Evacuees are ‘enemy reserve forces’

COTABATO CITY -- A statement branding internally displaced persons (IDPs) or evacuees as "enemy reserve forces" drew sharp reactions from the leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Wednesday.

Professor Datu Michael Mastura called the statement made by 6th Infantry Division, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Jonathan Ponce as "irresponsible."

Ponce had told reporters in a forum Tuesday evening that IDPs are essentially "enemy reserve forces," saying the military has recovered items with International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) markings in MILF camps.

The ICRC and the WFP regularly distribute relief goods composed of rice, cooking oil, sugar, and other essential items to conflict-affected areas in Mindanao.

Ponce said IDP evacuation camps are mostly occupied only before scheduled relief distributions, and the ranks of IDPs thin out after, resulting in differing IDP figures by international aid donors.

Mastura said Ponce's statement is a revelation of the military's mind set vis-à-vis the Bangsamoro people.

"The Constitution mandates that the AFP serve as protectors of the people," Mastura said.

"If this is the way the AFP thinks, then the MILF is on the right track on secession," Mastura said.

Mastura said the statement was probably meant to cover the tracks of the military in communities affected by the fighting.

The truth of the matter, Mastura said, is that the sheer number of IDPs in conflict-affected areas of Mindanao can only be characterized as an ongoing humanitarian tragedy that calls for a humanitarian solution.

Amnesty International (AI) in October last year reported that there are about 610,000 people displaced from August to September in Mindanao. In its report, AI noted the shortage of supplies in evacuation centers and warned of a possible humanitarian crisis if plans were not put in place to provide for the needs of the local population amidst the possibility of an increase in fighting.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), in an update dated May 18, 2009, reported that the conflict between government forces and what the military calls rogue commanders of the MILF has affected 406 barangays, 51 municipalities, and three cities in 11 provinces of Northern Mindanao, Central Mindanao, and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm).

The same report counts some 546 evacuation centers and the number of people affected at 703,949. Out of the more than 700,000 affected people, 62,510 families or 299,213 are living in the evacuation camps with the remaining opting to return to their homes or staying with relatives.

Conditions in the camps can be described as squalid at best and utterly deplorable at its very worst.

In one evacuation camp in Datu Piang, Maguindanao, 361 families live in an estimated 3,000 square meter lot at the back of a school complex. Rows of makeshift shelters made of sticks and bright orange tarpaulin stand leaning to each other, over ground sticky with muck and with pools of stagnant water.

The camp has no supply of potable water, and the only source of water used for washing dishes and for bathing is a shallow well at the camp's perimeter, in a field full of scattered human and animal waste.

The evacuees have been living in this state for over two months now, ever since they were forced to flee Barangays Ganta and Bacat of Datu Piang, Maguindanao by renewed hostilities between government forces and the MILF.

Fr. Eduardo "Pon Pon" Vasquez, Jr., OMI, based on records kept by the Notre Dame of Dulawan Clinic and Bahay Kalinga in Poblacion, Datu Piang, Maguindanao, reports that 16 children have already died since April 2009 alone. The leading causes of death,are diarrhea and typhoid fever, among a host of other diseases.

In a statement read during mass Sunday, June 25, Vasquez called on authorities and aid organizations to "improve the system of relief distribution for the IDPs."

"Most of all, we make a strong appeal to both the AFP and the MILF to stop the war and return to the negotiating table so that the IDPs can return to their homes," Vasquez told the 200 family-strong Catholic community of Sta. Teresita Parish of Datu Piang.

When asked for comment on the plight of IDPs, Rafael Seguis, chief negotiator of the government peace panel, said Wednesday that the government is aware of the plight of the IDPs in evacuation camps and is continuously looking for ways to solve the IDP problem.

"The long-term solution to this is the resumption of peace talks," Seguis said.

But Carolyn Arguillas of MindaNews writes that with only 12 months left in President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's term is there hope at all that her 2001 "all-out peace" vow will be realized before she steps down at noon of 30 June 2010? (JB R. Deveza)

Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-de-oro/evacuees-are-‘enemy-reserve-forces’