Compostela Valley extends help to Marawi victims

File photo of residents evacuating Marawi City as they queue at a government checkpoint before they make their way to Iligan City, the nearest refuge from the tension-filled city. AFP

DAVAO CITY – Officials and employees of Compostela Valley province have initiated a charity drive to help thousands of survivors of the on-going siege in Marawi City.

Two truckloads of relief goods sent to Iligan City on Wednesday have been turned over to civil disaster management officials in Marawi for distribution to evacuees, said Raul Villocino, Compostela Valley provincial official.

Iligan, some 37 kilometers south of Marawi, is the nearest safest evacuation area to most of the more than 200,000 people who fled the fighting.

The relief goods came from public and private donors that included employees of the provincial capitol who had responded to calls of Gov. Jayvee
 Tyron Uy to help the people of Marawi who have been displaced following the fighting between government security forces and the Islamic State-inspired Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups since May 23.

The provincial government initiated the Oplan Marawi Donation Drive to gather help from different sectors through the use of local television and radio stations, as well as social media.

Uy said the campaign was Compostela Valley’s way of showing the Filipino trait of “bayanihan” (volunteerism) and a sort of payback.

“When we were struck by Typhoon ‘Pablo’ (international name: Bopha) (in 2013), we received donations from far places and places we didn’t even know. Now that our brothers and sisters in Marawi are in a crisis, it was our obligation to help them as members of shared Filipino community,” the governor said.

Other local governments in Southern Mindanao have also stepped up to send aid for Marawi.

Last week, Davao City sent through a naval ship repacked relief goods to Iligan. JPV/rga