Official: Death in Zamboanga evacuation sites now controlled

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - The local health office said death in the evacuation in Zamboanga City camps has been controlled following the gradual relocation of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to bunk houses, an official said. 

Dr. Roderlyn Agbulos, city health officer, said the last death toll was at 114 persons, mostly children and aged, since the relocation of the IDPs to the evacuation sites after the siege of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels under Nur Misuari.

“The number is below international threshold and is being properly addressed with the decongestion of evacuation centers in Cawa-Cawa Boulevard and JFEMSC (Joaquin F. Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex),” Agbulos said. 

He said hundreds of families of the IDPs who were camping at the Cawa-cawa Boulevard shoreline and sports complex have been moved to the bunk houses, at Sitio Masepla, Barangay Mampang. 

Meanwhile, the World Food Program (WFP) will resume its work-for-food program next week and end in July. It is expected to benefit 6,000 families of IDPs.

The WFP program will be providing 18,000 sacks of rice that will be distributed to 4,893 families from the transition sites and evacuation centers. About 1,107 families are home-based or vstaying with relatives.

Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar said the continued support of the WFP complemented the rehabilitation efforts of the city government to develop the barangays devastated by the siege.