Thursday, May 23, 2013

MILF: Anti-landmines group clears ground for classroom construction in Mag’danao town

Posted to the MILF Website (May 23): Anti-landmines group clears ground for classroom construction in Mag’danao town



The Task Force on Joint Mines/UXO Detection and Clearance, which is composed of the Joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), the Philippine Campaign to Ban Landmines (PCBL), the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) and the International Monitoring Team (IMT), responded to a request by a local NGO United Youth for Peace and Development (UNYPAD) to clear the ground of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in preparation for the construction of classrooms in Barangay Lapok in the municipality of Shariff Aguak.
   
Barangay Lapok was one of the areas where heavy fighting occurred between the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). A number of reports of unexploded ordnances (UXO) have been recorded and these pose risk to the community years after the armed clashes stopped.

The Task Force, through the GPH CCCH, sought the technical assistance of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Explosives and Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team, in accordance with the guidelines on the Joint Mines/UXO detection and clearance signed by both negotiating panels in Kuala Lumpur in 2010.

All reasonable efforts, including visual and sub-surface search methods, in conjunction with an explosives detection dog, were made to reduce the UXO risk to as low as reasonably practicable during the operations on 8 May 2013. Concurrent with the EOD team’s technical survey, a PCBL/FSD team carried out a general mine action assessment of the village, interviewing the local residents to identify other possible UXO contaminated areas.

Members of the Task Force observed the operation represented by Major Carlos Sol Jr. from the GPH CCCH, Omar Bayao and Toks Upahm from the MILF CCCH, Fred Lubang of the PCBL, Tony Fish of FSD and the IMT members Takayuki Nakagawa and Lars Bleymann.  PCBL members were also present from the Mindanao Peace and Development and UNYPAD officers. Members of the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Post (JCMP) in Kitango were also present.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/361-anti-landmines-group-clears-ground-for-classroom-construction-in-mag’danao-town

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