simple ceremony, would make it easier for people in the remote community to bring their goods to the market, said Amerol.

It took the BDA one year to finish the P7-million project funded by the World Bank.

Barangay Masalag is the site of the MILF’s Camp Bushra Somiyorang, where the late MILF vice chair, Alim Abdul Asiz Mimbantas, used to live.

Bridge of hope

His son, Dr. Marjanie Salic Macasalong Mimbantas, who sits as executive director of the Office of the Bangsamoro Youth Affairs, called the new hanging bridge as “Pagasa Bridge” (Bridge of hope) because it allowed the former MILF community a chance to be part of the life of the larger town of Masiu.

“It is easier now for them to bring their goods to the market,” Mimbantas said. He also called the bridge as the “Kalilintad” because it was the fruit of the peace process between the government and the MILF.

“It is the direct result of negotiations,” he said, referring to the long years of peace talks between the MILF and the government. “[The bridge was] implemented by the BDA, the development arm of the MILF,” he added.

First of its kind

But Mimbantas said other people also called the project the Bangsamoro hanging bridge because it was the first of its kind to be put up by the Bangsamoro government.

“Regardless of the name, the bridge definitely brings hope, dreams and inspiration to the local community,” he said. “May we all pray and work for lasting peace.”

The bridge also makes it easier to travel to as far as the towns of Butig, Bumbaran and Wao town. Masiu is about two and a half hours away from Marawi City.

The community had suffered heavy bombardment at the height of the war between the MILF and the military in 2000-2003 and in 2018 after the Supreme Court junked the proposed memorandum of agreement-ancestral domain pact.

Amerol said it was time to move on.