DAVAO CITY—The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) urged all families displaced by the fighting in Marawi City to register using the Disaster Assistance and Family Access Card (Dafac), that is issued by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
“The evacuees should be registered to have access to services and resources we are providing,” ARMM Executive Secretary Laisa Alamia said.
The ARMM Crisis Management Committee has recorded 40,753 displaced families, or 193,952 individuals, since the fighting broke out on May 23.
The regional government is using the Dafac system “to ensure equal and timely distribution of relief packs for the evacuees”, Alamia added.
The system was applied by the DSWD-ARMM to validate the status of families affected by the crisis, and to serve as a reference in the provision of appropriate interventions.
But the influx of more families, especially in the houses of relatives, has rendered the delivery of services in recent difficult days, Alamia said. Only 970 families, or 4,691 individuals, could be properly accounted for in designated evacuation centers, while 39,783 families, or 189,261 individuals, were home-based.
Alamia added the Dafac would also be used in future rehabilitation and recovery programs for Marawi City. She said some evacuees went to Northern Mindanao (Region 10), Socsksargen (Region 12) and Davao (Region 11); while some have gone to as far as the Visayas and Luzon.
“They could go to their municipal or city social-welfare officer to register using [the] Dafac so that the city government of Marawi would be able to monitor its residents, especially when rehabilitation starts,” Alamia added. The ARMM already spent P35 million in assistance to victims of the Marawi crisis.
ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman said the regional government could still respond to the needs of the evacuees in the succedding days saying the government has allocated P77 million for the victims of the crisis.
ARMM has so far delivered relief packs to 197,232 evacuees and provided medical services to 5,284 individuals. An operation center has also been set up in Malabang town in Lanao del Sur, and in Iligan City in Lanao del Norte to coordinate and manage the regional government’s response to the ongoing crisis in Marawi City.
The ARMM crisis-management committee has been active since May 24 to gather information, as well as assess and monitor the situation to help keep track the needs of the affected families.
Meanwhile, Hataman added the observance of the Eid’l Fitr, to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadhan, “comes under very different circumstances”.
“A day that we celebrate with the Muslim ummah [community] is now a day we have to welcome in the midst of terror and suffering caused by those who betray our faith,” he said.
Hataman has appealed to the Bangsamoro [literally Moro nation], “to remain committed to overcoming the flaws of our humanity for the rest of our lives. It is our commitment to Islam that will ultimately define the lives of the people around us, and we must strive to remain steadfast if we are to live in peace and justice together”.
“Our faith assures us that with hardship, there is relief. Let us not waver in our faith and, instead, let remind ourselves of the reasons [us] we choose to be Muslims and how we can continue living our lives in honor of Allah,” he added.