Yakan Communities Are Tired of Kidnappings

More than five hundred Yakan community people participated in a rally held at the Tipo-Tipo municipal ground in Basilan province spearheaded by Multi-Sectoral Group composed of community leaders and civil society organizations of the province on May 12, 2009. The activity was first in history of Basilan that a group or community people ventured to stage a mass action against the inhuman actuations of the dreaded Abu Sayyaf Group in the island despite of the threats posed to the lives both by the participants and invited speakers a night before the activity.

As gleaned from the placards and streamers which says among others “Release Umar Jaleel and other kidnap victims, Umar Jaleel is an international peaceworkers of Nonviolent Peaceforce, Lets all unite in Condemning Kidnappings ” and many more flooded the rally area. All the placards are all expressing sentiments over the seemingly unending spate of kidnapping in the area that place the lives of not only the victims and their families but also the innocent civilians into dangerous and difficult situation . The activity was spark off due to the concerns of the civilians by the kidnapping of Umar Jaleel, a Sri-Lankan Muslim national working as International Peace-worker under the Nonviolent Peaceforce. It was also established that around a dozen victims were also being held by the notorious group for several months now, among them teachers and businessmen.

Umar Jaleel was kidnapped by unidentified armed men, sporting military uniforms according to the care taker of the Nonviolent Peaceforce Office, located in Sitio Malo-ong, San Jose in Lamitan City. The abductors lodged in forcibly by breaking the main door at around 2:30 morning of Februart 13, 2009.

Unlike the other local and international figures who were victims of kidnappings who have been sensationalized both from the government, civil society groups, the military and the media that already became ­­flavor of the day. The case of Jaleel, despite of his almost three months of captivity, nothing is being heard of him and seems no one is interested in his fate. This triggered worry among the communities and the multi-sectoral groups of Basilan on the status of all kidnap victims who like Umar Jaleel seems to be forgotten by everyone.

In his opening message Jan Ausal, Municipal Justice Chairman of Tipo-Tipo and the Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Multi-Sectoral Movement to free Umar Jaleel and other victims of kidnapping delivered a strongly worded message that the rally is only a start of their campaign against kidnappings in their area which is considered as “social evil” and therefore destroying the image of the peace-loving Yakan people as a whole.

Among the invited guests who speak in the rally was Captain Cuto representing Marine Brigade Commander Col. Rustico Guererro who delivered a short message and committed to support any future undertakings that concerns peaceful resolution of the problems besetting the island province such as the spate of kidnappings. Other important figures who speak their respective support to the rally were Municipal Administrator Artun Angeles of Tipo-Tipo, PNP Chief Nasser Etto, Alim Bayan Marudin of Basilan Ulama Council, Municipal Councilor of Lamitan Hadja Zubairah Saed and representatives coming from the municipalities of Al-Barka and Tuburan.

On the part of the Moro fronts, both leaderships of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the area were invited to speak in the rally, however for unknown reason the MNLF failed to send their representative.

On the side of the MILF, they sent Boni Salih who spoke on behalf of their group and extended gratitude for the initiators of the rally as a starting point in combating social menace. He further emphasized that their organization, the MILF is following Islamic lines which is peace and therefore abhors all conducts that will redound to discord such as the kidnapping of innocent civilians. He stressed that although, their organization is espousing armed struggle, however, they used it mainly only in defense of their cause and give paramount value and safety to non-combatants or civilians in war.

For the civil society organization, Sammy Maulana Secretary General of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS) convey his message of unity and sympathy to the Yakan people in their feeling of anxiety whenever kidnapping ensued followed by relentless pursuit operations by duly constituted authorities that damages their lives and properties.

Mr. Nathan Insung, Chairman of CBCS Regional Management Committee and Executive Director of Yakan Integrated Resources Development Foundation of Basilan was the most affected by the recent kidnapping of Umar Jaleel. First and foremost, he explained that their group is the “host organization” for the deployment in the province of Basilan by the international peace workers such as the Nonviolent Peaceforce where the victim belongs. He emphasized that because of the spate of kidnapping in their area, the Yakan people lost so many opportunities both from local and international donor agencies that will supposedly uplift their living condition. These agencies back out and withdrawn all their programs and projects in Basilan when abductions sprout again last year.

