Students from Mindanao State University – Marawi arrive at the Davao City hall grounds on Tuesday, 5 December 2023, upon their request to be brought home. A total of 16 students from Davao City and other Davao provinces avail of the free transportation arranged by the city government of Davao through PEACE 911 and Task Force Davao. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 5 December) – Sixteen students from the main campus of the Mindanao State University in Marawi City (MSU-Marawi) safely arrived at the City Hall grounds here on Tuesday, December 5, upon their request to be brought home.
Harvey James Lanticse, city information officer, told MindaNews the students consist of the following: five from Tagum City, Davao del Norte; three from Davao City; two each from Digos City, Davao del Sur and Monkayo, Davao de Oro; and one each from Malita, Davao Occidental and Mawab, Pantukan, and Lupon, Davao de Oro.
So far, there is no second batch of students coming back to the city, he added.
In an interview with the media Tuesday morning, Lanticse said that as early as Sunday morning, the City Mayor’s Office received a request from the MSU-Marawi students from the Davao region to fetch them.
They were then communicated and organized through the city’s Peace 911 and Task Force Davao.
With the other MSU-Marawi students outside Davao City wanting to go home as well, Lanticse said they coordinated with the different local government units to have them verify the students who want to ride with the vehicle provided by the city government.
“As of now, the local government units are already aware of the MSU-Marawi students’ presence here. They will fetch their respective students from this point,” Lanticse said in the vernacular.
Other Davao region-based MSU-Marawi students had already left the country’s only Islamic city, with some staying either in Iligan City or Cagayan de Oro City.
The MSU-Marawi campus indefinitely suspended classes following the December 3 bombing inside its campus that left four people dead and 42 others wounded.
The Philippine National Police had identified Khadafi Mimbesa, a resident of Masiu, Lanao del Sur, as a “person of interest” behind the explosion while a Catholic mass celebration was ongoing inside the university.
A special investigation task group has been formed to bring the culprits to the bar of justice. (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)
