Local execs agree to boost relief, rehab operations for quake-hit villages

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines — Officials have agreed to boost via an eight-point humanitarian protocol the ongoing relief and rehabilitation efforts for earthquake-stricken communities in this province.

North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco said Saturday the plan was reached by members of the provincial disaster risk reduction and management council (PDRRMC) during a meeting at the provincial capitol Friday.

The meeting, presided over by Catamco, was also attended by members of the provincial peace and order council (PPOC) and the multi-sector provincial development council (PDC).

All three councils are under Catamco’s ministerial leadership as provincial chief executive.

Catamco said their rehabilitation efforts for thousands of displaced constituents whose villages were ravaged by a series of strong earthquakes that began with a magnitude 6.3 foreshock on October 16 and followed by more than 3,000 aftershocks since, shall also be carried out in the most transparent manner.

Members of the PDRRMC, the PPOC and the PDC are to cooperate in implementing the provincial government’s rehabilitation program based on consultations with earthquake-affected residents, community leaders and local executives.

Catamco said their second protocol for restoration of normalcy in tremor-wracked areas is inclusivity. 

“It is one that would equally benefit the culturally-diverse Muslim, Christian and indigenous communities,” she said.

She said there must be prior consultation with all affected sectors before a rehabilitation project can be implemented.

The three councils also agreed that all rehabilitation plans must be attuned with local cultural practices and traditions to gain wide acceptance by beneficiary communities.

Catamco said the current land use plan of local government units in affected towns and in Kidapawan City shall be the guide for possible setting up of relocation sites for evacuees whose houses were destroyed by earthquakes.

“Add to that our consensus to respect the decision of evacuees on whether to return to safe areas within their original domains or to resettle in relocation sites that are still within their domains,” Catamco said.

She said the indigenous people can freely decide, in consultation with tribal leaders and their respective local government units, on whether to return to their original villages, or stay in safer areas that are still within their tribal domains.

Catamco said the three councils shall also help the provincial government enforce strictly all government engineering regulations meant to ensure the durability of the new shelters the evacuees are to construct in their villages.

The provincial government and its constituent-LGUs shall coordinate closely and work together in implementing rehabilitation projects for affected communities, according to Catamco.

“Included in this eight-point rehabilitation approach is the adaption of various earthquake-resilient core shelter models, including those designed by engineers in the Armed Forces,” Catamco said.

Thousands of villagers in several North Cotabato towns, among them Tulunan and Makilala, and in the more than 40 barangays in Kidapawan City were displaced by the strong episodes of earthquakes that jolted the province recently.

Many of them are cramped in makeshift evacuation sites without steady supply of drinking water and access to restrooms.