Aeta Communities Cut Off by Swollen Rivers Receive Airdropped Food Aid

SAN ANTONIO, Zambales — For more than seven hours on Sunday (Sept. 6), rescuers and local officials worked to deliver food to 11 Aeta communities cut off from the rest of Botolan town as swollen rivers and impassable roads prevented regular access to their remote villages. The prolonged relief operation involved the Philippine Air Force airlifting food supplies to nine communities, while provisions for two others were hauled using carabao-drawn carts, according to Rolex Estella, head of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office. The operation was carried out as continuous rains caused strong currents in the Bucao River and two tributaries draining from Mount Pinatubo, isolating the communities in the eastern part of Botolan, locally known as Baytan. The danger posed by the swollen waterways was underscored earlier in the week when a carabao-drawn cart carrying a father and his 5-year-old daughter was swept away by a strong current while they were traveling home to Barangay Palis. Both were later found dead, highlighting the risks faced by residents who rely on river crossings to travel between the remote communities and the town proper. Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. on Friday (Sept. 4) ordered the PDRRMO and municipal disaster management officials to closely watch lahar channels in the province after a forecast of more heavy rainfall from the southwest monsoon. Estella said they established separate landing sites in the villages of Villar, Poonbato, and Cabatuan, so that residents from neighboring barangays could also receive the airlifted supplies. A total of 4,564 family food packs were distributed to 2,519 affected families from Villar, Moraza, Belbel, Burgos, Nacolcol, Palis, Maguisguis, Cabatuan, Owaog Nebloc, Malomboy and Poonbato, located about 25 to 30 kilometers from the Botolan town proper. According to Ebdane the relief operation conducted jointly by the provincial government and the Botolan local government unit (LGU) was in response to the immediate needs of Aeta communities that mostly relied on farming for livelihood, but couldn’t bring products to lowland markets due to inclement weather. Zambales was placed under a state of calamity on Aug. 19 after the combined effects of the southwest monsoon and tropical cyclones caused more than P591.98 million in damage to agriculture and infrastructure in the province. /jpv