5 drown in Cotabato flashfloods

Five villagers drowned yesterday when a flashflood, spawned by heavy rains, struck the hinterland border of North Cotabato and Lanao del Sur, affecting five neighboring barangays in Alamada town.

One of the five fatalities was a farmer, identified as Bernardino Manlunas, who drowned while trying to save his farm animals.

Local officials said the flashflood in Alamada displaced more than a thousand families, who are now staying at evacuation sites in school campuses at the town proper.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol, chairman of the provincial disaster coordinating council, said relief workers from the provincial capitol are now attending to the evacuees.

More than 200 families have also been displaced in riverside villages in nearby Katuli District in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao. — John Unson