More victims of Zamboanga crisis get relief packs

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Relief workers from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao distributed food packs and other relief provisions to 620 more displaced families in Zamboanga City in the past two days, regional officials said.

The ARMM’s Bureau of Public Information, in an emailed statement, said the latest relief distribution was focused on Zamboanga City’s Putik, Tetuan, Baliwasan Grande and Pasonanca areas.

The ARMM’s continuing relief works in Zamboanga City, which started September 11, or two days after the start of the hostilities in the area, is being run by the region’s Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Response Team (HEART).

The HEART operates under the direct supervision of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman and members of the regional cabinet led by Executive Secretary Laisa Alamia.

The chief of the satellite office in Zamboanga City of the ARMM’s social welfare department, Adelerma Ngo, said they are to expand their relief works to “home-based displaced people,” or those staying in houses of friends, or relatives in neutral areas in Zamboanga City

“We focused first on the evacuees in evacuation sites because living conditions there are harsher, harder,” Ngo was quoted in the BPI-ARMM’s press communiqué as saying.