COTABATO CITY --- The
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) government, through its crisis management
committee, continues to respond to the emergency needs of Marawi City residents
since clashes erupted last May 23 between the Armed Forces and the extremist
Maute group.
Personnel from different ARMM line-agencies are
currently working as volunteers manning the 24/7 emergency helpline which the
regional government has set up in Cotabato City. The volunteers take three
eight-hour shifts daily.
The hotline receives 500 calls on the average per
day aside from hundreds of text messages from affected residents asking for
relief packs and assistance, especially for those who are still in Marawi City.
The committee reports stranded or trapped civilians
in the battlefield and provides updates on the status of such cases. The
volunteers take note of the caller’s identity, location, and contact details. These
pieces of information are critical in providing the appropriate assistance the
callers need.
The ARMM crisis management committee has been
active in gathering information and assessing as well as in monitoring the
situation on the ground, keeping track of the needs of individuals affected by
the ongoing offensive against the terror group.
As of this posting last June 2, some 26,720
families or 133,700 individuals from the city and its nearby towns have
evacuated, either in designated evacuation centers or at their relatives’
houses. Still, over 3,000 individuals are stranded in war-torn Marawi.
These pieces of information, collected and
verified, help significantly in the committee’s decision making, planning
actions, and taking steps to continually ease the plight of evacuees, stranded
individuals, and missing persons.
Meanwhile, the ARMM has set up a relief operation
center in the town of Malabang, Lanao del Sur to coordinate and manage its
humanitarian response to the ongoing crisis in Marawi City.
The regional government continues to provide
humanitarian aid to the thousands of displaced families. As of May 31, it
served around 134,420 internally displaced persons (IDPs), who are either
home-based or in designated evacuation centers.
Department of Social Welfare and Development-ARMM Assistant
Secretary Hadja Pombaen Karon-Kader, who also serves as the head of the ARMM's
coordinating center in Malabang, led the distribution last May 31 of around 400
relief packs to MarawiCity evacuees staying in several evacuation centers in
Lanao del Sur.
The ARMM, through its Humanitarian Emergency and
Action Response Team (HEART), served relief packs to a total of 22,103 families
in various evacuation centers.
On May 27, a Regional Command and Coordination
Center for Regions X and ARMM was set up in Iligan City.
Myrna J. Angot, officer-in-charge of the Office of
Civil Defense (OCD)-ARMM, said that in response to the incident, clusters have
been activated, including food and non-food, education, protection, health and sanitation,
camp coordination and camp management,law andorder, logistics, search rescue
and retrieval, management of the dead and missing, and emergency telecommunications.
P77-M for
Marawi humanitarian assistance
In another development, the ARMM has earmarked about P77
million for emergency response to the crisis in Marawi City.
Speaking in a radio interview last June 30, ARMM Governor
Mujiv Hataman said the regional government is making it sure nobody among the
internally displaced persons (IDPs) go hungry.
"No one should be left without food and water. We
should show to our IDPs that the government is here to protect them,"
Hataman said in Filipino.
As of (June 29) Monday afternoon, the ARMM Humanitarian
Emergency Action Response Team (HEART) has recorded 17,007 families or 84,460
individuals affected by the hostilities after terrorists stormed Marawi City
two weeks ago.
Of this number, 67,870 persons are housed in 38 designated
evacuation centers in Lanao del Sur and Iligan City while 2,633 families or
16,590 individuals are staying in the houses of their relatives in the
province.
When human exodus was reported in Marawi City the morning
after the Maute Group and Abu Sayyaf Group stormed the city last may 23, Hataman
immediately formed a health team, headed by Department of Health-ARMM Secretary Dr. Kadil Sinolinding, Jr, to
address the health needs of displaced families while government forces are
pursuing the armed men.
The regional governor said the financial resources used in
the emergency response and post-conflict intervention come from the ARMM
Special Purpose Fund of the Office of the Regional Governor (ORG).
Hataman said the ARMM humanitarian response is being
conducted in partnership with other government agencies in Northern Mindanao.
The ARMM Crisis Management Center has also confirmed at
least 3,717 stranded individuals and 59 missing persons.
It also recorded at least 100 persons dead as fighting
entered its 8th day last June 30. This includes 61 Maute and Abu Sayyaf
extremists, 20 government troops, and 19 civilians.
He said 33 soldiers were injured and have been treated in
various hospitals in Iligan City. (EOF/PNA
– COTABATO GILMHAR A. LAO WITH BUREAU OF PUBLIC INFORMATION-ARMM / MINDANAO EXPOSE’)
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