In larger context, in search for lasting peace in Mindanao, Mr. Insung exhort his fellow Yakan people to unite and support the peace processes especially on the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD). He clarified that despite of the scrapping and abandonment of the Supreme Court and the Philippine government of this product of an eleven years painstaking negotiation between the GRP and MILF, he believes it is still the best framework crafted in pursuit of real peace in Mindanao.

Reference:

Mike G. Kulat
Peacebuilding Coordinator
CBCS
Tel# (064) 421 5420

STATEMENT of Carlos H. Conde on the military's OB

PRESS STATEMENT
May 19, 2009


I am Carlos H. Conde, a journalist based in Manila.

I found out yesterday that my name is included in the Armed Forces of the Philippines’s “order of battle,” specifically in a document titled “JCICC ‘AGILA’ 3rd QTR 2007 OB VALIDATION RESULT” purportedly prepared by the intelligence staff of the armed forces’ 10th Infantry Division in Southern Mindanao. In this “order of battle,” more than a hundred individuals – mostly leaders and members of progressive and leftist groups like Bayan, Bayan Muna, among others – are listed and classified as “organized,” “dominated,” or “targeted.” As far as I can tell, I am the only journalist on the list, which classifies me as “targeted,” whatever that means.

It would seem that the army considers me an enemy of the state, as the document, which shows the alleged links of these individuals with the communist movement, seems to be implying.

Needless to say, this “order of battle” has caused anxiety and fear in my family because, as we all know, an “order of battle” in the Philippines is a veritable hit list. Indeed, at least one of the individuals in the document – Celso Pojas, a peasant leader in Davao City -- has been assassinated and several others have either been attacked or subjected to harassment and intimidation by agents of the armed forces.

Just to be clear, I am a journalist and have been so in the past 15 years. Presently, I work as a freelance correspondent for US-based publications, namely The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune and GlobalPost.com. I also contribute stories and reports every now and then to other foreign and local publications.

I used to be the coordinator of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines in Davao City and Southern Mindanao, where I resided until three years ago. I was the NUJP’s secretary-general from 2004 to 2006. Part of my job at the time was to lead the campaign in the Philippines to stop the killings of journalists. The Philippines, as we all know, is notorious for being the world’s most murderous place for journalists.

Why my name is included in the “order of battle” is a mystery. Unless, that is, the armed forces considers my and NUJP’s advocacy for press freedom, as well as pressuring the government to end the killings, as the work of enemies of the state. Unless the armed forces views my job and my writing as threats to this nation.


Carlos H. Conde
Manila, Philippines
Tel.: (+63) 9189425492
Email: chconde@gmail.com

Four countries block Philippines’ OIC bid

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Jolo, stronghold of Islamist group Abu Sayyaf

FRANCE 24's reporters defied a ban on entering the island of Jolo, in the south of the Philippines, where Islamist group Abu Sayyaf has been multiplying abductions of foreigners. As they discovered, the tension there is palpable.

Source: http://www.france24.com/en/20090508-jolo-island-boiling-point-philippines-abu-sayyaf-kidnappings-red-cross

Mindanao’s 600,000 IDPs in 2008 is biggest worldwide

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/02 May) – The internal displacement of 600,000 residents in Mindanao last year due to renewed skirmishes between government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas was “the biggest new displacement in the world” out of 4.2 million newly displaced in 2008, the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) said in its April 2009 report launched May 1 in New York.

The number of Mindanao IDPs – 600,000 at the height of skirmishes last year -- is higher than the “massive new displacements” in Sudan (550,000), Kenya (500,000), Democratic Republic of Congo (at least 400,000), Iraq (360,000), Pakistan (over 310,000), Somalia (300,000), Colombia (270,000 to June 2008), Sri Lanka (230,000) and India (over 220,000).

According to IDMC’s report, “Internal Displacement: Global Overview of Trends and

Developments in 2008,” an estimated 26 million people were still displaced within their

countries, the same number as in 2007 and the highest since the early 1990s.

The largest internally displaced populations as of yearend 2008 were found in Sudan (4.9 million), Colombia (up to 4.3 million) and Iraq (2.8 million).

