Students fleeing Marawi seek help to study in Bohol

Wake-uppers:

Seen:  A quick look at the Miss Bohol 2017 official candidates line-up shows some of the early favorites already catching the attention of pageant fans from here and abroad.  The early favorites (not reflective of the final outcome) are Miss Loon, Miss Tubigon, Miss Jagna, Miss Trinidad and Miss Talibon.

Miss Bohol 2017 early favorite: Miss Loon  

Courtesy: Gerald James Cabal

Scene:  Friends of the female student (who is a daughter of a prominent family) who is at the center of a sex video scandal appealed not to share the video to spare the students from further trauma. “We all make mistakes but stop sharing the video,” said a friend who asked not to be named. A city official (who asked for anonymity) urged the public to stop circulating the sex video to put an end to the issue. However, the scandal is widely discussed in schools and social media channels and went viral. Remember, the parties who uploaded the video without permission as well as anyone who “shares, reproduce, or sells” the sex video without the consent of female student and her boyfriend can be held liable of violating Republic Act 9995 or the Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009.

Scene: Board Member Niño Rey Boniel is back in Bohol province on Saturday —albeit in jail.  Niño, the primary suspect in the slay of his wife, Mayor Gisela Boniel of Bien Unido town, was ordered by a judge to stay at the Talibon District Jail while the charges of kidnapping and serious illegal detention filed against him were resolved by the court.

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Aslimah Matua, 19, dreams of becoming a teacher.

But the incoming junior student of Mindanao State University (MSU) in Marawi City may have to pursue her dreams in Tagbilaran City, after she and her family fled the gunbattle between government troops and terrorists holed out in a section of her home city of Marawi in Lanao del Sur province.

Aslimah spent weeks with her parents and 13 siblings in an evacuation site in Iligan City before they joined 12 other families in evacuating to this Bohol provincial capital.

When the latest batch of evacuees arrived here on Monday, six families sought refuge inside a mosque in Barangay Poblacion 1 while six others stayed with their relatives in Barangay Taloto.

Arlene Karaan, Poblacion 1 village chief, said among the problems raised by the evacuees was their children’s education.

The Marawi students with Tagbilaran City

 village official Arlene Karaan (right) who helps

 them find a new school in Bohol province.  Leo Udtohan

“So far, only elementary pupils were able to enrol,” Karaan said. “We are trying to facilitate the enrolment of college students who wished to continue their studies.”

Aslimah and three other cousins were hopeful they would be given a chance to study in Bohol.

“I want to go to school. I want to finish college to fulfill my dreams,” Aslimah said, echoing a similar wish expressed by her cousins Nor-fatima Matua, 21, an education student; Aslimah Amer Lomala, 17, a Grade 11 student; and Samia Musa, 17, who is in Grade 7.

Karaan accompanied them to Bohol International College (formerly Bohol Institute of Technology) last Wednesday to inquire about school requirements.

“Gusto ko talaga matuto (I want to learn),” said Matua. “Gusto ko talaga makapagtapos ng pag-aaral dahil may motivation ako sa buhay (I really want to study, and I’m a motivated person).”

Lomala said, “ Siyempre  para naman sa kinabukas namin ,  para sa kinabukusan namin at mga kapatid namin.  Ako kasi ang  ate kaya nasa akin ang susi na makapag-aral sila kasi mahirap din kami. Sana matuloy ang pag-aaral dito sa Bohol (I want to study for our future, for the future of my siblings. As the eldest, I am the key that my siblings can study because we are poor. I hope we can study here in Bohol).”

“ Sana mabigyan kami ng chance na makapag-aral dito sa probinsyang Bohol para kahit papaano na matulungan ang pamilya namin na nangangailangn ng tulong (We hope we will be given  the chance to study here in Bohol so that we can help our family),” said Nor-fatima.

Lomala said her parents and eight siblings left Marawi because of the horror brought about by the conflict.

“Masyadong magulo dun. Kinakailangan naming tumakas kasi baka madamay kami sa gulo. Hindi kasi kumikilala ang mga bomba tsaka yung mga baril baka mamatay kami dun. (It’s chaotic. We had to escape. Bullets and bombs do not distinguish civilians from soldiers and rebels. We might die there),” she said.

The family of her cousin, Nor-fatima, also came here, scared of being caught in the crossfire.

Since, they have nothing left, Matua, Nor-fatima, Lomala and Musa will visit Bohol Vice Governor Dionisio Balite to ask for possible financial assistance or scholarship grant. 

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