A scene in Loreto, a town in Agusan del Sur that covers parts of the Agusan Marsh. MindaNews file photo
SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur (MindaNews / 17 April) – A Manobo community in Loreto town received this week relief assistance from the municipal government in line with the enforcement of the enhanced community quarantine.
Local government workers and a platoon of Army soldiers had to walk at least a kilometer across two knee-deep rivers and a hill to reach Sitio Pan-ajatan, Barangay Kasapa 1.
They carried with them relief packs for the sitio’s 327 Manobo families. Each family received 25 kilos of rice, dried fish, noodles, sugar, coffee, powdered milk and sardines equivalent to a two-week consumption.
April Khrysstil Guzman, municipal information officer, said her fellow Manobos were overwhelmed to receive canned goods and other processed products during their first batch of relief missions in other villages earlier this month.
“For us especially the old folks, having canned sardines meal is more delicious than a native chicken,” Guzman said.
A Manobo family member receives relief goods from an Army soldier. Photo courtesy of Loreto Municipal Information Office
Most of the Manobos in Loreto are nomadic and are into traditional farming growing root crops, bananas and fruit trees.
The municipal government has distributed a total of 14,719 food packs to the 25 barangays of Loreto.
Mayor Lorife Magadan Otaza also distributed Covid-19 immune booster vitamins to the senior citizens, persons with disability, patients at the Loreto District Hospital, tricycle drivers, local government workers and frontliners.
Loreto and the rest of the province have remained COVID-19-free.
Guzman noted there were two suspected cases who came from abroad last month but completed the 14-day home quarantine without any signs or symptoms.
Agusan del Sur has recorded 826 suspected cases including 28 college students from Davao region. They were already cleared by the local health authorities. (Chris V. Panganiban/MindaNews)
