On Sept. 8, at around 9-10 a.m., Mohalidin Mandi and his neighbors, including a number of children, were evacuating from Brgy. Tee, Datu Piang, Maguindanao as a fighter plane was indiscriminately dropping bombs in the area. They were in two boats, with one boat carrying the children. Because of the children's seating arrangement, the boat that was carrying them ran the risk of capsizing, so they stopped for a while and alighted to switch places. The plane dropped a bomb near the children, killing six of them and injuring four others. Mandi's wife – who was five months pregnant – and father-in-law were also hit and killed, while his son Jamalubin was among the wounded. As he was carrying the bodies to the street, soldiers threatened to kill him and only pleas from civilians prevented the soldiers from doing so. After he had gathered the children's bodies, he made his way back to the river to carry the remains of his wife and father-in-law. The soldiers gave him 30 minutes to do so, after which they would shoot him. He was only able to get his wife's body; he left behind that of his father-in-law out of fear that he would be shot. His father-in-law's body was gathered only in the afternoon of the next day.

These are just a few of the incidents of human rights violations documented by the NIHM in Pikit, North Cotabato and Datu Piang, Maguindanao. There have been deaths due to strafing and aerial bombing. Those who have been “fortunate” to survive these attacks have suffered threats and intimidation, torture, abductions, illegal searches and arrests, as well as divestment and destruction of property.

None of the victims of house-burnings who were interviewed by the human rights documentation teams pointed to the MILF as the perpetrators.

2. Psycho-social Treatment

As a result of the military's offensives, many children among the evacuees are suffering from trauma – manifested among other things in restlessness and the disruption of sleeping patterns.

The children were asked to share their experiences through drawings, sharing, and role-playing. Most of the drawings were of fighter planes dropping bombs on houses. The children 7-9 years old shared a common observation that the presence of soldiers means “there will be war,” while those 10-12 years of age expressed a common fear of guns and are afraid of going back to their communities.

The children feel fear and/or hatred toward soldiers. 

The psycho-social activity served a total of 214 children, 131 of whom are in Pikit and 83 of whom are in Datu Piang. Nine of the children were identified for follow-up.

3.  

4. Medical Treatment

The NIHM notes the dire conditions in the evacuation centers the strain this puts on the health of the evacuees.

The medical teams rendered free health services to 192 patients in both areas. Of these, 118  were in Datu Piang and 74 were in Pikit.

About 2/3 of the patients are female and majority of them are in their reproductive age (18-45 years old). Also, about 1/3 of the patients are children.

Various complaints were heard by the doctors during the consultation. In both areas, about 1/3 of the patients were complaining of cough and colds, headaches and fever. Most of the children were also complaining of cough and colds, fever and skin itchiness and infections while most of the adult patients were complaining of headaches, dizziness, difficulty of sleeping, and abdominal pains. Also, in both areas, children were suffering from toothaches and diarrhea.

During the consultations, about 1/3 of the total number of patients were diagnosed to have upper respiratory tract infection (URTI). Tension headache and insomnia were also noted in both areas.

In Pikit, some adult patients were diagnosed to have hypertension and arthritis while in Datu Piang, most of them were suffering from urinary tract infection and abdominal colic. Children in both areas were also having diarrhea and skin infections.

4. Relief

The National Interafaith Humanitarian Mission conducted a relief drive and many organizations and institutions responded and helped in the actual delivery of relief during the mission.  Two relief teams were sent to both areas, serving a total of 1,749 evacuees. There were two waves of relief activities in Datu Piang: the first one, conducted in Pikit, Midsayap and Aleosan on September 29-30  had 766 beneficiaries, while the second wave, conducted in Brgy. Tee, and Poblacion in Datu Piang and Batulawan in Pikit on October 22 had 983 beneficiaries.

CONCLUSIONS

The military offensives in North Cotabato and Maguindanao are carried out under the pretext of pursuit operations against Kato and his group, but these in reality fall within the context of an all-out war. The policy of “disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation” (DDR) which is now being carried out by the government shuts the door to peace and leaves all-out war as the main option.  The so-called pursuit operations and “surgical operations” being conducted in North Cotabato and Maguindanao are characterized by the excessive use of firepower mainly against the civilian populace.

No military personnel have been called to account for the atrocities against human rights. The military's tactic has invariably been to divert the blame for atrocities on other groups.

The situation in the two provinces continues to deteriorate and has reached the proportions of a humanitarian crisis. As yet, there appears to be no end in sight to the miseries of those who have borne the brunt of the fighting.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In view of these, the NIHM thus puts forward the following recommendations:

1. that the government immediately put a stop to military offensives and allow the evacuees to return home;

2. that the issues being blamed as the reason for the escalating conflict be instead addressed in the proper forum, in particular the Coordinating Committee for the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH);

3. that human rights violations be investigated and their perpetrators be made accountable; an independent probe can also be undertaken to fully take into account the wide range of human rights abuses that have so far taken place since renewed fighting broke out

4. that the victims of human rights violations be indemnified and assisted in their rehabilitation; and

5. that the peace negotiations between the government and the MILF be resumed.

The NIHM will publish a full report on its findings in North Cotabato and Maguindanao and submit these to relevant government agencies as well as international bodies.

