North Cotabato town under state of calamity due to flood, skirmishes

MAKILALA, North Cotabato — The Sangguniang Bayan here has put the entire municipality under state of calamity due to the flood that continues to ravage communities and send families to evacuation centers. James Zamora, head of the town’s Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (DRRMC), said the declaration has given the municipal mayor of Makilala the authority to use the local government unit’s calamity funds as assistance to flood victims. Sporadic skirmishes between government soldiers and communist rebels also prompted the declaration, he said. In a resolution, the Sangguniang Bayan has authorized Makilala Mayor Rudy Caoagdan to immediately restore damaged infrastructures and agricultural crops and assist those affected by the ongoing armed fighting.

The Makilala government, according to Zamora, needs at least P2 million to repair access roads damaged by heavy flooding as a result of continuous rain since May. At least 10 villages in Makilala, mostly low-lying and landslide-prone areas, were affected by the flood. One of the areas hardly hit by flooding was Barangay Leboce, where a portion of the road has already caved in. Zamora’s office has also estimated damage to crops at P1 million, affecting 38 farmers, 16 of them rubber planters. The recent armed skirmishes between the Army and the New Peoples’ Army had forced hundreds of residents from three villages to vacate their homes for fear of being caught in the crossfire. Most of the evacuees were indigenous people belonging to the Bagobo tribe. — Malu Cadelina Manar/KBK, GMA News