‘Help combat water lily’

COTABATO City—An official of Maguindanao and this city has called on residents to join hands in combating the water hyacinth problem that has been worsening the flooding here and in the said province.

Maguindanao and Cotabato City Representative Bai Sandra Sema said even with the recent arrival of a piece of equipment that will do the job of clearing tributaries of water hyacinths, “bayanihan” (cooperation) should be organized with the supervision of local officials so that the task would be sped up.

“The water master could not do it alone,” Sema told reporters on Thursday.

She said that unless a collective effort was put up, the province and this city would face more flooding as more typhoons that would bring in rains were expected to hit the country.

Since September 17, 16 Maguindanao towns had been under water and about 350,000 people had to flee their homes.—Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao