Maguindanao PDDRMC aids 3K displaced residents

RELIEF DISTRIBUTION --- Workers from the Provincial Disaster Management Office of Maguindanao hand out relief packs to over 3,000 displaced families in at least seven conflict-affected villages of Shariff Aguak town on Sunday (December 8). The families fled their homes after the military launched an all-out offensive against the Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in the peripheries of Shariff Aguak, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Mamasapano, and Shariff Saydona Mustapha municipalities last November 24. (PHOTO COURTESY OF MAGUINDANAO PDDRMO / MINDANAO EXPOSE’)

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao --- Thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) have received relief assistance from the provincial government of Maguindanao on Sunday (December 8), local and disaster officials said Monday (December 9).

Maguindanao Governor Bai Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu said the relief operations will continue to serve other IDPs in other evacuation sites, including those who are still staying at their relatives’ homes. 

Maguindanao's Disaster Management Team was in Barangay Timbangan, Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao on Sunday to distribute food packs to more than 3,000 displaced families from Shariff Aguak, according to disaster management official Tim Ambolodto.

Ambolodto, the operations officer of Maguindanao Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said the recipients were from Barangays Lepok, Tapikan, Bagong, Bialong, Malingao, Tina, and Kuloy, all in Shariff Aguak town.

Also given relief items were some 200 families from Barangays Dasawao and Pamalian of adjacent Shariff Saydona Mustapha town. The food packs include rice, canned goods, noodles, coffee, sugar, and other basic commodities.

                                                                                                                                      

“The displaced families fled their homes since the start of the all-out military operation against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters last November 26 on the so-called ‘SPMS box’,” Ambolodto said.

The SPMS box is a military term referring to the adjoining towns of Shariff Aguak, Pagatin (Datu Saudi Ampatuan), Mamasapano, and Shariff Saydona, all in Maguindanao’s second district.

Mangudadatu has directed all village officials to attend to the needs of their affected constituents and ensure that everyone is served with a relief package.

The Provincial Health Office is also attending to the health needs of the evacuees. (EDWIN FERNANDEZ & NOEL PUNZALAN, PNA – COTABATO / MINDANAO EXPOSE’)