Government entities deliver food supplies to flooded Maguindanao towns

MAGUINDANAO - Floodwaters in the northern border of Maguindanao and North Cotabato have receded but agencies continued helping flood victims downed by heavy crop losses due to the calamity.The provincial government of Maguindanao delivered on Tuesday 10 tons of food supplies to Pagalungan town, where more than 8,000 families were dislocated by flashfloods that hit the area last week.The Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Response Team (HEART) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao also transported on Tuesday more than 10 tons of individual food packs for evacuees in Montawal town in Maguindanao.The floods ravaged more than 20,000 hectares of rice and corn farms in the two municipalities, according to local officials.Maguindanao’s adjoining Pagalungan and Montawal towns are known gateways to central Mindanao’s oft-flooded 220,000-hectare Liguasan Delta.Rivers and swamps around the delta overflowed last week following three days of heavy rains in hinterlands in Bukidnon and North Cotabato provinces.The Liguasan Delta is a geographical catch basin for dozens of large rivers that spring from mountain ranges in the provinces of Bukidnon in Region 10, in North Cotabato, South Cotabato and in Sultan Kudarat in Region 12 and in Maguindanao in ARMM.Municipal officials declared last week the neighboring Montawal and Pagalungan towns under state of calamity to justify the release of state funds, supposedly programmed for various expenditures, for relief operations.Also hit by flashfloods were dozens of barangays in Pikit and Kabacan towns in North Cotabato, also both near the Liguasan Delta.Maguindanao’s budget officer, Lynette Estandarte, chief of the provincial emergency response group, said their People’s Medical Team will be deployed on Wednesday to Montawal.The team is comprised of physicians, nurses and social workers trained in rehabilitating victims of calamities and people dislocated by conflicts.Estandarte said they will expand their relief operations to Montawal, where thousands also got dislocated by floods that swept through more than a dozen barangays there.ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman led HEART’s relief operation in Montawal on Tuesday that benefited thousands of evacuees. Image may contain 6 people people sitting sand//scontent.fceb2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16114974_10209812646847664_540824105992106641_n.jpg?oh=cab4e4f156b723a9e16e588fa42b92c6andampoe=590374BE (Photo courtesy of ARMM-HEART) The relief operation in Montawal of ARMM's HEART contingent, operating under Hataman’s ministerial control, was assisted by the regional social welfare department.Inspector Nolie Sudaria, chief of the Montawal municipal police, said a farmer named Danilo Macaya, 56, was drowned in rampaging floodwaters that spread through his farm in Barangay Tunggol in west of the municipality last Thursday. He was returning to his home to evacuate his family to a high ground when he was drowned. His cadaver was found next day floating in a flooded rice field, Sudaria said.Hataman said ARMM’s agriculture department will also extend interventions to help farmers recover from crop losses.In separate statements forwarded to selected reporters last Saturday, Hataman and Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu separately expressed gratitude to units of the Army’s 6thInfantry Division for helping rescue villagers in flooded barangays in Montawal and Pagalungan.Mangudadatu told reporters on Tuesday that he is also thankful to the officials and enlisted personnel of the Army’s 40thand 33rdInfantry Battalions for helping them pack food supplies for flood victims.(Photo shows ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman talking to local officials of Datu Montawal, Maguindanao at the evacuation area for flood victims - Photo by Jo Henry) Image may contain 4 people people standing and outdoor sand//scontent.fceb2-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/16114976_10209812718769462_4659888019668348653_n.jpg?oh=acdfaf8aef034eee2fadd8c668714918:ampoe=5914F4C7