Cabinet secretaries pledge aid, visit Davao Occidental town hit by succession of natural calamities
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/21 July 2026)—Jose Abad Santos town mayor Jason John Joyce said they are in the process of mapping the extent of the damage caused by a succession of natural calamities that hit the municipality in the past month, pegged initially at 39 schools and 445 classrooms.
Joyce, in an interview over Messenger, made the statement following Monday’s visit of cabinet secretaries Vince Dizon of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Sonny Angara of the Department of Education (DepEd), Rex Gatchalian of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and Cabinet secretary Benhur Abalos.
Since June 8 this year, various areas in JAS have been hit by landslides and flash floods, including the bridge at Tanuman Big, various roads in Sugal, Kalbay, Cayaponga, and the seaside road section passing along the Trinidad Wall.
Joyce said that the Trinidad Wall, a portion of the unfinished Cayaponga–Malalan–Sarangani coastal road frequently endangered by heavy rainfall, will be featured in the LGU’s formal report and recommendations to the DPWH.
The cabinet secretaries also visited the ground zero in Kibatang, evacuation centers in Sitio Kalanasan, as well as those in Barangay Nuing and Barangay Butulan.
In Sitio Kalanasan, Barangay Sugal, displaced families received food assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
A total of 437 individuals, representing 164 families, benefited from the assistance, the Davao Occidental LGU said.
The delegation also visited Sitio Kaimito, Sitio Mauswagon and Sitio Malipayon in Barangay Butulan.
Meanwhile, a JAS barangay official said residents are worried about the accumulation of rain water uphill from Sitio Kibatang, Barangay Sugal, already hit twice by flash floods this month.
Speaking to MindaNews over a Messenger call, Barangay Captain Gerardo Castro IV said assorted debris had formed a dam about 2 kilometers uphill from the barangay’s culvert, near Maylayug in Batulao—an upland area along the boundary between Barangay Sugal and neighboring Barangay Patulang.
Castro said that troopers from the 73rd Infantry Battalion assisted in deploying a drone over the area to confirm the collection of rain water uphill.
The barangay official said that he has already informed the Jose Abad Santos local government.
Castro added that they were still looking for a missing person with disability who was swept away by a raging river the evening of 14 July.
The victim, a person with disability, was at home in Sugal when a flash flood, the second since 10 July, wiped out his home. (Yas D. Ocampo/MindaNews)
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