SOMO in effect in Maguindanao to allow graduation rites
• 05:47 AM Sat Mar 28, 2015
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By:
Ferdinand Cabrera
Life in Maguindanao evacuation center. (Myrna Jo Henry/ARMM-HEART)
MAMASAPANO, Maguindanao – A three-day suspension of military operations (SOMO) is in effect in Maguindanao to allow smooth graduation ceremonies for internally displace persons (IDPs), an Army official said.
Now on its second day, the unilateral SOMO is in effect in Maguindanao’s 13 municipalities, according to Colonel Melquiades Feliciano, 601st brigade commander.
Feliciano, who was guest of honor and speaker of the commencement exercises Thursday of Mamasapano National High School, said the SOMO also shows the military support education and to ensure the ceremonies are going well.
This SOMO will last until Sunday,” he said.
Lawyer Jamar Kulayan, education secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), lauded the military’s SOMO.
It will allow safe and orderly graduation rites,” Kulayan said.
Parents were overwhelmed by the graduation program that they appeared to have forgotten their difficult situation in the evacuation center,” Kulayan said.
Sakina Abdul Masukat, class valedictorian, said she would pursue education course in college to help her village mates.
I want to be a teacher because I believe education is the key to peace and development, especially in our community,” she told reporters.
Mamasapano has been hitting the headlines since January 25 when police commandos killed Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan.” But after Oplan Exodus” was successfully carried out, a clash between PNP Special Action Force and armed groups – Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Bangsamoro Islamic LIbertion Front (BIFF) – left 44 commandos, 17 MILF and three civilians dead. (Ferdinandh Cabrera