The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) assures the residents of Makilala, North Cotabato who were affected by the series of earthquakes that assistance will continue to be delivered to them.

The municipality of Makilala is one of the hard-to-reach areas following landslides that occurred in some barangays.

A total of 20,704 families or 103,520 individuals from the 38 barangays of Makilala have been affected by the earthquake. More than 20,000 houses in the town have been damaged.

DSWD Field Office XII said that based on the report of the North Cotabato provincial government, residents from barangays Malasila, Kisante, and Old Bulatokan who were appealing for assistance along the highway have already been provided with relief assistance. Even Barangay Luayon which could not be reached through land travel due to landslide has received relief assistance through airdrop on board a helicopter by the Philippine Air Force (PAF).

A total of P1.4 million worth of assistance, as of 6pm November 2, has already been provided to the affected families in the town.

“We assure our kababayans in Makilala that help is on the way. We are looking for  the fastest way possible to deliver assistance, especially in areas isolated due to landslides,” DSWD Field Office XII Director Joel Espejo said.

Continuing relief operations

During this long weekend, DSWD Field Offices in Central and Southern Mindanao continued their relief operations reaching out to more quake-affected families and individuals.

As of press time, P4.2 million worth of assistance has been provided to 28,656 families or 143,280 individuals in North Cotabato, while P2.07 million was released for 6,984 families or 34,920 persons from Davao Del Sur.

Aside from relief distribution, DSWD workers are assisting LGUs in managing the 30 evacuation centers which are providing temporary shelter to 4,362 families or 21,810 persons from the affected regions. At the evacuation centers, social workers conduct psychosocial counseling for adults and play therapy for children which are interventions to help them cope with their traumatic experience.

To ensure that only legitimate evacuees are served, DSWD social workers are issuing family access cards to families identified by LGUs as quake victims. The access card entitles a family to receive relief and other forms of assistance.

Coordination for donations

To ensure the smooth coordination for donations in kind, interested donors for quake-affected families may go through the local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (DRRMC) or at the Incident Command Posts prior to the distribution of goods.

On the other hand, for cash donations, the public may get the respective local DRRM accounts or may deposit directly to the Office of the Civil Defense-National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (OCD-NDRRMC) account with the following details: 

Account Name: NDRRMC Donated Fund
Account Number: 
0435-021927-030 (PESO Current Account)
0435-021927-530 (DOLLAR Savings Account)
SWIFT CODE: DBPHPHMM Account No. 36002016
Address: Development Bank of the Philippines, Camp Aguinaldo Branch, PVAO Compound, Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo, Quezon City, Philippines.  -30-