Spread of hyacinths on rivers alarms Maguindanao government

MAGUINDANAO --- Officials are bracing for frequent flooding in Maguindanao due to the massive growth of water hyacinths now blocking the flow to seaside areas of rivers that spring from the Liguasan Delta.Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu on Thursday told members of the provincial peace and order council his office, as one viable solution, is planning to procure machinery for grinding aquatic plants that can be composted for organic fertilizers.He said besides the project’s being remedial, the collection of water hyacinths can also provide employment to people in riverside villages.So thick are water hyacinths now afloat on downstream routes of floodwaters from the 220,000-hectare Liguasan Delta that drains at the southwestern seacoast of Maguindanao.Using a loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines, the provincial government procured last year dredging machines from China to excavate silt from rivers straddling through oft-flooded towns in Maguindanao.The PPOC meeting on Thursday at the provincial capitol in Buluan town was attended by Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, regional police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and Brig. Gen. Arnel dela Vega, commander of the Army’s 6thInfantry Division.The ARMM police and the 6thID are both actively supporting the operations of the provincial government’s rapid deployment emergency and disaster action team.The team saw action last month when floodwaters swept through dozens of villages in the towns of Montawal and Pagalungan, displacing more than 20,000 ethnic Maguindanaon villagers.Both towns are so near the Liguasan Delta, a catch basin for about a dozen rivers that spring from hinterlands in Bukidnon, North Cotabato, South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces.The provincial emergency team last operated on February 1, where it extended relief services to some 20 flood-stricken families in Barangay Tuayan in Datu Hofer town.The houses, crops and farm animals of the victims were swept away by rampaging floodwaters spawned by heavy rains.Mangudadatu, now in his third and last term as governor, said he is keen on expanding the provincial government’s emergency response contingent owing to the frequency now of floods and droughts as a result of climate change.