1,000 families flee Sultan sa Barongis villages

KIDAPAWAN CITY -Thousands of residents of Sultan sa Barongis, a low-lying municipality in Maguindanao located near the Liguasan marsh, were displaced when raging waters inundated their villages, starting Wednesday. Sultan sa Barongis Mayor Ramdatu Mamalu Angas said more than 1,000 families remained at the municipal gym located at Barangay Baruraw while waiting for the waters to subside. Others, however, have no place to go when flood waters destroyed their houses. These residents, the mayor said, had come from barangays of Paldong, Barurao, Papakan, and Gadungan. Angas has already ordered the release of some P200 thousand from the LGU’s five percent calamity fund to be used as quick response to the disaster. He said the LGU has already bought hundreds of sacks of rice to be distributed to affected families starting Friday. The Sultan sa Barongis, formerly Lambayong, is a second class municipality in the province of Maguindanao with 22,457 people in 7,215 households. Angas said that barangays still flooded areAngkayamat, Barurao, Bulod, Darampua, Gadungan, Kulambog, Langgapanan, Masulot, Papakan, Tugal, Tukanakuden, and Paldong. The mayor stressed the raging waters that inundated their town had come from the Allah Valley, a large valley of the Allah River in the provinces of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat. Also hit by flash floods were towns of Rajah Buayan, and Datu Paglas, all located near the Liguasan marsh, the largest swamp and marsh in South Central Mindanao which lies at the confluence of the Pulangi, Maganoy, Buluan and Allah Rivers in North Cotabato, Maguindanao, and Sultan Kudarat.