Floods displace thousands in NCotabato & Maguindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Close to 4,000 families moved to higher grounds after the Rio Grande de Mindanao overflowed due to continuous rains.

Worst hit by floods due to the overflowing of the Rio Grande de Mindanao and its smaller tributaries were riverside barangays in the adjoining towns of Kabacan in North Cotabato, and Montawal and Pagalungan towns in Maguindanao.

Local Catholic radio station dxMS also reported Thursday morning that several low-lying villages in Midsayap, North Cotabato have also been flooded due to the swelling of downstream channels of the Rio Grande de Mindanao.

Susan Macalipat, municipal social welfare officer of Kabacan, said seven villages situated near riverbanks in their municipality were submerged in waist-deep floodwaters.

Macalipat said 2,229 families were displaced when rampaging floodwaters struck barangays Kayaga, Pedtad, Buluan, Nangaan, and Cuyapon and Cuyapon, in the eastern part of Kabacan town.

The municipal engineer of Montawal, Joseph Adam, said 5,466 individuals have also been displaced by floods that hit 11 riverside farming enclaves under the local government’s jurisdiction.

Seven of the 11 flooded areas -- Bulit, Pagagawan, Kayaga, Limbalod, Maridagao, Tunggol, and Talitay -- have become ghost villages as a result of the massive evacuation of villagers.

“This is a perennial, recurring problem. Our people have become so used to evacuations due to floods because our town is crisscrossed by big rivers,” Adam said.

Montawal and Pagalungan towns, and North Cotabato’s nearby Pikit municipality are all near the 220,000-hectare Ligusan Marsh, where big rivers that spring from hinterlands in North Cotabato, Bukidnon and Davao del Sur first drain, before flowing downstream to the Moro Gulf at the western part of Cotabato City.