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CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 01 May) – The Philippine Army dropped leaflets on coronavirus disease and facemasks in remote villages of the Agusan and Surigao provinces this week.
Major Francisco Garello, civil-military operations officer of the 402nd Infantry Brigade said they used a Philippine Air Force Huey helicopter and two MG-520 gunships to drop 10,000 leaflets and 200 facemasks on Wednesday and Thursday.
“This was part of our COVID-19 information awareness campaign to remote communities unreachable by vehicles,” Garello said.
He said the airdrop concentrated on the remote villages of the towns of Kitcharao, Jabonga and Tubay in Agusan del Norte, and the towns of Alegria and Gigaquit in Surigao del Norte.
He said they reached out to residents of these remote villages to urge them to observe the guidelines of the Department of Health on the virus.
Garello said they earlier used Army vehicles with loud speakers and distributed the materials in the urban areas of Butuan and Cabadbaran cities, and towns of Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur.
He said they decided to use helicopters to reach out to these remote communities whose residents might not be aware of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said they are planning another sortie next week. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)