Aquino visit raises Cotabato folk hope

COTABATO CITY—Officials here are pinning their hopes on President Aquino for a solution to the city’s flooding misery which they and the residents are blaming on tons of water lilies that are said to be causing rivers to overflow.

Mayor Japal Guiani Jr. said Mr. Aquino’s visit here Wednesday could speed up efforts to remove water lilies from Rio Grande de Mindanao.
“This is for him to personally see the problem,” said the mayor.

Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo said he, too, believed the main cause of the floods were the tons of water lilies in Rio Grande. Floods have submerged most of the city’s 37 villages.

Nearby areas of Maguindanao, such as Kabuntalan Mother and Sultan Kudarat towns, and the North Cotabato areas of Aleosan, Pikit and Midsayap have also been under water for days now. These areas are also along the Rio Grande.

At least 100,000 families—30,000 in this city alone—have been displaced by the flooding.

Kadil Sinolinding, regional health secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said more relief workers have been deployed to flooded areas.

Guiani said continuing rainfall aggravated the swelling of the Rio Grande and its heavily-silted tributaries.

Col. Prudencio Asto, spokesperson of the military’s 6th Infantry Division based in Maguindanao, said the task of speeding up the flow of water to the sea was so enormous that it would take volunteers about five months to complete it.

“In a bird’s eye view, we are like picking up white hairs of people using a spoon and a fork. It would take us five months to clear it,” Asto said.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said it also sent volunteers to help remove water lilies, which have occupied at least 20 hectares, at the Liguasan Marsh.

Asto said the only dangers volunteers faced in clearing Rio Grande and Liguasan Marsh are snakes and reptiles. He said the President, during his visit, was expected to meet with local officials and visit evacuation centers.

Archbishop Quevedo had said there appears to be an irregularity in the use of funds for flood control programs in the city.

In Magpet, North Cotabato, the Sangguniang Bayan declared a state of calamity due to mudslides and floods that destroyed hundreds of hectares of crops.

Magpet Vice Mayor Florentino Villasor said at least P2 million worth of crops were destroyed by landslides and floods. Edwin Fernandez, Charlie Señase, Jeoffrey Maitem with a report from Williamor Magbanua, Inquirer Mindanao