139 ROF, LSI arrive by sweeper flight

Heading to several BARMM destinations, other provinces

ROF and LSI ON THE ROAD: The returning overseas Filipinos (ROF) and local stranded individuals start to board the Husky buses and vans that would take them to different BARMM provinces and to Zamboanga Peninsula. (Photo by Mark Navales)

By Mark Navales

DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao: Some 139 returning overseas Filipino (ROF) and local stranded individual (LSI) arrived recently at the Awang Airport here in this town.

The ROF and LSI were transported from Manila on-board Air Asia Air Bus 300 sweeper flight with the assistance of the Ministry of Interior and Local Government (MILG) and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, the MILG minister headed the operations with Minister Dickson Hermoso of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) who provided the land transportation of buses and vans to ferry the ROF and LSI to their home destinations.

Sinarimbo said upon the instructions of BARMM Chief Minister Ahod “Al Hajj Murad” Ebrahim the Air Asia Airbus 300 was chartered as a sweeper flight.

The expenses were subsidized by the Inter Agency Task Force of BARMM on COVID-19 (IATF-BARMM).

It can be noted therebwere 87 ROF and the rest were LSI mostly among BARMM residents who got stranded in Manila following the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) aimed to contain the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Minister Hermoso was assisted by the MOTC Deputy Minister Abunawas Maslamama who was also in-charge of transportation.

Maslamama acted as the transportation head of the IATF-BARMM throughout the operation where both ROF and LSI have safely returned to their home provinces.

PHILIPPINE MUSLIM TODAY