NDCC, LGU officials draw up contingency measures for IDPs in Basilan

Officials of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) and chief executives of the Local Government Units (LGUs) in Western Mindanao gathered here Monday to draw up emergency plans for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the region.

NDCC chief retired General Glenn Rabonza and Usec. Ernesto Carolina met behind closed doors with chairs of the Provincial Disaster Council (PDC) from Basilan, Sulu and provinces of Zamboanga on IDPs situation in their respective area of responsibility.

“We are preparing for something that will not even happen, but if it happened then government is ready to response to save life and to avert losses and to reduce human sufferings,” Rabonza told reporters after the NDCC meeting at Western Mindanao Command headquarters.

He said they assisted PDCs in drawing up their preparedness plans and were briefed by the frontline agencies of humanitarian assistance – the DILG, DSWD, DOH and Red Cross – on their contingency plans for IDPs in Basilan.

The moves came amid heightened tension in Basilan between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) following the clash Monday in the hinterland of Sungkayat, Ungkaya Pukan town.

Troops from the Marine Battalion Landing Team-8 (MBLT-8) attacked the hideout of Abu Sayyaf militants, blamed for the beheading of 10 members of the Philippine Marines in the July 10 incident in Guinanta, Al Barka town.

Military said marines engaged a 15-minute sporadic gunbattle with the group of Indama Puruji, one of the four Abu Sayyaf militants implicated in the beheading and mutilation of 10 marines, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Numbers of IDPs, mostly children, women and elderly persons and some families of MILF have swelled now to 6,000 since last week’s police serving of arrest warrants to 130 members of the MILF and the ASG.

Heavy gun battle occurred early last month when Abu Sayyaf bandits allegedly backed by MILF rebels ambushed the troops of the 1st Marine Brigade in barangay Ginanta, Al-Barka town.

The marine troops were ambushed while they were returning to their base after checking the veracity of the information that Italian Catholic priest Fr. Giancarlo Bossi, 57, was sighted in Tipo-Tipo, which is adjacent to Al-Barka.

Rabonza disclosed that Basilan Province, which is currently most affected by conflict, has no established evacuation centers have been established yet, and the thousands of IDPs are still staying in the houses of their relatives and neighbors.

He said the government is readying to take proactive action in anticipation of possible problems because of police actions.

Among the anticipated problems is a possible spillover of violence should fighting break as police units, backed up by the military, serve warrants of arrest against behind the beheading, according to the retired general.

The office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the ARMM declined to comment on whether there were families of MILF in the IDPs, saying identifying the enemy of the state or enemy of anybody is not their job.

“Identifying them is already police matter. Our job is to help evacuees, not to identify and what I know if they need our help, we are there to help them,” said DSWD-ARMM Secretary Hadja Bai Racma Ambolodto.

Meanwhile, PNP-ARMM director, chief Supt. Joel Goltiao, called on the evacuees in Basilan to return to their homes as Usec. Carolina assured them of their safety in the areas.

“They are safe to go back to their respective places because there is no military operations,” said Goltiao. “It is advisable for them to go back to their houses as there is no all out war in their areas.”