By yearend, the Philippines’ IDP population in Mindanao had gone down to 308,000. As of March 17, 2009, the last report of the National Disaster Coordinating Council’s (NDCC) on the IDPs in Mindanao, the number of displaced had gone down to 209,320. But there have been additional reports of displacements since then.

Displaced by GRP-MILF conflict only

The Philippine report in the IDMC “only includes people displaced as a result of the August 2008 upsurge in fighting between the MILF and government forces in Mindanao. It does not include people displaced in previous years and who have not been able to fund durable solutions, nor people displaced by clashes between government forces and communist NPA rebels in Mindanao and elsewhere.”

The IDMC was established by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) following the request of the United Nations Inter-Agency Standing Committee to set up an IDP database in 1998. The Centre has since evolved into the leading international body monitoring internal displacement caused by confl ict and violence in some 50 countries worldwide.

“We all share the responsibility to assist and show our solidarity with the world’s IDPs”, NRC

Secretary-General Elisabeth Rasmusson said in a press statement dispatched by e-mail.
At the report’s launch in New York, António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees said “in the context of conflict prevention, forced displacement remains a major challenge, as does the protection of IDPs.”

The report says that countries with at least 200,000 people newly displaced in 2008 “in order of scale” are: “Philippines, Sudan, Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Colombia, Sri Lanka and India” while countries with at least 80,000 people returning during 2008 in order of scale are “DRC, Uganda, Sudan, Kenya, Philippines, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Georgia, Yemen, Côte d’Ivoire, Central African Republic (CAR) and Timor-Leste.”

The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC)’s last report on the IDP situation in Mindanao as of March 17, 2009, showed 209,320 displaced persons were still in evacuation centers and “house-based,” of which 14,729 are in Datu Piang, Maguindanao.

At its height in October, Datu Piang hosted 8,194 families or 41,000 displaced residents from 16 of its 20 towns and from villages in neighboring towns.

While about half the number of evacuees had returned home, Musib Uy Tan, executive secretary to the mayor said they were still hosting 4,112 families or about 20,000 persons as of April 20. Between April 21 and 26, an additional 853 families were displaced, bringing the number to 4,965 families or about 25,000. Since April 27, 582 more families have been displaced.

According to the IDMC report, before the last upsurge in fighting, it was estimated that conflict had displaced more than two million people since 2000.

Army: common agent of displacement

“Most displacements have taken place in the southern region of Mindanao where the government has fought secessionist Moro (Muslim) rebels groups for the past 40 years. Although hopes of a formal peace agreement were raised in July 2008 as the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) reached a consensus on the issue of autonomous Moro territory, strong opposition to the deal by Christian groups and growing Moro frustration led to intense fighting in August in North Cotabato Province, which spread to several other provinces,” the report said.

“By the end of 2008 only low-level fighting persisted, but it continued to cause displacement and more than 300,000 people remained unable or unwilling to return to their homes,” it added.

The report said the “common agent of displacement nationwide has been the army, operating across the country against communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels, and in Basilan and Sulu provinces against the Abu Sayyaf group and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), as well as against the MILF throughout Mindanao and particularly in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).”

The report also noted that “development projects backed by military support and disproportionately affecting indigenous groups have also caused displacement” and that two groups have been particularly vulnerable to displacement: Moro people living in conflict-affected areas of Mindanao, and indigenous groups whose territory is rich in natural resources. Counter-insurgency operations against the NPA have often resulted in human rights violations against civilians suspected of supporting the insurgents and caused regular displacement although on a smaller scale.”

The NDCC reported 276 dead and 138 injured in the affected areas in Mindanao since August; 3,763 houses damaged, 3,039 of that totally. Damage to property has reached P251.59 million, of which P152.56 million is agriculture and P99 million on infrastructure.

The NDCC also reported that the “overall cost of emergency relief assistance” has reached P251,502,751.85 of which P40.9 million is the “cost of early recovery and initial rehabilitation.”

John Holmes, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said in the IDMC press statement that the number of IDPs “will rise significantly due to anticipated increases in the intensity and frequency of natural disasters. That is why we need to focus urgently on finding appropriate solutions for IDPs to end their displacement and their dependence on relief assistance.” (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

Source: http://www.mindanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6323&Itemid=50

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