COTABATO CITY (February 11) – The Ministry of Health in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MOH-BARMM) and three Bangsamoro regional lawmakers donated 12 lifesaving vehicles and a cadaver transport vehicle to hospitals and health stations in the region.
Through their Transitional Development Impact Fund 2025 Supplemental Fund, Bangsamoro Parliament Members Suharto Ambolodto, Mohammad Kelie U. Antao, Suwaib Oranon, Alindatu K. Pagayao and Susana Anayatin funded the procurement of 13 vehicles for the health stations.
It included eight monitoring vehicles, three land-based medical ambulances, one patient transport vehicle and one cadaver transport vehicle, amounting to some PHP25 million.
“This initiative aims to transport patients fast and safely and to respond in times of calamity,” the MOH-BARMM said in a statement on Tuesday.
Recipients of the lifesaving vehicles are the Cotabato Sanitarium Hospital, Rural Health Unit (RHU) of Malidegao in the BARMM Special Geographic Area (SGA), Bangsamoro Outside Communities RHU Libungan, RHU Kadayangan SGA, RHU Nabalawag SGA and the Barangay Health Station (BHS) Libungan Toreta Pahamuddin SGA.
Additional beneficiaries of the vehicles include BHS Mudseng Kadayangan SGA, RHU Kapalawan SGA, RHU Tugunan SGA, Iranon District Hospital, BHS Limbayang Parang Maguindanao Del Norte, Eros Medical Clinic and Hospital, and the Office for Settler Communities.
The turnover program was held on Monday at the BARMM administrative center in this city.
More aid sent to Tawi-Tawi fire victims
Meanwhile, the region’s Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD-BARMM) sent more food and non-food items to fire victims in Tawi-Tawi.
Aboard a Philippine Air Force C-130 aircraft, various relief goods for the Lamion fire victims from Cotabato City arrived at Sanga-Sanga Airport in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi on Monday afternoon.
MSSD-BARMM Minister Raissa Jajurie said with the assistance of men in uniform, the team successfully unloaded relief supplies that included 150 boxes of family food packs, 150 sacks of 25-kilogram rice, and 600 boxes of sleeping kits.
Also delivered were various school supplies, including learning kit materials from the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education, and 250 boxes of hygiene kits from the Office of Civil Defense.
Additional relief items are expected to arrive in the coming days to assist over 1,000 families.
“We are united, the military, the BARMM government, and the local government unit of Bongao, to cushion the impact of the disaster on more than 1,000 families who lost their homes and properties,” Jajurie said in a statement Tuesday.
