Military to set up checkpoints in quake-hit areas to regulate groups giving aid

DAVAO CITY — The military is setting up checkpoints in earthquake devastated areas to regulate and facilitate the movement of relief operations.

In a single page document issued by the Office of the Martial Law Administrator on Saturday, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to man checkpoints in the provinces of North Cotabato and Davao del Sur.

“The check points shall control and screen the ingress and egress of people in the evacuation center so that only legitimate and authorized relief workers are granted access to evacuation centers and receive relief goods and supplies for distributions for the evacuees,” Lorenzana said.

Acting North Cotabato Governor Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza recognized the order, saying the checkpoints would help set order in relief distribution as relief aid from numerous groups and individuals flooded the area.

“The Provincial Government of Cotabato welcome this development for this will help the province in its effort to establish strategic distributions of relief goods to our fellow Cotabateños by properly monitoring the areas that already received goods to avoid duplication or concentrations of the distribution of relief goods,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza said an organized system would make it easy to take account of those resources and aid given by both the government and private donors.

“This will help us properly account and monitor our resources coming from national government agencies, local government units, groups and private individuals,” Mendoza said.

The provincial government of North Cotabato earlier urged donors and relief workers to coordinate with the Incident Command Post instead of going directly to the communities. /je