P1M crops destroyed in Maguindanao flashfloods

COTABATO CITY, Philippines --- Government agencies on Friday dispatched more relief workers and food rations to flooded barangays in 13 Maguindanao towns, where 10, 437 villagers are marooned in their houses in  rice and corn fields covered by  floodwaters.

The floods also destroyed close to P1 million worth of ready-to-harvest rice and corn crops in Maguindanao’s Datu Piang and Kabuntalan town, in the second and first districts of the province, respectively.

Laisa Alamia, executive secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said workers of the ARMM’s inter-agency Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Relief Team (HEART) have been dispatched to help attend to the needs of the villagers in the flood stricken areas.

Alamia, who is helping ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman oversee the HEART, said most of the affected families have not moved out of their villages yet since they  dwell in typical Moro stilt houses.

Alamia said HEART workers are  confirming reports of evacuation by villagers from farming enclaves along big rivers and near swamps.

Rivers and streams that spring from hinterlands in the three provinces drain first at the Liguasan Marsh, before flowing downstream to low-lying towns in Maguindanao and Cotabato City,

Downstream tributaries of the marsh, which drain at the Moro Gulf in the west coast of Cotabato City, swelled and overflowed early this week following three days of heavy downpours.

Alamia said HEART workers have been monitoring the flooded areas in Maguindanao on a round-the-clock basis.