Mission at a Glance

Mission period	9–13 August 2026
Primary areas reached	Brgy. Batuganding, Balut Island Brgy.Camahual, Sarangani Island
Families receiving direct cash assistance	46 families: 20 in Batuganding and 26 in Camahual
Relief mobilized	1,250 kg rice; 80 boxes bottled water; 1 roll tarpaulin; ~₱71,000 in medicines

In the aftermath of the reported 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck the island municipality of Sarangani, communities on Balut and the surrounding islands found themselves confronting damaged homes and structures, disrupted transportation, uncertainty over essential supplies, and the continuing anxiety caused by repeated aftershocks. Even days after the major earthquake, the ground had not fully settled. From August 11 to 13, while the humanitarian team was already in the affected area, tremors continued to be felt throughout the municipality.

It was within this difficult and uncertain situation that the Claretian Missionaries’ Oplan Ginhawa, together with Marist Tulong and its partners, organized a humanitarian response. What began as a relatively focused plan to provide emergency cash assistance soon developed into a broader collaborative mission involving food, potable water, shelter material, medicines, transportation assistance, pastoral presence, and direct accompaniment of families affected by the earthquake. More than a delivery of material assistance, the mission became an expression of solidarity—one that required constant adaptation as transportation problems, changing sea conditions, logistical restrictions, and continuing seismic activity repeatedly challenged the original plans.

August 9, 2026 | A Call to Solidarity and the Beginning of the Response

On Sunday, August 9, Fr. Arvin reached out to the Claretian community closest to the affected islands with a message of gratitude and invitation.

“Blessed Sunday, brothers, I would like to thank the community for accommodating this humanitarian aid to our brethren in need and surviving the effects of the earthquake. I’ll be giving updates soon!”

The original intention of Oplan Ginhawa was straightforward: to provide cash assistance directly to survivors and families affected by the earthquake in the island municipality of Sarangani.

The response, however, soon expanded. Ate Weng of Marist Tulong asked whether Oplan Ginhawa could also help transport humanitarian supplies they had prepared for the affected communities. These included sacks of rice, bottled drinking water, and tarpaulin for families needing emergency food, water, and temporary shelter assistance. The proposal was immediately welcomed. Instead of mounting separate humanitarian efforts, the groups chose to work together, pooling resources and logistical capacities so that more assistance could reach the islands.

At about the same time, contacts on Balut Island communicated another urgent need: medicines. Fr. Melchor “Bong” Cagape, SVD, the parish priest serving the area, relayed the medical needs of the affected communities. Fr. Arvin consequently reached out to friends and humanitarian partners in Davao for assistance.

Among those who responded was Ms. Donna Bigcas of Healers Going Forth, who facilitated the donation of medicines valued at approximately ₱30,000. Additional medicines valued at around ₱8,000 were contributed by anonymous donors. To supplement these donations, approximately ₱33,000 worth of medicines were purchased through CMF resources, with the assistance of contacts associated with the Marist Brothers who could provide the needed medicines at more affordable prices.

An early working estimate placed the medicine requirement at more than ₱60,000. By the time the medical supplies had been assembled, however, the combined estimated value of donated and purchased medicines had reached approximately ₱71,000.

Fr. Arvin also personally invited members of the Indigenous Peoples Mission–Sarangani (IPMS) community to become involved. Their participation was especially significant because they were the nearest Claretian community to Balut and Sarangani Islands. The invitation reflected the conviction that the humanitarian response should not simply come from outside but should also involve neighboring missionary communities in a common expression of faith, solidarity, and service. Among those involved in the preparation were Ms. Melanie, RN, whose medical background helped in addressing health-related concerns, and Br. Thomas, CMF, a pastoral brother from IPMS. Insights from a previous medical mission conducted on Balut Island also helped the team understand local conditions and prepare more realistically for the mission ahead.

The First Major Challenge: How to Reach the Islands

The team originally developed what they called Plan A. The volunteers and humanitarian cargo were supposed to travel together aboard a Roll-on/Roll-off or RORO vessel from General Santos City to Balut Island. This would have provided the most convenient means of moving both people and substantial quantities of relief goods.

Shortly before departure, however, word reached the team that the RORO vessel had cancelled its trips because it had to undergo repairs. Plan A immediately became impossible.

