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Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Only 2 cups of rice per family of evacuees
By Ben O. Tesiorna
DAVAO CITY -- Two cups of rice or around half a kilo is what a family shares for one day at the evacuation center, which is home to 500 evacuees in a school in Midsayap, North Cotabato.
This is the sorry state evacuees staying at the Patindeguen Elementary School experienced for the past six days.
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Wadtod Kadete, 55, and a father of five, said the two cups of rice given to them on Monday, could barely feed his family.
He said that when they first arrived at the evacuation center, they were given five kilos of rice by the local government.
Six days passed and Kadete said they received nothing else. On the seventh day they received the two cups provision with two cans of sardines.
Ernesto Jugos, barangay captain of Patindeguen, said the two-cup provision was decided upon by the barangay council after the social welfare and development office of Midsayap provided them with only two sacks of rice for that day.
He said with the swelling number of evacuees in the center, now numbering to 177 families, they have no other course but to equally distribute the 100-kilo rice to all 177 families that average to about four members each.
Jugos said the initial five-kilo rice per family was given when there were still few evacuees at the center.
He said the local government unit was the one that personally distributed the five-kilo rice provision last week.
This time around, the task is given to the barangay officials, he added.
Teachers at the Patindeguen Elementary School said that aside from the lack of food, evacuees have also started contracting diseases like measles and flu.
They also have to live inside a small hut where four families are cramped like sardines.
When classes resume Wednesday, evacuees staying inside the classrooms will have to vacate the rooms temporarily while classes are ongoing. They will only return to the classroom once classes are over for the day.
Patindeguen evacuation center is just one of the 43 evacuation centers in Central Mindanao that were opened due to the conflict between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Other evacuation centers have the same case -- lack of food provision and health care.
Red Cross governor Senator Richard Gordon flew to Central Mindanao Monday to look into the plight of the evacuees.
He vowed to help alleviate the condition of the displaced civilians.
Gordon also appealed to both the government and the MILF to stop the fighting.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said 129,819 villagers have been displaced from 42 barangays in North Cotabato province since the fighting began last week.
The refugees are being housed in 43 government evacuation centers in Central Mindanao, said Glenn Raboza, an NDCC executive officer. The government is providing them water, sanitation, and food.
One soldier was killed and 10 others were wounded since the government ordered the MILF last Thursday to clear its forces within 24 hours from nine villages in North Cotabato. Two MILF rebels have reportedly been killed.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno said he was "very alarmed" at the growing number of evacuees.
Puno and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro criticized the MILF for its failure to make its troops withdraw from the five towns.
As a result of the MILF's failure, Puno said clearing operations are now being undertaken in five towns of North Cotabato -- Aleosan, Libungan, Midsayap, Pigkawayan, and Pikit. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pangasinan. (August 13, 2008 issue)
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