Thousands in BARMM provinces displaced by floods

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Police and Army officials have dispatched more than a thousand emergency responders to help the Bangsamoro government attend to the needs of more than 60,000 villagers in many areas in its territory now flooded due to heavy rains since Thursday, July 9.

Rampaging floods, caused by rains spawned by the Super Typhoon Inday, international name “Bavi,” swept through towns in the Bangsamoro region’s adjoining Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur provinces on Friday, forcing villagers to relocate to high grounds.

The Ministry of Social Services and Development-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao started delivering relief supplies on Friday morning to the flood-stricken residents in low-lying areas in Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte, both crisscrossed by large rivers that spring from hinterlands and drains at Central Mindanao’s 220,000-hectare Ligawasan Delta.

Worst-hit by the flashfloods are parts of Parang, Sultan Mastura, Sultan Kudarat, Kabuntalan, Northern Kabuntalan, Datu Odin Sinsuat and Datu Blah Sinsuat towns in Maguindanao del Norte and Tambunan, Sultan sa Barongis, Radjah Buayan and Datu Piang, all in Maguindanao del Sur.

BARMM’s chief minister, Abdulrauf Macacua, toured on Friday the evacuation sites in Parang, about 30 kilometers from Cotabato City, and led the initial distribution of relief supplies to flood victims that the MSSD-BARMM also provided with tents that they can use as temporary shelters while in covered courts and government buildings in the municipality.  

Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara, commander of the 6th Infantry Division, said on Saturday that soldiers from different units under him are now helping local executives in Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte attend to the needs of their displaced constituents.

The director of PRO-BAR, Brig. Gen. Christopher Abecia, had also separately dispatched 600 policemen to flooded areas in Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur and Lanao del Sur to support the calamity impact mitigation efforts of local government units in the three provinces.