Duterte to visit quake survivors in Mindanao on Rizal Day — Cotabato governor

KIDAPAWAN CITY—President Rodrigo Duterte will likely skip the wreath-laying ceremony at the Rizal Park on Monday to distribute checks and financial assistance to evacuees displaced by the series of strong earthquakes that hit Mindanao in October and December this year, a top official of Cotabato province said.

Cotabato province Governor Nancy Catamco told the Inquirer on Saturday more than a hundred evacuees who lost their homes to the series of quakes are set to converge in Mlang, Cotabato province on Monday, hoping to meet the President.

Catamco said the President would likely not appear at the wreath laying activity at the Rizal Park in Manila on December 30, a national holiday to remember the execution of the country’s national hero Dr. Jose Rizal, as the President was scheduled to visit the evacuees.

It will be the second year in a row that the President skips the national ceremony faithfully observed by most of his predecessors.

Instead, President Duterte will distribute cheques as financial assistance to the quake victims, Catamco said.

Three strong quakes jolted Cotabato province and surrounding areas in October; namely: 6.3 magnitude quake on October 16; a 6.6 magnitude on October 29; a 6.5 magnitude quake on October 31; and another 6.9 quake on December 15, killing more than 23 people, wounding over a hundred and displacing thousands in Cotabato and Davao del Sur provinces.

Catamco said more than a hundred evacuees from Makilala, Tulunan, Mlang towns and the city of Kidapawan were already looking forward to meet the President.

She said the venue was supposedly set at the municipal gymnasium of Mlang but because the stage and the ceiling of the building had collapsed from the most recent quakes, they decided to move the venue to the covered court of the nearby Mlang National High School, located very near the landing area of the presidential helicopter.

After a short program, the President will fly to the nearby Padada town, worst hit by the December 15 quake, where he will also meet another group of survivors.

Catamco said security forces had heightened security checks in the area prior to the President’s visit. Police and soldiers have set up numerous checkpoints along the Kidapawan-Matalam-Mlang highway to strictly inspect vehicles coming in and out of the area.

She also ordered an increased visibility of policemen and soldiers, especially at the Mlang public market and at the venue of the President’s visit.

Edited by JE