The team therefore explored Plan B. Available wooden pump boats from General Santos could carry the humanitarian cargo, but passenger restrictions meant that the volunteers could not travel with the goods. A completely different route therefore had to be arranged for the humanitarian team.

The goods would travel separately from General Santos City toward Balut Island, while the volunteers would travel overland from Sarangani Province to Balangonan Port in Jose Abad Santos, Davao Occidental, from where they would attempt to secure passenger passage to Balut Island. The change required coordination between different transport providers, separate movement of cargo and volunteers, extremely early departure times, and the uncertainty of whether suitable passenger boats would even be available upon arrival at the port. There was also concern that any further delays could affect other commitments. Nevertheless, the mission proceeded. The difficulties were accepted as part of the reality of humanitarian response, particularly in geographically isolated areas affected by natural and environmental disasters.

August 10, 2026 | Moving the Humanitarian Cargo

On August 10, attention centered on getting the relief supplies out of General Santos City. Ate Weng and Kuya Meloi took responsibility for transporting the humanitarian cargo from their office to the General Santos Port.

By this stage, the supplies assembled for the mission included:

• 50 bags of rice, each weighing approximately 25 kilograms, or about 1,250 kilograms of rice altogether;
• 80 boxes of assorted sizes of bottled drinking water;
• one roll of tarpaulin for emergency shelter needs;
• approximately ₱33,000 worth of medicines purchased through CMF;
• approximately ₱30,000 worth of donated medicines from Healers Going Forth; and
• approximately ₱8,000 worth of medicines from anonymous donors.

The relief goods were successfully loaded aboard the MV Linda, which would carry the cargo toward Balut Island. The humanitarian team, however, would have to take an entirely different route.

Transportation support came from Board Member Irish Louie Arnado, who made a vehicle available to help bring the volunteers from Alabel to Balangonan Port. The plan was demanding: the team would have to leave Alabel at approximately 3:00 in the morning on Tuesday, August 11, in the hope of reaching Balangonan in time for an anticipated 5:00 a.m. departure for Balut Island.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian cargo would continue its own journey by sea. The mission was therefore now moving along two separate lifelines—the people through Balangonan and the relief supplies through General Santos—with the hope that both would eventually converge on Balut Island.

August 11, 2026 | Journey to Balut and the First Cash Assistance at Ground Zero

Before dawn on August 11, the humanitarian team departed Alabel using the transportation arranged through BM Irish Louie Arnado. Even after arriving at Balangonan Port, however, the logistical challenges were far from over. The team encountered an unexpected scarcity of passenger pump boats traveling toward Balut Island. For a time, passage itself became uncertain. Yet after considerable effort, arrangements were eventually secured, allowing the team to cross the sea and reach Balut.

Their humanitarian work began almost immediately. The first destination was Barangay Batuganding, particularly GKK Sto. Niño, which had been identified as one of the areas most severely affected by the earthquake and was referred to during the mission as Ground Zero. At approximately 2:00 p.m., after initial conversations with the affected families and local contacts, the first round of Oplan Ginhawa cash assistance was formally turned over to 20 families whose households had been totally damaged by the earthquake.

The cash assistance was intentionally distributed at the parish rather than at the individual damaged sites. This arrangement allowed the process to remain orderly, secure, and dignified while preventing unnecessary confusion in an already difficult environment.

At approximately 4:00 p.m., after the distribution had been completed, members of the team traveled by motorcycle into the mountainous sections of Barangay Batuganding. There they personally visited the affected sites. What had previously been communicated through reports, messages, and photographs was now encountered directly: damaged dwellings, disrupted family life, communities trying to recover while the earth continued occasionally to tremble beneath them.

The visit allowed the team not merely to verify physical destruction but also to listen to the stories and experiences of survivors. It was this combination of conversation, presence, assessment, and material assistance that characterized the Oplan Ginhawa response. Cash was provided because families needed the flexibility to respond to their most immediate circumstances, but accompaniment was considered equally important.

Meanwhile, the team continued waiting for the relief cargo coming from General Santos. Updates indicated that the goods could arrive either that evening or the following morning. The humanitarian workers ended their first day on Balut knowing that another difficult journey awaited them: an outreach to the island barangay of Camahual.

