COTABATO CITY — Up to 74 marginalized Moro families, repeatedly displaced by bloody armed conflicts over the years, are up for relocation to a village established for them by an agency of the Bangsamoro regional government.
Local officials in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao del Sur told reporters on Sunday that the families are to settle in the houses built for them in Barangay Salman by the Ministry of Social Services and Development-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Costing P500,000 per unit, the houses were built on a parcel of land donated by the local government, said BARMM Social Services Minister Raissa H. Jajurie.
One of the beneficiaries said the house is big enough to accommodate seven to 10 persons and not too far from the farms they tend for upland rice varieties, corn and other short-term crops.
The housing units were turned over last April 30 to the 74 beneficiaries, who are set to move in once power and water supply connections are established. — John Felix M. Unson