CALL OF DUTY. Army reservists from Kapatagan, Lanao del Sur walk to communities to reach families and hand them out food relief packs. Some 235 reservists in the town were drafted to duty by the local government, forming the main backbone of the town’s relief operations during the health crisis. (Divina M. Suson)
KAPATAGAN, LANAO DEL SUR— The local government here has drafted the services of 235 Army reservists in a fight to help save the town’s residents, especially those in far-flung communities, from going hungry amid a lockdown imposed throughout Lanao del Sur province.
Kapatagan Mayor Raidah Maglangit said the reserve troopers make up the main backbone of the town’s relief operation for more than 5,000 families spread across 15 villages.
They do the repacking and distribution of goods.
Lanao del Sur has been on lockdown since March. Residents are only allowed to move within their respective towns, and only to purchase essential goods and to seek medical attention.
Rolling stores are a big help to those who have the capacity to buy. But those who lost income have a hard time coping with basic needs, making them dependent on handouts from local governments.
“When we trained as reservists in 2018, we did not think that there would be a crisis like this. It just happened that we thought of preparing for calamities so that it would not be difficult for us to respond and do relief operations,” Maglangit said.
She also said the reservists are trained to respond to calamities.
“The reservists are a big help especially in filling up for the few number of policemen in the town. The Marines also have bigger areas to serve so we chose not to burden them so much in our relief operations,” Maglangit said.
Some of the reservists are local government employees.
Maglangit said she encouraged them to join back in 2018 in order to boost the town’s capacity for responding to disasters and calamities.
As of April 23, the town has completed the first wave of distribution of food packs, with each containing five kilos of rice, five canned sardines, sugar, and coffee.
In the second round of distribution next week, the local government will replace canned sardines with dried fish, and add noodles.