Cotabato City—Next to preventive lockdown and community quarantine, local government units here have started reaching out to poor constituents running out of resources to secure home provisions amid the heightened Covid-19 alerts.
Goods transported by the Bangsamoro Government had already arrived on Sunday for repacking and community distribution, according to lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, speaking in behalf of Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Hj. Murad Ibrahim, and as interior minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Sinarimbo added that a a large volume of BARMM community aid packages will be airlifted anytime via Philippine Air Force C-130 Carrier from Manila to Awang Airport in Maguindanao, “after reasonable guidelines in entering (Cotabato) City has been put in place by the security sector.”
He said still queued for enplaning from Air Force facilities in Manila are BARMM “goods consisting of medical supplies, personal protective equipment and food stuff.”
PPEs, Sinarimbo said, will be distributed, through BARMM's Ministry of Health under Dr. Zafrullah Dipatuan to frontline health and paramedics volunteers working for the region's LGUs.
Sinarimbo added that initial distribution efforts have started, which will be followed by “a more coordinated operation for assistance to LGUs and constituents.”
BARMM volunteers for its Rapid Emergency Assistance on Disaster Incidents (READi) unit worked overtime during the weekend, repacking truckloads of foods and other basic provisions for distribution to its needy constituents.
“Please bear with us as we navigate through a web of LGU guidelines and logistics issues prompted by voluntary impositions of community quarantine. We will be with you soonest. We all must work together if we are to succeed in fighting this pandemic,” Sinarimbo said.