The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper
23,000 people benefit from humanitarian mission in Mindanao
GINGOOG CITY – Some 23,000 people have benefited from a recent two- day humanitarian mission by various government agencies in the southern Philippine province of Misamis Oriental where communist rebels are actively operating, officials said.
Government troops also joined the mission in Gingoog City dubbed as “National Serbisyo Caravan” participated by different military units under the Eastern Mindanao Command.
Captain Alberto Caber, a regional army spokesman, said the recent humanitarian mission was a convergence of concerned national agencies for the delivery of basic services. “The event also became the venue for consultation and dialogue between the community and government agencies,” he told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
The project was spear- headed by the Office of the Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process under Teresita Deles and U n d e r s e c r e t a r y Emmanuel Bautista, and the Cabinet Cluster on Security, Justice.
Late last year, the communist New People’s Army rebels freed a government soldier - Pfc. Adonis Jess Losiba - they captured in Gingoog City after 4 months in captivity. Adonis, a member of the 58th Infantry Battalion, was re- leased following appeals from his family.
In 2013, rebels also ambushed and wounded Mayor Ruthie Guingona and killed two of her supporters. The political matriarch was heading home from a beauty pageant when gunmen ambushed her convoy. Guingona is the wife of former Vice President Teofisto Guingona and mother of Senator Teofisto Guingona III.