Engineers fix water system Abu Sayyaf destroyed

From the Philippine Star (Jun 11): Engineers fix water system Abu Sayyaf destroyed

Engineers have fixed the multi-million water system in Maluso town in Basilan Abu Sayyaf bandits destroyed last week.

Local folks are, however, still apprehensive the culprits can return anytime without a police or Army detachment to guard the facility.

The destruction of the water system, which siphons clean water from a source in Mahayahay area west of Maluso, affected more than 20,000 Muslim and Christian residents in the municipality.

Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Thursday said the supply of water to the town proper of Maluso was restored a week after the attack through the efforts of municipal officials and workers of the local water utility, the Maluso Water District.

Hataman, chair of the region’s inter-agency peace and order council, said he ordered the ARMM’s police director, Chief Superintendent Ronald Estilles, to formulate a security plan to avoid a repeat of the incident.

“These security efforts shall be coordinated with the Western Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces, which has jurisdiction over military units in Basilan,” Hataman told The STAR via mobile phone Thursday, while in Maluso for a dialogue with local officials.

Abu Sayyaf bandits first killed and beheaded a militiamen guarding the facility before setting off explosives and perforating with bullets the conduit pipes supplying potable water from Mahayahay to residential areas in the center of Maluso.

Hataman said he also instructed his public works secretary, Engineer Don Loong, and the district engineer of Basilan to study possible improvements of the water system.

“My office will provide funds for the expansion of the facility,” he said.

http://www.philstar.com/nation/2015/06/11/1464732/engineers-fix-water-system-abu-sayyaf-destroyed