Mothers in Maguindanao get UNFPA relief packages

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Hundreds of pregnant women and lactating mothers in towns in Maguindanao will receive relief packages from the United Nations Population Fund, officials said.

The beneficiaries of the 831 UNFPA “dignity kits” are evacuees from conflict-affected villages in Datu Saudi, Datu Salibo, Datu Piang, Shariff Aguak, Mamasapano and Shariff Saydona Mustapha towns in Maguindanao.

Members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and units of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division have figured in a series of deadly clashes in these towns since February.

UNFPA officials turned over on Friday the dignity kits containing hygiene supplies, sets of underwear and a malong, the traditional multipurpose wrap-around cloth, to the Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Response Team (HEART).

The symbolic event was done in the presence of representatives from the Health and Social Welfare ministries of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The HEART is operating under the office of the BARMM’s chief minister, Hadji Ahod Ebrahim, also known by his nom de guerre Murad Ebrahim, chairman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Different entities of the United Nations have been engaged for more than two decades now in relief and humanitarian missions in all five provinces of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The region is in the middle of a transition into the BARMM.

Ebrahim told reporters he is thankful to UNFPA for extending help to mothers displaced by the clashes in isolated barangays in Maguindanao.