COTABATO CITY – Relief workers have begun distribution Monday of food packs to 1, 793 families or some 10,000 individuals affected by Sunday’s military operation against IS-linked elements of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Maguindanao.
Myrna Jocelyn Henry, information officer of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao – Humanitarian Emergency Assistance Response Team (ARMM-HEART) said they have initially served three evacuation centers in Pagalungan town where the 1,793 families are temporarily housed.
“The evacuees are housed in evacuation centers set up at Mahad, the Poblacion market, and the town’s covered court,” she said.
Henry said that ARMM Executive Secretary Laisa Alamia, concurrent regional social welfare chief, led the distribution at relief goods comprising of rice, bread, noodles, mineral water, malong (Muslim tube garment), and hygiene kits that could last for the next three days.
In Pagalungan alone, at least six villages were affected, namely Buliok, Bago-enged, Dalgan, Bulod, Kalbugan, and Kudal. “Separate ARMM–HEART teams were also dispatched to look into reports of evacuation from the towns of Gen. Salipada K. Pendatun in Maguindanao and Pikit, North Cotabato,” Henry said.
On Sunday, thousands of evacuees fled to safety as military helicopter gunships, backed by artillery fire, launched a pre-dawn attack on BIFF positions in the marshland bordering the towns of Gen. Salipada K. Pendatun and Pagalungan in Maguindanao, and Pikit in North Cotabato.
The miitary said the strikes against the BIFF led to the destruction of a bomb-making factory, death of 15 terrorists and wounding of eight others, as well as the capture of BIFF bomb maker Ustadz Anwar Ali alias “Abu Omar”, and his wife Asnaya. (Noel Punzalan/PNA)
