OVP deploys relief teams to Sarangani, General Santos after Mindanao quake, VP Duterte says

DAVAO CITY — Vice President Sara Duterte said the Office of the Vice President has sent food, medical and disaster-response assistance to earthquake-hit areas in Region 12, particularly Sarangani province and General Santos City.

Duterte, speaking to Paraluman News on June 12, said the first OVP unit sent to the area was its Kalusugan Truck, which delivered hot meals to first responders involved in search and rescue operations at collapsed buildings.

“Ang unang pumunta doon ay ’yung Kalusugan Truck ng Office of the Vice President,” Duterte said. “Nag-deliver sila ng mga hot meals para sa mga first responders o ’yung mga naghahanap ng survivors doon sa mga nag-collapse na buildings.”

She said the OVP Southern Mindanao Satellite Office later brought rice boxes for earthquake victims. Duterte said she also visited the area to condole with families of those who died and to see patients injured in the quake.

“Ang trabaho ko from the Office of the Vice President ay ang pakikiramay sa pamilya ng mga namatay dahil sa lindol at pagbisita sa mga pasyente na nasaktan o na-injure dahil sa lindol,” she said.

Duterte said the OVP Disaster Operations Center remained in the affected area and had opened a warehouse to sort rice boxes, food bags and donations coursed through the OVP.

She said these would be delivered to communities that had not yet been reached, including areas still isolated because of the earthquake.

The disaster response followed a powerful earthquake that struck southern Mindanao on June 8. The magnitude 7.8 offshore quake was centered about 32 kilometers southwest of Maasim, Sarangani, at a depth of 33 kilometers, damaging buildings in General Santos and triggering tsunami warnings.