ZAMBOANGA CITY, Zamboanga Sibugay—The International Organization for Migration, in partnership with the Canadian government, distributed last week at least 200 bancas to Muslim fisherfolk during the September 2013 siege perpetrated by the Moro National Liberation Front rebels, a city official said.
City Information officer Belen Sheila Covarrubias said the IOM and Canadian government also turned over three canoe docking sites for the fisherfolk who are mostly engaged in Agai-Agal (seaweed) farming
The fisherfolk, temporarily residing in the coastal village of Mampang, constructed themselves the new canoes which replaced their original sea craft destroyed during the two-week rebel invasion on this coastal city – with the IOM and Canadian partner providing the necessary financial assistance and materials which included special kind of hard plywood, nails and paints.
Covarrubias told media the distribution last week of the canoes to recipient families “is part of IOM’s livelihood project support to the internally displaced persons.
The canoe-building project was coordinated by the City Welfare and Development Office and the national Department of Social Welfare and Development, she said, adding that the fisher folk beneficiaries were selected according to the vulnerability index criteria set by the Social Welfare and Development Department.