 Participating Organizations:  Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Bayan Muna, Gabriela Women’s Party, Gabriela, Karapatan, Kawagib-Moro Human Rights, Suara Bangsamoro, Liga ng Kabataang Moro, Moro-Christian Peoples Alliance, Initiatives for Peace in Mindanao, Kalumaran, Health Action for Human Rights, Bangsamoro Medical Society, Ecumenical Mission for Peace and Development, National Council of Churches in the Philippines, Southeast Mindanao Ecumenical Council, Cotabato Regional Ecumenical Council, Children’s Rehabilitation Center-Southern Mindanao, Kabiba Alliance for Children’s Concern, Center for Women’s Resource, Alpha-Sigma Phi – CCSPC Chapter, The Torch Publication – CCSPC, Moro Youth Religious Organization, Assumption College of Davao-Social Worker Students, Notre Dame University Peace Center, Notre Dame University College Of Nursing, Notre Dame School of Dulawan, United Youth for Peace and Development, Lay Forum Philippines, United Methodist Church – Mindanao Philippines Annual Conference, Episcopal Diocese for Southern Philippines, United Church of Christ in the Philippines – Southern Mindanao District Conference, Holy Cross of Davao College– Social Work Students.

Streetwise
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo

Aftermath of MOA-AD scuttling

On a recently held National Interfaith Humanitarian Mission to Lanao del Norte, North Cotobato and Maguindanao, the meaning of the intractable, long-drawn out armed conflict in Muslim Mindanao, this time between government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), was made painfully clear to us in the forlorn faces of the evacuees.

The hunger, sickness and generalized misery; the listlessness, the yearning to go back to their farms and homes safely; the appeal for a return to normalcy, for an end to the military restrictions over their comings and goings – these images and plaints became etched in our minds and hearts as we went from one evacuation center to another.

The Mission participants from Manila and different parts of Mindanao were divided into three teams each time: one to distribute the always pitifully few relief goods the Mission had collected; another to undertake medical and psycho-social work among the sick and the traumatized, particularly the children; and the third to talk to the local leaders, including local government officials and imams.

Scores of victims of human rights abuses were interviewed: those wrongfully arrested, those beaten up because they were rebel suspects or so that they would point to the rebels/rebel sympathizers; those whose relatives had been killed or were injured in the course of the government’s drive to flush out the “rogue elements” of the MILF; those whose houses and other properties had been destroyed.

After the teams had tallied the numbers of patients treated, families given relief goods and victims of human rights violations attended to, we came to the sobering conclusion that what the Mission had achieved was a mere drop in the bucket compared to the overwhelming needs.

It was also sharply brought home to us that while relief efforts are a must, the solution to the humanitarian crises that accompany the government’s military campaigns against the rebels lay in addressing the underlying causes of the armed conflict; that is to say, the return of ancestral lands stolen from the Bangsa Moro and respect for their right to self-determination as a distinct people.

The legal and political brouhaha over the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the MILF has resulted in the eruption of fresh hostilities between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Bangsa Moro Islamic Forces, which in turn fanned the already raging anti-Moro biases. The Arroyo regime rode on the widespread Moro-bashing to drastically renege on its commitment to the MOA that its negotiating panel's initials had clearly signified.

Malacañang shifted from lauding the MOA-AD as a breakthrough in the peace negotiations to disowning and trashing it along with ordering renewed military offensives against the MILF.

 

Mrs. Arroyo also disbanded the GRP peace panel and announced that henceforth “disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation” -- regarded by both the MILF and the communist-led National Democratic Front (NDF) as mere euphemisms for surrender -- would be government’s framework for all peace negotiations.

The Supreme Court decision on the MOA-AD declaring it unconstitutional and enjoining the Executive Department to desist from signing it; the seeming de-escalation of military offensives and the dispersal of MILF units; and the lack of prominence in the mass media of the plight of refugees – all these have placed the Moro people’s struggle once more in the back burner.

The Arroyo regime has acknowledged spending half a billion pesos in the highly publicized “pursuit operations” against MILF commanders blamed for atrocities in Central Mindanao. Unfortunately, apart from causing more civilian deaths, displacement and damage to property, the military has little to show for their effort.

Kalinaw Mindanao, a coalition of peace advocates, has decried the “disproportionate war” aimed at capturing or killing two MILF commanders at the expense of half-a-million internally displaced persons. The group says, “the government is barely providing relief services to evacuees and has seemingly turned over this responsibility to foreign aid agencies.”

The aftermath of government’s scuttling of the MOA-AD is continuing war and greater human suffering resulting from the insecure situation of displaced families and entire communities. They have been forced to virtually abandon their farms and homes. Their children cannot go to school as most of these serve as evacuation centers.

Then there is the constant fear of the Moros that they would be branded “terrorist” with the subsequent terrifying consequences.

The danger that the root causes fueling the armed conflict will again be papered over and the resort once more to the failed militarist solution is real. The Arroyo regime appears hell bent on obliterating whatever gains have been achieved in 11 years of negotiations with the MILF.

The impending impact of the global financial and economic crisis portends further economic hardships and greater misery for the Filipino people. But for those living in war-torn areas such as in Muslim Mindanao, the adverse effects are bound to be amplified by military offensives and consequent human rights and international humanitarian law violations.

As if to add insult to injury, there is strong evidence of growing US involvement in military campaigns and operations against the MILF, a revolutionary organization that is not even officially tagged by the US as a "foreign terrorist organization".

The longer the Arroyo regime tries to put off dealing with the issues of the Bangsa Moro's ancestral domain and right to self-determination, the more it will inflict suffering and misery on the Moro people, and the more they will be forced to fight back to survive. The time will come when the government will be forced to go back to the negotiating table and honor its own signature on the MOA-AD. #