Maguindanao folks worried of more floods with unending rains

MAGUINDANAO -- The murky floodwaters that swept through Sultan sa Barongis town last week have receded but displaced folks are reluctant to return due to continuing scattered rains feared to spawn rampaging floods again.Lynette Estandarte, chief of Maguindanao's provincial disaster response group, on Wednesday said residents of the 12 barangays that got inundated when rivers straddling through the municipality overflowed following three days of heavy rains last week are still in temporary relief sites established jointly by the military and local officials.Estandarte’s group distributed more than three tonsof food supplies and other relief provisions to more than 2,000 Moro families in Sultan sa Barongis that evacuated to high grounds when rampaging floods hit their barangays along big rivers that connect to Central Mindanao’s 220,000-hectare Liguasan Delta. Most of the affected villagers have no way but stop from observing the Ramadhan fasting season because of the floods,” Estandarte said.Physically-fit Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during the Ramadhan, which lasts for one lunar cyle, or about 28 days, as a religious obligation and atonement for wrongdoings. They focus on acts of piety and reconciliation during the period.The provincial government on Tuesday initially dispersed food packs containing rice, canned sardines and instant noodles to the Sultan sa Barongis evacuees, procured by the office of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.Workers of the provincial government also distributed to the flood victims two truckloads of non-food relief supplies, such as pails, sleeping mats and hygiene kits.Estandarte said the governor's office will also initiate this week relief operations in flooded barangays in seven other towns in the first and second districts of Maguindanao. Since rains continue to fall around Maguindanao, people are so worried the rivers traversing their villages will again overflow. Most of them are reluctant to return to their homes,” Estandarte said.