August 12, 2026 | Across the Sea to Camahual

The following morning, August 12, the humanitarian mission moved farther outward. Together with Fr. Melchor “Bong” Cagape, SVD, parish personnel, and Oplan Ginhawa volunteers, the team boarded a boat for Camahual, an island barangay that could only be reached after an almost two-hour sea journey from Balut Island.

The journey itself provided a striking moment in the unfolding mission. While crossing the sea toward Camahual, the volunteers passed the MV Linda heading in the opposite direction toward Balut Island. The same vessel carried the humanitarian cargo that had been loaded in General Santos two days earlier—the rice, drinking water, tarpaulin, medicines, and other relief supplies painstakingly assembled through the collaboration of the Claretians, Marist partners, donors, volunteers, and friends. For the team traveling toward Camahual, seeing the vessel in the middle of the sea was a visible sign that despite all the logistical setbacks, the different parts of the mission were finally coming together.

Encounter with the Community of Camahual

Upon reaching Camahual, the volunteers proceeded to the local chapel. Even the chapel bore signs of the earthquake’s effects. Community volunteers were already working to repair the damaged structure, revealing both the extent of the disruption and the determination of the residents to restore an important center of community and spiritual life.

Waiting there were the families identified for assistance. Earlier planning had anticipated approximately 20 beneficiaries for the Sarangani Island outreach. After actual coordination and validation on the ground, however, 26 affected families were included in the final distribution: 11 Catholic families and 15 non-Catholic families.

The composition of the beneficiaries underscored an important character of the humanitarian mission: assistance was extended according to need rather than religious affiliation.

Before the assistance was distributed, the team spent time in substantial conversations with the residents. These were not treated merely as administrative interviews or verification exercises. The encounters allowed survivors to speak about what they had experienced, what had been damaged, what they feared, and what they needed as they tried to recover.

Following these conversations, cash assistance was directly distributed to all 26 families. Thus, through the first two major areas reached by the mission—Batuganding and Camahual—46 earthquake-affected families received direct cash assistance.

The Relief Goods Finally Arrive

After returning from Camahual, attention shifted once more to the supplies that had traveled separately from General Santos. By approximately 2:00 p.m. on August 12, volunteers gathered to unload, sort, repack, and organize the relief items in preparation for distribution. The arrival of the goods marked the completion of a logistical chain that had begun several days earlier and had nearly been disrupted when the original RORO transportation plan collapsed. What finally reached Balut represented the contributions of many different hands: donors represented through the sacks of rice; supporters who provided water; partners who contributed tarpaulin; medical donors in Davao; anonymous benefactors; the Claretians who purchased additional medicines; Marist partners who arranged supplies and transportation; the people who loaded the cargo; those who transported it to the port; and the vessel that finally carried it across the sea.

Once repacking and organization were completed, Fr. Arvin formally turned over the relief goods to Fr. Melchor “Bong” Cagape, SVD, whose parish would help ensure their orderly distribution among affected families. The turnover demonstrated the importance of working through those already rooted in the affected community. Rather than imposing an outside system, Oplan Ginhawa worked alongside the local parish and its network of personnel and volunteers, who possessed direct knowledge of families, locations, and immediate needs.

August 13, 2026 | Distribution and the Journey Home

On August 13, the relief goods began to reach the affected families. The rice, bottled water, emergency shelter material, and medicines represented the more visible side of the humanitarian operation. Behind them, however, stood several days of coordination, changing transportation plans, fundraising, purchasing, donor mobilization, early-morning travel, sea crossings, community validation, repacking, and countless conversations. The mission had begun with a plan to distribute emergency cash assistance. It concluded as a multi-dimensional collaborative humanitarian response.

After the distribution activities, the Oplan Ginhawa team prepared to leave Balut Island. Once again, they faced the sea. The return journey required another approximately two-hour boat trip from Balut Island to Balangonan Port.

Waiting for them upon arrival was Sir Bobong Tusan, the driver assisting BM Irish Louie Arnado. His presence completed the final link in the transportation support that had enabled the mission team to reach and eventually leave the affected islands safely. From Balangonan, the volunteers began their overland journey home. The mission had reached its operational conclusion. The earthquake, however, had not.

