Lanao del Sur – More than 18,000 families in Lanao del Sur were given rice assistance in a series of relief operations for COVID-19 conducted by the Lanao Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Parliament members.

On June 29 to July 3, members of Parliament Marjanie Macasalong, Basit Abbas, Sultan Edrieza Nasser Rimbang and Deputy Chief Minister Ali Solaiman has reached out to 18,060 families in the municipalities of Poona Bayabao, Lumbayanague, Maguing, Saguiaran and Binidayan in Lanao del Sur.

MP Macasalong said they distributed one sack of rice, 25 kilograms per sacks, for each family.

“We made sure that our volunteers personally delivered the sacks of rice in all the barangays. We will continue to do the same in all the remaining municipalities yet to be served in the coming days,” he said.

He said the series of relief operations is one of the efforts initiated by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to reduce the impact of the coronavirus disease pandemic to the Bangsamoro people.

“The distribution of the rice packs was done in order to help our fellow Bangsamoro in battling the COVID-19,” he said.

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Meanwhile, according to MP Abbas, “the rice given by BARMM is just a speck and a small portion of what we, the Bangsamoro, will receive as a whole. The real fruit of BARMM will be seen in five, 10 or 20 years. It will be our children and grandchildren who will fully benefit out of this.”

In addition, Macasalong expressed his gratitude to all the people who helped in the distribution, “our COVID-19 efforts would not be possible without the help of many volunteers coming from Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP), Local Government Units (LGU) Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), generous donors, our staff and our families and friends. Thank you very much.”