The Port Management Office of Misamis Oriental/Cagayan de Oro (PMO MOC), with the coordination and cooperation of the Philippine Coast Guard District Northern Mindanao (PCGNM) and the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Cagayan de Oro, extended assistance to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Region 6 for the transport of the relief goods from the Port of Cagayan de Oro to the victims of the 6.5 magnitude earthquake in Kidapawan City, Cotabato Province on 05 November 2019.

PCG Region VI aids the transport of the relief goods from Iloilo City to the Port of Cagayan de Oro using their own vessel. The vessel docked at CDO Port on 03 November 2019 to unload 3,502 family food packs and immediately left to load another batch of relief good boxes.  Each box contained six (6) kilos of uncooked rice, eight (8) canned goods, and sachets of coffee. Three (3) personnel of DSWD Region 6 accompanied the transport of the cargoes.

At CDO Port, the Dock Section facilitated the clearance of the cargoes, while personnel from the Port Police Division guided the entry and exit of the 10-wheeler trucks and wing vans that would carry all the relief good boxes. Trucks were from three (3) trucking services based in Cagayan de Oro and Davao City, two (2) trucks from the LGU of Cagayan de Oro, and the CDO Port’s contractors, Jejors Construction Corp. also deployed one (1) 10-wheeler truck.

Personnel from PCGNM tirelessly loaded and piled the relief good boxes into the trucks, with the assistance of the personnel of the Port’s cargo handling operator both manually and by using forklifts to hasten the operation.  All loaded trucks were immediately dispatched to the destination.

DSWD-6 opted to take the Iloilo-Cagayan de Oro route instead of Iloilo-Davao for the delivery of the relief goods to cut the traveling time by sea. The latter will take more or less than 40 hours, while the former will take only approximately 16 to 20 hours for the vessel to arrive at the port. — By IMR Lam