LANAO SUR—Coping with multiple crises means Maranao Muslim officials and residents would have to squarely withstand realities of destruction from armed conflict and uncertainties caused by nature in a global pandemic.
But admirable is the Maranao trait of helping one another even if one is far from home. The National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) said Governor Mamintal Bombit Alonto Adiong Jr. has dispatched relief packages to thousands of Muslim communities in northern and eastern Mindanao, and even in the Visayas.
Governor Adiong said he was profoundly thankful for institutional aid sent to the province by the Bangsamoro Government under Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Al-Hadj Murad Ebrahim.
Nashiba Radia, a young mother of two left Marawi City in 2017 to escape the siege there to settle temporarily among Maranao market vendors in Lemery, Batangas. She said she and her husband were carrying their two young children Mohammad Reihan and Hafizah Radia, and whatever it was that they could pick, fold and pack of their household belongings, as they escaped the Marawi siege.
The young parents and their children, now five and four years old, would again experience being among thousands of internally displaced persons, as they had to move―for the second time―from Lemery town to Lipa City, after the eruption of Taal Volcano triggered a massive evacuation on Jan. 12. For the third time the Radias were displaced, fleeing the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic and yearning to be home.
“Help was extended by the Lanao del Sur-LGU even to those outside their jurisdiction including thousands of Muslim communities in the Caraga Region, Cagayan de Oro City, (parts of the) Visayas Region, and soon Iligan City,” Datu Ramos said.
Bangsamoro Member of Parliament (MP) Zia Alonto Adiong said Lanao del Sur and Marawi City would have to deal with multiple crises: “The on-going Recovery and reconstruction of the city brought by the siege, and the current national public health emergency brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are both trying to heal the wounds by the siege and trying to heal our people from the infection. Many of our LSIs are in fact internally displaced persons.”
As of latest tallies, Lanao del Sur Provincial Community Quarantine Facilities (PCQF) have received 8,001 locally stranded individuals (LSIs) and 222 returning overseas Filipino workers (ROFs), or an average-range of 150 to 250 persons daily, MP Adiong said.
Six persons have died and nine more tested positive from the province’s previous list of 170, including seven admitted at the Amai Pakpak Medical Center and one in Gingoog.
A total of 151 COVID patients have recovered or have been discharged from hospitals (9), provincial COVID quarantine facilities (50), municipal community quarantine facilities (84) and from the Lanao del Sur Provincial Incident Command Center (8).
Sixteen have been on home quarantine in the municipalities of Maguing (2), Marantao (2) and inside local quarantine facilities (12). Nash B. Maulana