The continuous flooding in Sultan Kudarat has prompted the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Region 12 to take immediate action and assist the local government in its efforts to help affected residents.

It has been continuously flooding in Brgy. Tinumigues in  Brgy. Sadsalan, Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat after heavy rains in the last month. DSWD Regional Director Zorahayda Taha has reported to the DSWD Central Office and to Secretary Judy Taguiwalo that the field office is ensuring that  when needed, DSWD family food packs will be delivered to affected residents after the other government units – barangay, municipal, provincial have given their own assistance.

“We are doing all that we can to monitor the situation and ensure the local government units that we have augmentation support,” Dir. Taha said. She said that the municipality of Lambayong has been able to provide an initial  1,038 food packs, while the provincial government has released packages of rice, instant noodles, and sardines.

The barangay chairman of Brgy. Tinumigues  Wenonah Mamalo Lim has issued an appeal for the authorities to come up with a long-term solution to the flooding because many families have been suffering its effects.   For the last eight years, waters from the Alley Valley areas of South Cotabato  flow towards Sultan Kudarat,  and the barangays there end up flooded. Many of the houses are half-submerged in water.

“Every year, the LGUs and the DSWD provide us with relief packs, but the problems we suffer because of the flooding continue to happen because no long-term solutions are being implemented,” the village chief said.

As of November 10, the DSWD has already provided P1,260,600 worth of relief assistance, while the Kalamansig Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO) extended a total of P421,600  worth of aid. However, additional relief supplies are still needed since many houses have been partially and totally damaged by the floods.

For her part, DSWD Sec. Judy M. Taguiwalo said that Central Office will exercise due diligence in elevating  to the national level the local issues in the regions as they are reported by the DSWD Field offices.  She said that the perennial flooding in Sultan Kudarat should be taken notice of by other national agencies given that every year, thousands of families are affected, infrastructure and houses damaged and destroyed. Poverty levels in the region increase because of this.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) report on the country’s official poverty statistics for the first semester of 2015, the top 11 of 20 poorest provinces in the country are in Mindanao, with Lanao del Sur leading the way with a 74.3 percent poverty incidence. These provinces are Sulu, Sarangani, Maguindanao, Bukidnon, Sultan Kudarat, Zamboanga del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Lanao del Norte, North Cotabato and Zamboanga Sibugay. The other provinces are  in the Visayas: Northern Samar, Siquijor, Eastern Samar, Western Samar, Leyte and Negros Oriental. The three provinces in Luzon are Catanduanes, Sorsogon, Mt. Province.

“The fight against poverty is largely being fought in the provinces, in the far-flung areas where government support is long in coming when needed. The DSWD and its regional offices will do their part in monitoring the status of poverty of our kababayans in the regions and endorse our findings and observations to the national government and its other agencies so we can, hopefully, collectively come up with solutions,” Sec. Taguiwalo said.

Sec. Taguiwalo has already said that the mission of the DSWD is to be the “voice of the poor” in the Duterte administration.”#