Evacuees displace kids from classrooms amid clashes in Maguindanao

Inquirer files

COTABATO CITY, BARMM, Philippines — Aside from floods that submerged several towns in the Maguindanao provinces in the previous weeks, recent skirmishes that displaced 3,000 people in four villages in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao del Norte also prevented students from returning to school on Monday for the opening of classes.

Minister Mohagher Iqbal of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) said at least seven elementary and secondary schools in Maguindanao del Norte remained closed on the first day of classes on Monday, due to the recent fighting in Datu Odin Sinsuat.

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Iqbal told the Inquirer that the classrooms could not be used by students as these served as temporary shelters for thousands of displaced residents avoiding the gun battle that started in Mompong village in the third week of July and continued in the villages of Badak, Linek and Kusiong for days.

The affected schools are Bai Hanina Sinsuat National High School in Kusiong village, Don Antonio Martinez Sr. Elementary School in Badak village, Mompong Primary School in Barangay Mompong, Linek Elementary School in Linek village, Sarilika National High School in Barangay Sarilika, Broce Elementary School in Broce village and Dinaig Elementary School in Barangay Dinaig, Iqbal said.

The Department of Education Maguindanao Division II announced the suspension of in-person classes in these schools on Monday and asked teachers to shift to alternative learning mode.

Ofelia Nasilu-an, principal of Don Antonio Martinez Sr. Elementary School which accommodated more than 120 displaced families from Badak village, said pupils and teachers in her school were still traumatized by the clashes near their homes, forcing them to flee.

Violence

“We’re providing adaptive learning materials to our learners as part of modular learning while normalcy is underway,” Nasilu-an said.

Mayor Lester Sinsuat of Datu Odin Sinsuat told a municipal peace and order council meeting over the weekend that most of the 3,000 displaced families came from the villages of Badak, Sarilika, Broce and Dinaig.

Sinsuat said the warring Moro groups were not residents of his town but he declined to identify them pending investigation.

Nashrullah Imam, the provincial disaster officer of Maguindanao del Norte, said they were still trying to determine the exact number of families and learners affected by the armed conflict.

Lt. Col. Roden Orbon, spokesperson for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said troops from the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion had been deployed to affected areas to help protect civilian communities.

Despite the disruption of classes, most schools in BARMM are trying to overcome challenges following the massive floods that submerged some public school buildings in the region in the past weeks.

“In Matanog town, there’s one school entirely covered by the thick mud due to flash floods three weeks ago, but I instructed them to shift to a temporary learning shelter,” Iqbal said, referring to a makeshift classroom.