Maguindanao floods displace 40k villagers

By EDWIN O. FERNANDEZ

COTABATO City– At least 40,000 persons in 15 villages of Sultan sa Barongis in Maguindanao province have been displaced by floods as water level in some communities reached as high as neck deep, officials said.

Sultan sa Barongis Mayor Ramdatu Angas said the local government has placed the entire town under state of calamity as flood water from Ala River continues to rise brought about by torrential rain in the mountains of Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato.
Rasol Angas, a resident of Barangay Barurao, one of the hardest hit villages, said the characteristics of flood water remain unpredictable as it recedes and suddenly rises although Maguindanao experiences no rain.

“It could be raining up there in the mountains of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat,” he opined, pointing at Daguma ranges south of Sultan Kudarat province.

Zenaida Sandig, 28, a resident of Barangay Paidung, said water level in her village was at its highest late Saturday afternoon, reaching as high as five feet.

Sultan sa Barongis, a town situated in the borders of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat, was at the direct path of Ala river, a major tributary emanating from South Cotabato. “Floods here come and go but this is the worst so far,” Mayor Angas told reporters in Filipino. “We are at the forefront of the flood catch basin,” he added.

Aside from Sultan sa Barongis, also flooded were the towns of Datu Paglas, Mangudadatu, Datu Paglas, Pandag, Paglat, Rajah Buayan, Buluan and Datu Salibo, displacing about 15,000 individuals, social welfare officials said. It was the third calamity to hit Maguindanao province this year. In late January, Maguindanao was hit by man-made calamity when mass evacuation triggered by government action against lawless elements and the five-month dry spell.
“Kaya pa naman (We can still handle this),” Mangudadatu said of the floods that hit nine of Maguindanao’s 36 municipalities. He said the province has enough calamity fund to use until year end.

But the governor admitted the situation was “very difficult for our people” because of Ramadhan where Muslims abstain from food and water at day time.

He said nobody has died due to floods but admitted receiving report about a woman who died after a tree fell on her in Kabuntalan town during last Wednesday’s heavy down pour. He alerted local executives of towns around the Maguindanao marshland of possible sudden rise of water as unfavourable weather continue in nearby provinces.

Mayor Angas blamed a flood control dike constructed by a banana plantation company. He said the firm put up a dike to save its farm site but the flood water from Ala river was diverted to his town.

Last week, four persons were killed in separate landslides triggered by moderate to heavy downpour in South Cotabato, Sarangani and Koronadal City.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD-12) reported that at least 40 houses were totally damaged by rampaging flood waters, five flood control dikes destroyed and nine bridges totally and partially damaged in 10 towns, a city and 43 villages. pna