PIKIT FALLEN TEACHER | Funeral workers in Pikit, Cotabato prepare to transport the remains of a teacher slain in a grenade blast on Friday, June 16, 2023. (Photo from Facebook account of Ric Cabañog)
COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao del Norte, Philippines — Education Minister Mohagher Iqbal of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) condemned on Saturday the recent attack against a teacher in the troubled town of Pikit in Cotabato province.
“The MBHTE (Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education) and the entire education community stand with everyone in condemning this inhuman act and are committed to contribute and work in ending all forms of abuse and violence,” Iqbal said in a statement.
The teacher, Marichu Valle Cabañog, was killed in a grenade attack at dawn on Friday in Barangay Ginatilan, Pikit, according to Lt. Col. John Miridel Calinga, chief of the Pikit Municipal Police Station.
He said Cabañog, a 42-year-old teacher at Balong Elementary School, died on the spot from shrapnel injuries.
Mohagher Iqbal file photo
According to a police report, the grenade was tossed from outside and exploded inside the victim’s house at 2 a.m.
No one else inside the house was hurt.
Cabañog was the second teacher in Pikit to be killed 22 days, after teacher Joel Reformado, 36, was gunned down on May 26 while heading for home with another teacher who was also hurt in the attack.
In a radio interview, Iqbal said whatever the reasons, “there is no justification that non-combatants, apolitical and peace-loving teachers are violently attacked.”