BUTIG, Lanao del Sur (MindaNews / 20 November)—Seven years after ISIS-inspired Maute Group attacked the town of Butig in Lanao del Sur, the place is finally rising from its dark past as a new municipal hall, courtesy of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), has been built.
Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal Adiong Sr. and Maguindanao del Norte Governor Abdulraof Macacua, as well as lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, the BARMM Minister of the Interior and Local Government, led turnover rites of the new town hall on Sunday.
“Butig is important and historic as it is the host of the second biggest MILF camp, Camp Bushra. Our focus in Butig demonstrates our commitment to remain loyal to our roots while charting a new and prosperous future for our region,” Sinarimbo said.
He added that part of the recovery program is the reintegration of 19 former Maute Group members under the Tulong ng Gobyernong Nagmamalasakit or TUGON program of his ministry where skills training, livelihood and housing components were given to former members of the terror group.
For Butig Mayor Dimnatang Pansar, the quest to grow is not just a dream anymore, but they have to act swiftly now that they are enjoying the support of the Bangsamoro government and Lanao del Sur province.
“We are pushing to become an agro-tourism hub soon with our stunning, thickly forested Mt. Makaturing” and the rest of the Butig mountain range, which comprises the “Sleeping Lady” mountain, as well the town’s clean rivers and bountiful harvest from its 3,000 hectares of upland rice farms, the mayor said.
The attack in Butig in November 2016 was the precursor to the five-month Marawi Siege in 2017 when the terror group attempted to establish a regional caliphate in Southeast Asia. (MindaNews)
