Bangsamoro gov’t provides relief to quake victims in Soccsksargen

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June 27, 2026 | 5:01pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — More than a thousand Moro and non-Moro residents in two tremor-stricken areas received relief provisions this week from the Bangsamoro regional government, local executives announced on Saturday, June 27.

Radio reports on Saturday quoted local executives in General Santos City in Region 12 and in Balut Island in Sarangani town in Davao Occidental in Region 11 as saying that teams from the Ministry of Social Services and Development-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao delivered to them this week more than 10 tons of food supplies for their constituents affected by the 7.8 Magnitude earthquake last June 8.

Subordinates of BARMM’s chief minister, Abdulrauf Macacua, and the autonomous region's social services minister, Raissa Jajurie, together facilitated the relief missions in General Santos City and in Balut Island in Sarangani town, both badly devastated by the June 8 tremor that jolted the Soccsksargen area, parts of Region 11, or the Davao region, the Zamboanga peninsula in Region 9 and the Bangsamoro region.

The Soccsksargen area encompasses the neighboring provinces of South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani and General Santos City, where 23,229 families, or 95,502 individuals were displaced by the June 8 powerful tremor.

Radio reports had pointed out that the earthquake displaced hundreds of Muslim and Christian families in Davao Occidental’s Sarangani municipality, whose territory covers 17 barangays, some of which are in Balut Island.

Sarangani Mayor Adelan De Arce had told reporters that he is grateful to the BARMM government for having provided his constituents in Balut Island with relief supplies despite its distance from the autonomous region’s capitol in Cotabato City, which is more than 600 kilometers away.

Local executives in General Santos City were quoted in radio reports on Saturday as saying that a thousand families in different barangays under their jurisdiction benefited from the MSSD-BARMM’s humanitarian mission this week.

South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr., speaking as chairperson of the multi-sector Regional Peace and Order Council 12, said on Saturday that he and members of the  RPOC 12, among them local executives in the Soccsksargen area, appreciate the MSSD-BARMM's outreach activity in General Santos City.

“We in the Regional Peace and Order Council 12 are thankful to the Bangsamoro government for that,” Tamayo told reporters.

Local executives in General Santos City had separately said the MSSD-BARMM channeled through officials of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos in Region 12 the relief supplies earmarked for their constituents.

The Office of Civil Defense 12 had reported that, as of Saturday, a total of 60 individuals in the Soccsksargen area were confirmed to have died from injuries caused by the June 8 earthquake.

The OCD had also stated in its report released on Saturday that the cost of large buildings, houses and other infrastructures in Soccsksargen the earthquake destroyed is now P2.3 billion, based on compiled assessments by government engineers and local government units in the area.