DAVAO CITY, March 9, 2009—While Mindanao is a consistent recipient of development aid, peace is still elusive, internally displaced persons (IDPs) continue to swell and human rights violations remain unabated.
This is according to the report issued by Mindanao Peoples Caucus, one of the founding members of the Mindanao Peaceweavers, a network of peace networks in Mindanao and in the Philippines adding that, “the silent armed confrontations in the hinterlands caused the death of so many lives, destroyed millions of properties and displaced thousands of people.”
“Internally displaced persons (IDPs) continue to swell. Affected individuals and families continue to inhabit evacuation centers and are bereft of food, safe water, medicines, and sanitation. Since October 1, 2008, close to more than 500,000 civilians were displaced and the response of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is undeniably low, intermittent, limited, and haphazard,” said in a report.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) also reported that as of latest count more than half a million Filipinos have been affected by the on-going conflict in Mindanao. In a data released by NDCC in the third quarter of 2008 it showed that a total of 528,693 persons or 110,517 families in various parts of Mindanao have been displaced due to the fighting between the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
“The IDPs came from 354 villages, 40 municipalities and two cities in nine provinces in Northern Mindanao, SOCCSKSARGEN or (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos) and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM),” the MPC report added.
The report also mentioned that human rights violation committed against civilian also remain unabated as there are reports and factual accounts of direct attacks committed against civilians especially those who are already staying in the evacuation centers.
“The recent incident in Datu Piang, where 4 children aged 3-9 years old and three other IDPs, were wounded by shrapnels of M79 grenade near the evacuation center, is patently a violation of International Humanitarian Law and the UN Guiding Principle on Internal Displacement,” it said.
“Clearly, civilians are not supposed to be military targets in the ongoing military operations and just like what happened in Lanao del Norte, there is a need for immediate observance on the rules of war on the part of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the MILF,” the report added.
The MPC reports also reported that large-scale, foreign-owned corporations continue to dominate Mindanao’s mining industry which are both detrimental to the environment and ancestral domains of indigenous peoples.
“In addition to that are the glaring realities that thousands of migrant workers are trapped in the vicious cycle of labor and sexual abuse, hundreds of desperate farmers tying their hopes on the dying Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and the worsening security situation in the southernmost part of Mindanao,” said the report.
DEVELOPMENTAL INTERVENTIONS
Meanwhile data showed that in 2008 alone, more than a hundred development interventions were implemented while trillion of pesos were poured in priority areas needing assistance since international donor institutions made Mindanao their priority area in the Philippines.
A total of US$1.3 billion official development assistance (ODA) has been earmarked for infrastructure while a total of P425 million government-initiated community-based projects are being implemented in conflict areas, it was learned.
On top of these, more than 50 donor agencies are supporting various developmental projects of civil society organizations ranging from economic, social, political, environmental, and cultural programs,
MPC also reported that development aid are intended to support address poverty, conflict, economic, insecurity, rural and urban marginalization, environmental degradation, ethnic prejudice, and sufficient access to education, health, housing and safe drinking water. (Mark S. Ventura)
