Attachments
KEY POINTS
In February 2020, UNHCR and its project partner, Community and Family Services International (CFSI) provided blankets, hygiene kits, mosquito nets, plastic sheets and sleeping mats to 239 families at Pacheco Camp in Makilala, North Cotabato. These families remain displaced due to a 6.6 magnitude earthquake that hit Mindanao in October 2019. Displaced families could not return to their homes due to the fact that their districts have been declared a ‘no build zone’ by the local government.
Plastic sheets were also provided to a Temporary Learning Center in Rorogagus Transitory Site in Marawi City to serve as roofing for the school children who are attending classes.
In March 2020, CRIs were distributed by UNHCR and its Project Partner, Magungaya Mindanao Incorporated (MMI) to 227 IDP families in Ampatuan, Maguindanao and 250 IDP families in Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao. These families fled to safety when the Armed Forced of the Philippines (AFP) launched a mortar shelling and aerial bombings in an operation against an alleged local ISIS-inspired militant group.
Plastic sheets were also provided by UNHCR through its government partner Bangsamoro Rapid Emergency Action on Disaster Incidence (BARMMREADi) to 217 individuals in Maluso, Basilan who came from Sabah, Malaysia through a wooden vessel. These individuals were considered Persons Under Monitoring (PUM) for COVID-19 who will undergo quarantine and isolation in an island in Basilan before they could return to their residences.
Plastic sheets were likewise received by the City Government of Cotabato to be utilized at the holding stations occupied by frontliners of the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center and Cotabato City Hall. Hygiene kits were distributed as well to Persons Under Investigation (PUI) for corona virus disease and to frontline healthcare workers in the city.
GAPS AND CHALLENGES
As the World Health Organization declared the corona virus disease or COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020, a work from home arrangement was implemented in government offices, NGOs, and INGOs except for key emergency frontline services. All mass transport system was suspended including domestic and international travels and most Local Government Units all throughout the Philippines have enforced Community Quarantine measures in order to contain the spread of the deadly virus.
Despite the enforcement of the Enhanced Community Quarantine by the LGU of Cotabato City, UNHCR’s Project Partner CFSI has been granted passage in transporting the CRIs from the warehouse to the City Hall, but still, the restricted movement of the staff posed the biggest challenge faced by the Project Partner.
During the early phase of the Community Quarantine when restricted movement was strictly enforced, UNHCR’s partner BARMM-READi tapped the 6ID of the AFP in order to transport the CRIs to Basilan without impediments.
TOTAL BENEFICIARIES REACHED
3,847