THE City Government of Cagayan de Oro will provide vehicles for a number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) wishing to go back to Marawi as part of the government's send-off activity.
City Social Welfare and Development (CSWD) Officer Teodoro Sabuga-a Jr. said they planned to have the first batch of IDPs to be transported back to Marawi City on November 22.
"Bahala'g napulo ra or pila ka buok, basta kay naa, then we can start. Sa sunod nga adlaw naa na sab tay lain i-schedule (Even if its only 10 or few IDPs, we can start. On the next day, we have another batch of IDPs scheduled to be transported)," Sabuga-a said.
These evacuees, Sabuga-a said, will be transported into two clustered barangays of the war-ravaged Marawi which are now declared safe to live.
The first cluster of barangays, according to Sabuga-a, is composed of: Matampay, Tampilong, Pangao Saduc, Barrio Green, Marawi Poblacion, Datu Saber, East Basak, Basak Malutlut and Luksa Datu.
The second one includes: Poona Marantao, Amito Marantao, Dayawan, Pindolonan, Tuca, Lumbaca Toros, Toros, and Bacolod Chico.
The CSWD officer said these clustered barangays are places that acquired less damage and not in the "ground zero" or the center of the battlefield.
Aside from the vehicles lent by the city government, Sabuga-a said they started soliciting available vehicles from private sectors, adding that a non-government organization had been willing to lend their bus to send the evacuees back to Marawi.
Upon the evacuees’ return to Marawi, Sabuga-a said the Department of Social Welfare and Development will provide a sack of rice, hygiene kit, kitchen utensils, and financial assistance worth P5,000 per family.
"Kining P5,000, kung dunay IDP nga nakadawat na og P1,000 adtong Ramadan, ang balance na lang nga P4,000 ang ilang madawat (This P5,000 financial assistance, if there are IDPs who were given P1,000 during the Ramadan, they will only receive a balance of P4,000)," Sabuga-a clarified.
Sabuga-a added that the IDPs who will be transported back to the barangays are those who were residents or home owners in the barangays.
"Ang authenticity nga ikaw real ka gyud nga IDP nga mouli ka didto, nga residente ka, ang barangay na [ang mo certify] (The authenticity that you are a real IDP returning to the city, a resident of the city, the barangay captains will certify)," Sabuga-a said.
The send-off activity called Kambalingan or "to return" is an activity initiated by the Task Force Marawi to welcome the Marawi IDPs.
To date, the city has over 6,488 families, or 19,464 evacuees.