The Catholic Church, through the National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA)/Caritas Philippines, will send a P10-million humanitarian aid to the families affected by the ongoing crisis in Marawi.
NASSA/Caritas Philippines executive secretary Fr. Edwin Gariguez said the assistance will cover the essential needs of 3,000 families or 15,000 individuals in Iligan City such as halal food, and non-food items like hygiene kits, household items and sleeping kits.
The national Caritas will also conduct psychosocial activities, hygiene promotion awareness, emergency preparedness, and accountability trainings.
“We are targeting the home-based evacuees or those staying in their relatives’ houses because our assessment showed that many were still underserved. The concentration of the responses by other organizations are mostly in the evacuation centers,” Gariguez explained.
NASSA/Caritas Philippines earlier launched a solidarity appeal to all 85 dioceses nationwide. Among those which responded to the appeal were the dioceses of Jaro, Lucena, Iba, Imus, Alaminos, Antipolo, Bacolod, Bontoc-Lagawe, San Jose and Calapan.
Caritas Manila also allocated P2-million relief assistance to those affected by the crisis in Marawi through the Diocese of Iligan Social Action Center.
Latest data from the Office of the Civil Defense-National Emergency Operations Center showed that a total of 102,860 families or 465,674 individuals were displaced by the armed conflict in Marawi.
Of these, 4,977 families or 27,0004 individuals are staying in 85 evacuation centers while 97,883 families or 438,685 persons are home-based or staying with their relatives in eight regions.
The response, which will cover 12 communities in Iligan City, is being implemented through the newly-formed operations group comprising of religious sisters and lay volunteers of the Diocese of Iligan.
NASSA/Caritas Philippines is the humanitarian, development, and advocacy arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).