Break in war on BIFF sought for graduation

RESIDENTS displaced by the all-out war on the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters take shelter in a school-turned-evacuation center in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in Maguindanao province. JEOFFREY MAITEM/INQUIRER MINDANAO

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao—School and provincial officials have asked the military to halt its all-out offensive against members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) for at least three days to allow the graduation of 13,000 students in Maguindanao province, where towns and communities had become either battlefields or evacuation sites in the ongoing war.

Meriam Kawit, Maguindanao education superintendent, and Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Toto Mangudadatu, told reporters here the request was meant to give the education department a chance to peacefully hold commencement exercises for 10,000 high school and 3,000 elementary students.

During a peace and order council meeting on Thursday at the headquarters of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (ID) here, Kawit and Mangudadatu said the military operation against BIFF has to be suspended from March 25 to 28 to give way to the graduation rites.

Kawit said school officials planned to hold the ceremonies in “clustered or centralized” sites for 142 of the province’s elementary and high schools.

Temporary stages are now being built in selected sites far from the center of the war, said Kawit.

Mangudadatu said the sooner the war ends, the better for Maguindanao. One way to do this, he added, is for mayors and local officials to help the Army by using “assets to determine if BIFF still exists in their towns.”

Brig. Gen. Manolito Orense, 6th ID assistant division commander, said the military is studying the request.

Capt. Jo-Ann Petinglay, 6th ID spokesperson, said no skirmishes had been reported the past three days.

In Talayan town, Sulaiman Mama, a graduating elementary student of Shariff Saydona town, said he was happy about being able to move on to high school in June.

Bai Taya Aplal, Department of Education (DepEd)-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) director, said graduation rites for students in schools caught in the conflict would be held in areas safe from the fighting.

When the military launched the all-out offensive against BIFF in late February, classes in 63 elementary and secondary schools in Maguindanao were suspended.

Aplal said a total of 23,681 students and teachers had been affected.

“The disruption of classes is an attack on education in the region,” Aplal said.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman ordered DepEd officials in the region to find ways to keep classes going despite the war.

One of these is for evacuees to vacate classrooms in the morning to allow classes to be held then return in the evening when classes are over.

“We know that the presence of the evacuees would affect the graduation rites,” said Aplal.

The excitement over graduation is visible in the face of student Mama.

Throughout an interview with the Inquirer, Mama did not stop smiling. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao