By Edwin Fernandez/PNA
CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — Almost 300 indigent Mamasapano residents, one of the most conflict-affected towns in Maguindanao, benefitted from the medical and dental services jointly conducted by the military and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Saturday.
The medical and dental mission, dubbed as ARMM People’s Day, was held at the municipal Gymnasium of Mamasapano town.
The outreach program, spearheaded by ARMM regional government, was participated in by the Army’s 40th Infantry Battalion in cooperation with ARMM line agencies to offer free health and social services for constituents at the grassroots level.
Services rendered during the activity were medical checkup with 200 beneficiaries, teeth extraction with 50 beneficiaries, circumcision with 36 beneficiaries, and haircut with 50 beneficiaries.
While people availed of health services, others were also entertained by the 40th IB ‘Magiting Band’ that provided musical entertainment during the entire activity.
“Many municipalities in Maguindanao have already benefited from the social and health services brought by the partnership of regional government of ARMM and 6th Infantry Division,” Maj. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, Army’s 6th Infantry Division commander, said.
“The residents of Maguindanao deserve free government services as we want to make sure that it reached the people at the grassroots level of the community,” he added.
Sobejana added more towns are lined up for visitation by the joint Army-ARMM medical-dental team soon.
The town once hogged the headlines during the infamous Jan. 25, 2015 Mamasapano incident in Barangay Tukanalipao that took the lives of 44 members of the police’s Special Action Force out to the get Malaysian terror bomb maker Zulkifli Abdhir alias Marwan following an encounter with Moro rebels.
Marwan, who was also killed in the operation, was then hiding under the protection of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a breakaway faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
