War evacuees displaced by flooding

COTABATO CITY—There seems to be no end to the flight of residents of Maguindanao who are now being driven out by floods from a resettlement area that had become their homes after fighting between government soldiers and Moro separatist rebels drove them out of their communities.

Floods swamped the resettlement areas in towns near the Liguasan Marsh which overflowed as a result of relentless rains for days now.

Water from the Pulangui River in Bukidnon and other waterways from the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato and South Cotabato had caused Liguasan Marsh to overflow, authorities said. The 220,000-hectare Liguasan Marsh serves as a natural catch basin for some of Mindanao’s major rivers.

2,000 families

Lt. Col. Benjamin Hao, head of the 7th Infantry Battalion, said at least 2,217 families in two towns—Montawal and Pagalungan—had been evacuated as flood levels rose in their villages. There were no reports of casualties.

On Tuesday, floods also swept through Caraga region, Bukidnon in Northern Mindanao and Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley in Eastern Mindanao.

Officials attribute the zero casualty so far to the early evacuation of residents.

The floods, triggered by rains brought by a low pressure area over Zamboanga Peninsula, came in the midst of the continued suffering of people in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro where hundreds died in flooding and landslides on Dec. 17 at the height of Tropical Storm “Sendong.”

2,000 dead

The death toll in the country’s deadliest disaster in recent memory could exceed 2,000, according to government reports.

In Cagayan de Oro, nongovernment organizations have joined the relief effort for thousands of people cramming evacuation centers since the disaster struck.

Jordan Apat, of the Philippine Service for Mercy Foundation, said aside from diseases, aid workers were also keeping an eye on human traffickers, who could prey on the evacuees.

“These individuals have to be protected because they are prone to human trafficking,” he said.

More help

In Davao City, religious and cause-oriented groups on Tuesday launched Bulig Alang sa Mindanao (Balsa-Mindanao) to help in the relief and rehabilitation of families that suffered from floods.

The United Nations Humanitarian Fund announced that emergency operations in shelter, water and sanitation, food and logistics, were on the way for flood victims in Mindanao.

Valerie Ramos, of the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (Cerf), announced the release of a $3-million grant for aid to flood victims.

This is the third Cerf grant to the Philippines for 2011 alone, bringing the total amount of funds from the agency to $11.5 million.

The provincial government of Rizal, itself no stranger to disasters, allotted portion of its disaster fund for Sendong victims.

The Rizal provincial board authorized Rizal Gov. Casimiro Ynares III to release the money, although the resolution did not specify the amount.

Reports from Edwin Fernandez, Cai Panlilio, Orlando Dinoy and Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao; Maricar Cinco and Madonna Virola, Inquirer Southern Luzon