BARMM, OPAPRU hold relief missions in Soccsksargen

COTABATO CITY — The Bangsamoro government and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) initiated disaster response operations in General Santos City and in Sarangani province, where thousands were displaced by the 7.8 Magnitude earthquake that jolted both areas on Monday.

South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo S. Tamayo, Jr., said on Wednesday that the office of OPAPRU Secretary Mel Senen S. Sarmiento and Chief Minister Abdulraof A. Macacua of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) dispatched the Rapid Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis Team and personnel of its Rapid Emergency Action on Disaster Incidence Contingent for humanitarian missions in the area on Tuesday.

“We, in the inter-agency and multi-sector Regional Peace and Order Council 12 (RPOC 12), appreciate their initiative. We are also thankful to all Army units now in Santos City and in municipalities in Sarangani for such missions too,” Mr. Tamayo, speaking as chairperson of the RPOC 12, told reporters via text message.

The RPOC 12, led by Mr. Tamayo, covers the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong and Kidapawan and the provinces of Sarangani, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato.

Mr. Tamayo said BARMM’s relief efforts for displaced residents in General Santos City and Sarangani also involve the office of Bangsamoro Local Government Minister Jordan S. Bayam.

The Bangsamoro government’s initial delivery of relief supplies for the displaced residents of Sarangani was facilitated by the OPAPRU, the Ministry of Local Government-BARMM and the office of Mr. Macacua.

Mr. Sarmiento said their Local Conflict Transformation-Field Implementation Support Office-Mindanao is now initiating disaster impact assessment in areas in Sarangani where former communist insurgents and violent religious extremists reside to determine what interventions they can best extend to them to mitigate the adverse effects on them of Monday’s earthquake that forced them and their families to relocate to evacuation sites. — John Felix M. Unson