No classes in Maguindanao as military offensives vs BIFF continue

Liguasan March (with marker) in Maguindanao (Image from Google Maps)

PAGALUNGAN, Maguindanao — Education officials in Maguindanao’s second district have suspended classes starting Monday, following the military offensives against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in areas near the Liguasan Marsh.

The public schools where classes had been suspended are in the towns of Pagalungan, Datu Montawal, Raja Buayan and Gen. SK Pendatun.

About 1,483 elementary pupils and a few hundred high school students had been affected by the suspension.

Lawyer Rasol Mitmug, Jr., the Education secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said elementary teachers in the four towns had been instructed to help protect their pupils from harm.

Mitmug did not say when classes would resume, but he noted that some of the public schools in the four Maguindanao towns were now being used as evacuation centers. /atm