By Edwin O. Fernandez / Philippines News Agency
COTABATO CITY—At least 40,000 persons in 15 Sultan sa Barongis, Maguindanao, villages were evacuated as the flood in some communities reached as high as neck deep, officials said.
Sultan sa Barongis Mayor Ramdatu Angas said the local government has placed the entire town under state of calamity as the flood from Ala River continues to rise owing to torrential rains in the mountains of Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato.
Rasol Angas, a resident of Barangay Barurao, one of the hardest hit villages, said the flood water remains unpredictable as it recedes and suddenly rises although Maguindanao experiences no rain.
“It could be raining up there in the mountains of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat,” he said, pointing at Daguma mountain range south of Sultan Kudarat province.
Zenaida Sandig, 28, a resident of Barangay Paidung, said the water level in her village was at its highest late Saturday afternoon, reaching as high as 5 feet.
Sultan sa Barongis, a town at the border of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat, was at the direct path of Ala River, a major waterway emanating from South Cotabato.
“Floods here come and go but this is the worst so far,” Angas told reporters in Filipino. “We are at the forefront of the flood-catch basin,” he added.
Aside from Sultan sa Barongis, also flooded were the towns of Mangudadatu, Datu Paglas, Pandag, Paglat, Rajah Buayan, Buluan and Datu Salibo, displacing about 15,000 individuals, social-welfare officials said.
It was the third calamity to hit Maguindanao province this year. In late January, Maguindanao was hit by man-made calamity when mass evacuation was done because of government action against lawless groups and the five-month dry spell.
“Kaya pa naman [We can still handle this],” Maguindanao Toto Mangudadatu said of the floods that hit nine of Maguindanao’s 36 towns. He said the province has enough calamity fund to use until year-end.
However, the governor admitted the situation was “very difficult for our people” because of Ramadan, during which Muslims abstain from food and water at day time.
He said nobody has died due to the floods but admitted receiving report about a woman who died after a tree fell on her in Kabuntalan town during Wednesday’s heavy down pour.
He alerted local executives of towns around the Maguindanao marshland of possible sudden rise of water as unfavorable weather continue in nearby provinces.
Mayor Angas blamed a flood control dike constructed by a banana plantation company. He said the firm put up a dike to save its farm site but the flood water from Ala river was diverted to his town.
Last week, four persons were killed in separate landslides triggered by moderate to heavy downpour in South Cotabato, Sarangani and Koronadal City.
The Office of Civil Defense in Central Mindanao reported that at least 40 houses were totally damaged by rampaging flood waters, five flood control dikes destroyed and nine bridges totally and partially damaged in 10 towns, a city and 43 villages.