THE Cagayan de Oro City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Department's (CDRRMD) overseer, retired Colonel Mario Verner Monsanto, has been picked to head the National Incident Management Team (IMT) to be based in Iligan City.
Monsanto was chosen by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) to head the IMT and focus on consequence management and rescue operations for the civilians still trapped in the conflict-torn city.
Along with Monsanto, the City Government also sent Urban Search and Rescue (Usar) personnel, Emergency Medical Specialists (EMS), ambulance, and a rescue vehicle.
The Usar personnel will help other government agencies in assisting internally displaced persons (IDPs), now placed at 13,832 families or 66,383 persons as of Tuesday this week.
About 1,460 families or 6,867 individuals are staying in evacuation centers. Iligan City currently houses a total of 789 families in its four evacuation centers, while Balo-i town has 431, Pantao Ragat with 115, and Pantar with 104.
In Cagayan de Oro, the validated home-based IDPs spiked from 824 families over the weekend to 893 families as of Tuesday, June 6.
The Provincial Government likewise sent two trucks of empty water containers and P300,000 worth of goods for the over 13,000 IDPs in Iligan City.
Misamis Oriental Governor Yevgeny Vincente Emano said more assistance from the province is forthcoming.
"Iligan City is not part of Misamis Oriental anymore, but as good citizens of this country, we should help our displaced brothers and sisters because of the terror attack happening in their beloved city," he said.