A joint team of activists in the country will travel to the conflict affected provinces of North Cotabato, Maguindanao and Lanao del Norte on October 22-25, 2008 to provide humanitarian response to Moro and Christian evacuees there.
Dubbed as "The National Interfaith Humanitarian Mission (NIHM),' this is the first time since the government's all out war against the so-called rogue MILF rebels that has already claimed 83 lives as of September 21, many of whom innocent civilians.
The mission focuses on communities without or with the least access to assistance in the said three provinces. It will also document the extent and impact of the war and investigate the human rights violations and international humanitarian law violations in the areas.
The mission to the three provinces includes relief, medical, and psychosocial assistance. But because of limited resources, the NIHM will focus its assistance to five towns in Lanao del Norte and two towns in North Cotabato and Maguindanao.
Organizers said they have determined that these areas have received little or no assistance from government and non-government agencies, or have experienced discrimination in relief efforts. Many of these communities are remotely located and relief assistance is not easily accessible.
They said the mission will undertake its operation in the following areas with the corresponding number of IDPs. However, given limited resources, the Mission will have to focus on certain villages from these municipalities:
Lanao del Norte – Kauswagan (2,779 IDPs), Kolambugan (3,125 IDPs), Munai (2,012 IDPs, Poona Piagapo (619 IDPs), and Tangkal (1,503 IDPs); North Cotabato to Maguindanao – Pikit (7,938 IDPs), Datu Piang (5,739 IDPs).
Based on the NIHM data, it showed that some 528,053 individuals have been displaced by the raging all-out war in Mindanao. Children, women, and the elderly are the most vulnerable to the ongoing hostilities.
"They make up a majority of the 110,389 families in 354 villages mostly located in Lanao del Norte, North Cotabato, Maguindanao, and Basilan. They are cramped into a total of 123 evacuation centers in all affected provinces," said Marie Hilao Enriquez, NIHM lead convenor.
She said more evacuation centers are being opened by government as of this writing, but a greater number, some 253,255 persons, are finding shelter outside evacuation centers with relatives, away from the services of government agencies and non-government relief institutions.
According to her, measles, common chronic diseases, diarrhea, and other illnesses have been monitored. Mortality among evacuees has been attributed by the government to lack of resources and lack of access to particular communities.
"This, as children struggle to overcome trauma (with government providing limited psychosocial intervention) and lag behind because of disruption of classes as schools are converted into evacuation centers," she said.
"Aggravating their conditions is the lack of medical personnel, the small ratio of available toilets to evacuees, insufficient garbage disposal, and the intermittent security and safety threats to evacuees resulting from skirmishes."
Some 202 houses of civilians have been totally razed. More than 120 million pesos worth of public and private property has been damaged, including schools, livestock and crops. Hostilities--- which include aerial bombardments, shelling, and massive troop deployment-- have created this unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
The pursuit of MILF rebels allegedly responsible for criminal attacks against civilian populations has left a trail of massive internal displacement and has spawned more violations to human rights and international humanitarian law.
The impact of the one-tracked objective of the AFP to get at all cost MILF commanders Bravo and Ombra Kato--- alleged to have killed civilians, burned houses, and committed other atrocities--- has far cancelled out its purported aim of protecting civilian populations.
"This complex emergency is expected to turn for the worse as there seems to be no end to the fighting. Already, 50% of the combat capable forces of the AFP are deployed in Mindanao," Enriquez said.
The peace negotiations, where hostilities are governed by existing agreements, are in limbo with the dissolution of the government's peace panel and the government's transformation of its peace policy into Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR).
Leaders of Karapatan, Kawagib Moro Human Rights, Children's Rehabilitation Center – Southern Mindanao, Health Action for Human Rights, Bayan Muna Suara Bangsamoro, Kalinaw Mindanao, and Gabriela Women's Party have organized the humanitarian mission.
They will make a public presentation of the initial reports of the NIHM on October 24, 2008 in the morning at El Comedor Grille, Sinsuat Avenue in Cotabato City with panel of speakers and presenters from the different activist groups.
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