LANDING in the headlines of newspapers a day after a group Philippine reporters made a bearing witness coverage dubbed State of Bakwit (SOB) (bakwit – bisayan for evacuees) was the hour-long detention of the media convoy along the way to the evacuation centers in Datu Piang town in Maguindanao Province in Southcentral Mindanao, Philippines.
That however may be just the tip of the iceberg and may be an attempt to cover up some sinister realities of the armed hostilities between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
A story written by JB Deveza of Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro quoted a military spokesman branding the Internally Displaced Persons in Maguindanao province as “enemy reserve force.
Colonel Jonathan Ponce, spokesman of the Philippine Army’s 6th Infantry Division was quoted as saying that the IDPs are “essentially enemy reserve forces.”
Supporters of the MILF are quick to jump on the gun to this seemingly tactless pronouncement from the Philippine Army. Dr. Michael Mastura, a member of the MILF Peace Panel was quick to say that the conduct of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in its war against the secessionist Muslim rebels in Southern Philippines validates the correctness of the secessionist line of the MILF.
He may be right. The statement of that Army spokesman may be an inadvertent but honest admission of the real intentions of the Manila government in its war in Mindanao. It betrays official pronouncements that the ongoing military campaign is a law enforcement campaign aimed at putting before the bar of justice MILF Commanders who criminally pillaged a number of villages in Maguindanao, Cotabato, Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte in August 2008.
The so-called rogue MILF units purportedly did the senseless atrocities as an expression of their disgust over the decision of the Philippine Supreme Court to stop the signing of a Peace Agreement recognizing the right of the Bangsamoro People to Ancestral Domain.
The document officially called the Memorandum on Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) was about to be officially signed by the MILF and the Government of the Philippines in Kuala Lumpur in August last year, but a case brought before the Supreme Court of the Philippines by non-Muslim government officials in Mindanao questioned its Constitutionality. The Supreme Court ruled that indeed the MOA-AD is unconstitutional as it may impinge on the constitutionally protected national territory and may compromise national sovereignty, among others.
In the aftermath of the gruesome attacks by certain MILF Commanders to civilian non-Muslim villages, the MILF leadership denied ordering such and claimed that their field Commanders like Umbra Kato and
Abdullah Macapaar popularly known as Commander Bravo had acted on their own. The government thereafter launched military offensives against the so called rogue elements of the MILF, particularly Umbra Kato in Maguindanao of Southern Mindanao and Bravo in the Lanao provinces in Northern Mindanao.
Almost a year had passed and the said renegade MILF Commanders are still on the loose and a looming humanitarian crises is happening almost unnoticed by the general public. A report by the Norwegian Council of Refugees (NCR) in 2008 saw the Philippines topping the list of having the most number of evacuees with 600,000 people displaced by fighting in Southern Philippines.
The number surprisingly surpassed the more publicized humanitarian crises in the Darfur Region of Sudan and even in the reclusive authoritarian nation of Myanmar/Burma also in Southeast Asia which according to a Special UN Rapporteur Report has about 540,000 internally displaced persons in Eastern Burma.
Recent official number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Mindanao is placed at 318,953 individuals. A peace worker in Lanao del Sur however said that the numbers could be higher as many internally displaced persons do not go to evacuation centers but live with their relatives. He said they are not reflected in the official tally of IDPs.
Veteran Photo Journalist Froilan Gallardo of Mindanews has been very passionately agitated with the humanitarian crises in the evacuation centers in Maguindanao province and elsewhere in Mindanao. His photos of people, elderly and children living in squalid conditions, with no source of safe drinking water, inadequate health service, and shortage of food in government appointed evacuation centers is extremely disturbing.
It has been observed by peace workers that more civilians may have died in evacuation centers due to illnesses, hunger and crossfire than combatants from both sides of ongoing armed confrontation. Infants, children, women and the elderly are the most vulnerable bakwits.
The “rebel reserve force” statement of that AFP field general should at least prod the Manila government to conduct an investigation into possible violation of human rights that may qualify for prosecution as war crimes and/or crimes against humanity in the Military campaign in the south.
It is important that the Government of the Philippines take legal action even against its own men in order stop the humanitarian crises. It is also important for the government to assert that it is still the civilian government that is calling the shots and not the military in the conflict areas.
While the “reserve rebel force” statement of that field commander may be not be the substantial evidence of the war crimes and/or crimes against humanity committed in the military campaign in the south, it may corroborate substantial evidence. The present condition of the internally displaced persons in evacuation centers and the circumstances leading to their displacement may provide substantial evidence to the possible commission of said crimes.
“Forced Transfer of Population,” as may be the case in Southern Philippines is one of the Prohibited Acts in the Rome Statute or customary international law and may constitute war crimes and/or crimes against humanity.
Under the Rome Statute, forced transfer of population is a crime against humanity when there is “forced displacement of person by expulsion or other coercive acts from the area in which they are lawfully present.” War crime is committed “when the perpetrators ordered the displacement of a civilian population, and that this order was not justified by the security of civilians or by military necessity.”
Failure of the Government of the Philippines to take action may not only result in its losing face in the international community, but may eventually lead to the obtaining of jurisdiction by the International Court of Justice (ICC) should an action be brought before it.
As provided in the Rome Statute, which created the permanent international tribunal in charge of prosecuting war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and crimes of aggression, the International Criminal Court may take jurisdiction of the above enumerated cases if there is “failure of the a national judicial system to act.”
Of course, it can also be argued that the MILF, especially the so called “rogue MILF commands” may be culpable of the same crimes. But as a sovereign nation, it is the duty of the Government of the Philippines to use the long arms of the law to bring them before the bar of justice without itself violating certain national and international laws. It cannot use its law enforcement inefficiency as an excuse to violate human rights.
The hunt for “rogue MILF commands” which is now on its 11th month may not be the best and only option to bring them to justice. Going to the peace negotiating table with some moral high ground may be the way.
The MOA AD, which is said to be the main grievance of the MILF in this round of armed conflict, may be legally dead but the validity of recognizing the right to ancestral domain of the Bangsamoro people remains a valid substantial subject in the negotiating table.
The peace option after all indubitably hasn’t been thoroughly exhausted.
(Mr. Ellorin is an environmentalist and peace advocate. He is currently participating in a one-year peace building fellowship called Peace Communication sponsored by the Norwegian volunteer organization Fredskorpset. Reactions can be emailed to bency.ellorin@gmail.com.)
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-de-oro/ellowin-neglected-humanitarian-crises-mindanao
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