RESERVISTS TO THE RESCUE. Army reservists assist in the preparation of relief goods for residents of Kapatagan in Lanao del Sur on Thursday (April 23, 2020). Some 235 reservists have been enlisted to help in the local government's relief effort and implementation of the quarantine measures to contain the 2019 coronavirus disease. (PNA photo by Divina M. Suson)
KAPATAGAN, Lanao del Sur--The local government unit (LGU) here has enlisted the help of 235 reservists of the Army's 1006th Community Defense Center (CDC) and 10th Regional Community Defense Group (RCDG) as a support group in its relief distribution.
Kapatagan Mayor Raidah Maglangit said on Friday the reservists have also been tapped to implement the enhanced community quarantine to contain the 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Maglangit said the town's Army reservists, including herself, have been the LGU’s partners in Covid-19 response since the start of the crisis.
“When we trained reservists in 2018, we did not think that there would be crisis like this. It just happened that we thought of preparing for calamities so that it would not be difficult for us to do the response and relief operations,” said Maglangit, currently the designated commander of Charlie Company of 1006th Ready Reserve Infantry Battalion.
“The reservists are big help especially in filling up the few numbers of policemen. The Marines also have bigger areas to serve so we cannot really depend on them when it comes to relief operations,” she added.
According to the mayor, she had no difficulty in enlisting the help of her fellow reservists as most of them are LGU employees whom she convinced to train in 2018.
“I encouraged them to join so that we will be all together in our response and relief operations,” Maglangit said.
The municipality finished its first round of food relief distribution on Thursday, covering all the town's 15 barangays with 5,380 households.
Reservists helped distribute the food packs consisting five kilos of rice, five sardines, sugar and coffee.
The second round of distribution of food packs is scheduled next week.
As of Thursday, Kapatagan has no Covid-19 case although it is monitoring four persons after they traveled in areas with confirmed cases of the disease. (PNA)