The Earth Continued to Move

Perhaps the most sobering reality of the entire mission was that the humanitarian response unfolded while the emergency itself had not completely ended. From August 11 until the team’s departure on August 13, earthquakes and aftershocks continued to be felt in the island municipality of Sarangani.

A Collaboration That Became a Mission of Presence

The August 9–13 response demonstrated how humanitarian action can grow through collaboration.

• Oplan Ginhawa of the Claretian Missionaries provided the initial framework for direct cash assistance and mobilized Claretian personnel and resources.
• Marist Tulong and Mother and Child NDDU, together with Marist partners, expanded the response through food, drinking water, shelter materials, medicine procurement, and logistical assistance.
• Healers Going Forth, through Ms. Donna Bigcas and other friends in Davao, provided much-needed medicines, while anonymous donors contributed additional medical supplies.
• Fr. Melchor “Bong” Cagape, SVD, the parish community, parish personnel, and local volunteers provided indispensable knowledge of the situation on the ground and helped identify and accompany affected families.
• BM Irish Louie Arnado and her team, including Sir Bobong Tusan, provided crucial transportation assistance.
• The IPMS community, Ms. Melanie, Br. Thomas, CMF, and the other volunteers brought their presence, skills, and willingness to serve.

Throughout the affected communities themselves, residents and local volunteers were not passive recipients. They were already repairing chapels, helping neighbors, organizing communities, providing information, and participating in their own recovery. The relief mission therefore became something larger than the transfer of goods from donors to beneficiaries. It became a network of solidarity.

What Reached the Islands

By the time the humanitarian response was underway, the combined material assistance mobilized for the mission included approximately:

• 1,250 kilograms of rice, packed in 50 bags of 25 kilograms each;
• 80 boxes of bottled drinking water in assorted sizes;
• one roll of tarpaulin for emergency shelter requirements;
• ₱33,000 worth of medicines purchased through CMF;
• ₱30,000 worth of medicines donated through Healers Going Forth; and
• ₱8,000 worth of medicines from anonymous donors.

The medical assistance alone therefore reached an estimated value of approximately ₱71,000. In addition to these material resources, 46 affected families—20 in Batuganding and 26 in Camahual—received direct Oplan Ginhawa cash assistance.

From Humanitarian Assistance to Shared Solidarity

The Oplan Ginhawa–Marist Tulong mission to Balut and Sarangani Islands was carried out under conditions that repeatedly forced the team to change course. The RORO vessel became unavailable. Passenger and cargo transportation had to be separated. Alternative ports had to be identified. Passenger boats became scarce. Supplies traveled independently from volunteers. The team crossed long stretches of sea. Motorcycles were needed to reach mountainous Ground Zero. Relief goods had to be unloaded, repacked, and reorganized. And throughout the mission, aftershocks continued.

Yet the response moved forward. What sustained it was not a perfectly executed logistics plan, but a shared commitment among religious communities, humanitarian organizations, local leaders, healthcare partners, volunteers, donors, parish workers, and affected communities themselves.

In this sense, Oplan Ginhawa lived up to the meaning carried by its name. Ginhawa is more than material relief. It evokes breathing space after distress, easing of suffering, renewed strength, and the possibility of moving forward.

For several days in August 2026, amid an island municipality still trembling beneath their feet, people from different congregations, organizations, professions, communities, and faith traditions came together so that earthquake survivors might experience even a little of that ginhawa.

The mission ended when the team safely returned through Balangonan Port on August 13. The solidarity it represented did not.

Behind every bag of rice was a household trying to regain stability.

Behind every bottle of water was a family whose ordinary access to basic necessities had been disrupted.

Behind every medicine was a sick, injured, elderly, or vulnerable person whose healthcare needs did not disappear simply because an earthquake had occurred.

Behind every envelope of cash assistance was a family being entrusted with the dignity to determine which immediate need mattered most.

And behind every journey by road, pump boat, motorcycle, and cargo vessel was the decision of individuals and institutions that distance and difficulty would not become reasons for indifference.

For the families of Balut and Sarangani Islands, recovery would continue. And for those who had traveled there in response to their suffering, the experience became another reminder that humanitarian mission begins not merely by asking what can we give, but by being willing to go, listen, accompany, adapt, collaborate, and remain in solidarity with people when they need it most.