COTABATO CITY (Monday, August 25, 2025) — Villagers in flood-stricken riverside areas in Datu Blah Sinsuat town in Maguindanao del Norte received food rations from their municipal government unit during a relief operation by local executives over the weekend.

The humanitarian mission by the local government unit of Datu Blah Sinsuat, more known as the DBS seaside town, was jointly led by Mayor Raida Tomawis-Sinsuat and Mohamad Sinsuat, Jr., who is chairman of Barangay Pura and is president of the Association of Barangay Captains in the municipality.

As a mayor, Tomawis-Sinsuat also functions as chairperson of the DBS Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

More than 200 families benefited from the relief operations of the DBS municipal government, which was supported by Maguindanao del Norte’s vice governor, Marshall Sinsuat, and the office of the congressional representative in the province, Dimple Mastura.

Irene Dillo, the municipal disaster risk reduction and management officer of DBS, and her subordinates helped facilitate the outreach activity at Barangay Pura, the municipal capital.

Tomawis-Sinsuat told reporters on Monday, August 25, that she is thankful to Maguindanao del Norte’s congressional representative for supporting their efforts to mitigate the adverse effects of the flashfloods that swept through villages under her jurisdiction via relief services for affected communities.

Tomawis-Sinsuat had also expressed gratitude to her constituent-barangay officials, the personnel of the Marine Battalion Landing Team-5 of the 1st Marine Brigade, which is securing DBS under the supervision of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, and the members of the DBS municipal police force for their joint emergency response operations as flashfloods swept through low-lying areas in the municipality last week.

“To all of them, we are thankful. Me and my constituents appreciate their efforts, done in the context of real public service,” Tomawis-Sinsuat said.

The DBS, covering 13 barangays that were originally under the municipality of Upi, was created just about a decade and a half ago by the now defunct Regional Assembly of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The town has rivers that spring from hinterlands and drain at the sea along its beachfront barangays. During rainy days, rampaging floodwaters flow downstream the waterways straddling through its barangays, causing inundation of riverside enclaves.

Virtually still fledgling if compared to much older towns in Maguindanao del Norte, some of which were established from the late 1940s to the 1970s, Datu Blah Sinsuat, the fishing capital of Maguindanao del Norte, is touted as the most peaceful municipality in the province.

Photo shows the mayor of DBS and Pura’s barangay chairman, Sinsuat, during their relief operations last week for flood victims in their municipality. (By a print journalist in Cotabato City, Bangsamoro Region)