North Cotabato villages under water

COTABATO CITY — Heavy rains in the past three days have swelled big rivers criss-crossing North Cotabato’s low-lying towns, inundating farms and destroying harvestable rice and corn crops.

Six rice-producing barangays in Midsayap, a booming agricultural town, have been flooded for three days now, radio reports said.

More than a dozen communities in the neighboring towns of Datu Piang, Shariff Aguak and Mamasapano, all in Maguindanao, have also been inundated after torrential rains in nearby mountain ranges spawned floods that drained into marshy areas surrounding the three adjoining municipalities.

Engineer Norie Unas, provincial administrator, said Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan, chairman of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council, has fielded relief workers to attend to the needs of families affected by the flashfloods. — John Unson