Task Force Kapamagayun extends help to evacuees from Marawi City

LANAO DEL SUR --- Sectors in Maguindanao province covered by the Task Force Kapamagayun on Saturday transported more than three tons of relief goods for evacuees from Marawi City.The collection of the relief supplies were facilitated by the municipal governments of Kabuntalan, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Datu Anggal Midtimbang, Talitay, Talayan and Guindulungan towns in Maguindanao, the Army’s 19thInfantry Battalion and the 603rdBrigade.Local executives in the seven towns are members of the multi-sectoral Task Force Kapamagayun, which is helping the police and the military maintain law and order in the local communities.The task force was launched just last month through the efforts of Lt. Col. Crizaldo Fernandez of the 19thIB and the commander of the 603rdBrigade, Col. Jesus Sarsagat.Captain Arvin Encinas, public affairs chief of the Army’s 6thInfantry Division, said on Sunday that the relief supplies were divided into two shipments, one delivered to Iligan City and the other to the headquarters of the Army’s 6thInfantry Battalion in Malabang town in Lanao del Sur.The centralized inter-agency relief hubs in Malabang and in Iligan City shall facilitate the dispersal of the relief supplies that personnel of the 19thIB delivered on Saturday via the Secretary Narciso Ramos Highway.A Maranao lawmaker, Zia Alonto Adiong of the 24-seat Regional Assembly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said they are grateful to the Task Force Kapamagayun for reaching out to evacuees from Marawi City.Adiong, spokesman of the Lanao del Sur provincial crisis management committee, said they are also thankful to local and foreign donors, among them the World Food Programme, for helping feed thousands of displaced school children in temporary learning sites being managed by the education department of the ARMM government.Adiong said the provincial government of Lanao del Sur also appreciates the shipment by the Armed Forces of the Philippines of heavy equipment to be used for the reconstruction of Marawi City.The road-building equipment, comprised of bulldozers, pay loaders and backhoes, arrived at the Iligan City Port last Saturday on board a navy vessel from the Pier 15 of the South Harbor in Manila. Captain Jo-ann Petinglay, information staff of the Western Mindanao Command, said the same vessel also brought to Iligan City dozens of boxes filled with relief supplies for conflict-stricken residents of Marawi City.The boxes contain undergarments, hygiene kits, slippers, blankets, assorted medicines and toys for children.