Volunteers from Kidapawan collect garbage for 'Yolanda' victims

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Combined Moro and Christian medics and rehabilitation experts from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao have treated 2,457 injured typhoon victims in Tolosa, Leyte in the continuing relief missions that started Saturday.

Physician Kadil Sinolinding, Jr., ARMM’s regional health secretary, said the patients they have treated initially were among thousands injured when super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) ravaged Eastern Visayas almost two weeks ago.

“They are in a very pitiful situation. Some of them have already been given food rations and are still asking for more. They are very hungry,” said Sinolinding, one of the Moro physicians dispatched last week to Leyte by the ARMM’s Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Relief Team (HEART).

Sinolinding said the patients suffered cuts, bruises and fractures due to the wrath of the super typhoon.

The HEART, which is operating under the joint ministerial control of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman and Regional Executive Secretary Laisa Alamia, had also shipped to Leyte last week thousands of food packs comprised of canned sardines, instant noodles, and rice, and some 10 tons of non-food relief supplies.

HEART volunteers from different agencies under Hataman’s office have still been packing relief supplies -- to be shipped to the Visayas this week -- in a makeshift supply depot at the 32-hectare ARMM compound in Cotabato City.

Another team of predominantly Moro relief workers, the Maguindanao provincial government’s “Bangon Visayas Team,” has also been extending relief support since Saturday to residents of Tacloban City and Leyte’s adjoining Basey and Guiawan towns.

ARMM Assemblyman Khadafeh Mangudadatu, younger sibling of Maguindanao’s governor, Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, said they have distributed seven tons of frozen Tilapia to the typhoon victims, harvested by Moro fishermen from Lake Buluan in the province.

Mangudadatu said the medical personnel from Maguindanao also brought with them P8.4 million worth of medicine for various ailments supplied by the provincial governor’s office.

“The 18,000 food packs we brought to Leyte have been distributed to the calamity-stricken barangays assigned to us by the national government,” the regional lawmaker said.

He described the situation now of the typhoon victims as “so miserable.” He urged Mindanao's Muslim and Christian folks to continue providing support needed to hasten the recovery of the displaced residents of Leyte and surrounding provinces.

“Since we in Mindanao have already started helping them, let us continue with our charitable efforts as long as we can,” said Mangudadatu, now in his third term as representative of the second district of Maguindanao to the ARMM’s 24-seat Regional Legislative Assembly, touted as “Little Congress” of the autonomous region.

Wastes turned into typhoon aid

A group of residents in Kidapawan City have been collecting since last week recyclable wastes from the 40 barangays in the area to be sold to buyers as a unique way of raising money needed to help sustain relief works for displaced communities in the Visayas.

Joey Recimilla of the Dekada ’80, a group of graduates from the Catholic-run Notre Dame of Kidapawan for Boys and Girls, said they have been collecting scrap metals, bottles, newspapers and recyclable plastics, which they will sell in bulk.

“It’s easier to raise money this way. The local communities have willingly been helping us push this campaign forward,” he said.

The Dekada ’80 already raised more than P10,000 from the initial proceeds of the project, according to Recimilla.

“We believe it’s not the volume of relief supplies or amount of money that can be extended to the typhoon victims that will matter most. It’s the sincerity of the gesture that will count. We are doing this in the spirit of cooperation and Filipino `bayanihan' spirit," Recimilla said.

The North Cotabato Electric Cooperative (Cotelco), the power utility serving all North Cotabato's 17 towns and Kidapawan City, dispatched on Monday a team of engineers and electricians to help restore supply of electricity to Eastern Samar and Tacloban City.

The spokesman of Cotelco, Vincent Baguio, said their ten-member team had left for the Visayas bringing with them tools and basic portable machinery they need for their operation.

“This is our support to the relief efforts of the Philippine Electric Cooperatives, under the auspices of the National Electrification Administration,” Baguio said.