Marcos turns over 2 ambulances to quake-hit South Cotabato

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June 16, 2026 | 5:59pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Medical services for tremor-stricken villagers in South Cotabato province got a boost with the turnover by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of two ambulances to their provincial government while he was in General Santos City on Monday, June 15.

The release by President Marcos of patient transport vehicles from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office to local government units while he was in General Santos City on Monday was part of his public service engagements then, complementing the disaster impact mitigation operations of LGUs and various agencies in the tremor-stricken Soccsksargen area.

The Soccsksargen area encompasses Region 12’s South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces and General Santos City.

While in Sarangani province on Monday, President Marcos visited an evacuation center in Glan, inspected a damaged bridge in Malapatan and proceeded to the provincial hospital in Alabel to meet patients who sustained injuries caused by the earthquake.

Regional officials of the Philippine Information Agency 12 and the Office of Civil Defense 12 reported on Monday that the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck General Santos City and the provinces of South Cotabato and Sarangani last June 8 affected 73,436 families, or 331,305 individuals.

Many of them were forced to relocate to evacuation sites and makeshift shelters after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that jolted the Soccsksargen area flattened their houses, made only of semi-permanent materials.

“We are thankful to President Marcos for providing us with two ambulances from the PCSO that we can use for our medical missions for thousands of residents in different towns in South Cotabato affected by the earthquake last June 8,” South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo, Jr. told reporters on Tuesday.

Nurse Rolly Aquino, chief of South Cotabato’s Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, told reporters on Tuesday that the tremor last June 8, whose epicenter was at the seaside Maasim town in Sarangani, destroyed P632 million worth of infrastructure, including houses and other structures, in different towns in their province and in its capital, Koronadal City.

Aquino said their provincial government and local executives in South Cotabato are cooperating in extending medical services to 415 residents who sustained tremor-related injuries.

Radio reports on Tuesday stated that personnel of the 105th Infantry Battalion and the Emergency Response Company of the 6th Infantry Division and the Army’s 12 Forward Service Support Unit, also based in Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, where 6th ID’s headquarters is located, cooperated in setting up a water purification facility for evacuees in Sitio Linao in Barangay Tinoto in Maasim, Sarangani.

Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara, commander of 6th ID, said their units and personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection 12 and the Police Regional Office 12 are cooperating in relief missions in remote barangays in Sarangani and South Cotabato that were devastated by the June 8 earthquake, also felt in parts of the Zamboanga peninsula and in Region 11 and in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Tamayo, chairperson of the multi-sector Regional Peace and Order Council 12, said members of their group had reported that soldiers from the 6th ID and the Army’s 10th Infantry Division had facilitated the transport of relief goods to different evacuation sites in the Soccsksargen area that the PCSO shipped to the General Santos City airport.

Soldiers from units of 6th ID are also helping local government units distribute relief supplies to villagers in far-flung areas made inaccessible to vehicles by the landslides caused by the earthquake.

Photo: President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. personally turned over to South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo, Jr. the keys of two ambulances from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office during his visit to General Santos City on Monday, June 15, 2026