MARAWI
CITY, Lanao del Sur, Feb. 2 (PIA) --- Governor Mujiv Hataman of the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) drew attention today to
civilian casualties of the Mamasapano incident as he joined other
officials and employees of the region in calling for peace that is based
on truth and justice.
Hataman said the public seems to
forget that aside from the 44 police Special Action Force (SAF) and nine
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) combatants killed, the encounter
has also taken a toll on residents in the area with four of them dead,
six injured and thousands displaced.
In a flag raising
ceremony today, the ARMM governor led hundreds of employees and
officials, who all wore black shirts, in a brief solidarity program
marked by the releasing of white and blue balloons to urge that is no
peace without justice and no justice without truth.
Hataman
said that war is not the solution to achieve peace in Mindanao. “Ang
aking panawagan ay katarungan para sa lahat lalung-lalo na sa mga
inosenteng mamamayan na walang kamuwang-muwang sa insidenteng ito.
Kailanman hindi solusyon ang giyera.”
He had earlier called for calm and sobriety as authorities investigate the unfortunate and violent incident.
Four civilians, including a five-year old girl, were killed in the encounter while six others were injured.
More
than 6,000 residents in six barangays in the municipality have also
been forced to flee their homes, and classes in 13 schools have to be
suspended, affecting more than 6,000 students.
In a press
conference, ARMM Executive Secretary Laisa Alamia said P10,000 financial
assistance were given to each of the six residents who were injured in
the clash and P25,000 to each of the families of the four who died.
ARMM also provided a total of 932 relief goods to the displaced families.
Mamasapano
Mayor Tahirodin Benzar Ampatuan expressed his gratitude to the working
government of the ARMM for the support. “Nagpapasalamat kami dahil kahit
papaano ay nalunasan ang paghihirap ng mga tao especially yung mga
affected na residente.”
Ramil Masukat, director of the
region’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said that
immediately after the incident, the agency assisted in the retrieval of
the cadavers and is now focusing on distributing food and non-food items
to the evacuees. (Bureau of Public Information-ARMM/APB/PIA-10)
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See more at:
http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/1521422856450/hataman-calls-for-peace-based-on-truth-justice-of-mamasapano-encounter#sthash.N3IsaDI3.dpuf
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