ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Apr. 2, 2014) – Some 300 Muslims on Wednesday have protested the government’s failure to facilitate the return of thousands of war refugees still in filthy evacuation camps in Zamboanga City in southern Philippines.
Many refugees and protesters, some of them Christians – carrying placards, streamers and a coffin – marched from a mosque in the village of Santa Barbara to Plaza Pershing in downtown Zamboanga where their leaders and Islamic preachers spoke about the poor plight of the evacuees. Some put the numbers of the protesters between 500 to 800.
Gammar Hassan, one of the refugee leaders, said more than 100 people had died from diseases the past months in evacuations sites and the deaths are continuing due to poor health services and malnutrition and lack medical and emergency facilities there.
Senator Nancy Binay, who was alarmed by the rising casualties in refugee camps, has filed Resolution 566 urging the Senate to investigate the reported deaths and look into the health of children living in evacuation centers.
More than 120,000 had been displaced in September last year following attacks by about 400 Moro National Liberation Front rebels in Zamboanga City. The attacks sparked three weeks of street battles that killed and wounded over 400 people. At least 6 villages were burned to the ground due to the fighting, although there were unconfirmed reports that arsonists were behind some of the burning of houses in predominantly Muslim villages even after the fighting stopped.
President Benigno Aquino said the government already spent some P273.8 million in relief aid and cash-for-work program for those displaced by the war. He also allocated an additional P3.5 billion for the rehabilitation efforts here and these were on top of the millions of pesos in cash and aid that the provincial government of Sulu has sent to Zamboanga to help feed the refugees. The provincial government of Basilan and Tawi-Tawi also sent some aid to refugees in Zamboanga.
But Hassan said the government has prevented them from returning to their villages and has forced the refugees to relocation sites far away. He said majority of the refugees have opposed the government’s relocation plan to put them in other areas saying it would be extremely difficult for them to rebuild their lives.
The refugees, many of them Tausug from Sulu ; Yakan, from Basilan; and indigenous Badjao tribe from Tawi-Tawi province – engaged in fishing and other traditional livelihoods – were being relocated to the far villages of Tulungatung and Taluksangay from their original habitat in the coastal villages of Rio Hondo and Mariki and other areas. Some female refugees have resorted to prostitution just to be able to survive because government aid has already stopped.
The government has built bunkhouses as temporary shelters to those affected by the violence, but it also warned that villagers who are not natives of Zamboanga would not be allowed to return to their former abode, unless they can provide certificates to show they are landowners.
While others protested the relocation plan, many also praised the local government for providing them a living quarter and were elated by their new bunkhouses houses, saying it greatly helped them in rebuilding their family and future. The P10-million bunkhouses, built by the army, were funded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Hassan also accused the government of preventing them from speaking out the truth about the sad plight of refugees. “They don’t even want us to voice our concerns,” he said.
He said refugees cannot even find a job and some are even afraid to leave the evacuation camps for fear that their women and children will fall prey to rapists, or thieves will take away the little things they have.“It’s difficult to say these things, but this is the real situation on the ground,” he said.
Hassan also said they welcome the senate probe on the deaths of refugees in evacuation centers and called on Binay to come to Zamboanga and look into the heart-breaking plight of those living in evacuation areas. The poor sanitation at the sports complex makes it uninhabitable for many, and is continuously threatening the health of elderly, the women and the children.
“Senator Nancy Binay, we welcome you to grandstand in Zamboanga. Hoping for your fair and just investigation on the death in our evacuation centers, IDPs’ hope are on you now,” he said, referring to internally displaced persons at the Joaquin Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex.
Hassan also pins his hope to the new Archbishop of Zamboanga, the Most Rev. Romulo dela Cruz, to help them. “It’s a challenge to him as new church head in the city, since no Christian communities and churches reached their hands to us aside from some Christian families helping by bringing foods and clothing,” he said.
He also urged the local government to allow the refugees to return to their places instead of holding them in evacuation centers. “Build back better till we all die in pain. Who will enjoy the promised development and rehabilitation? Send us home now, not tomorrow,” Hassan said.
Even access to clean and potable water and portable toilets are also a huge problem in refugee centers, particularly at the Joaquin Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex.
Binay said: “The health of families, especially those of the vulnerable – children and the elderly – must be continuously monitored and evaluated by the authorities.”
Citing medical reports from Zamboanga City, Binay said many of those who died had suffered from diarrhoea and other fatal diseases among children and adults in evacuation camps. Diarrhoea is the leading cause of the children’s deaths while acute gastroenteritis and other respiratory ailments such as pneumonia and asthma leading to cardiac arrest are the primary causes of adult deaths, she said, quoting a medical report from Zamboanga.
“This is an alarming trend, as many people continue to stay inside the camps,” she said, adding the health of the displaced persons is a paramount concern and the reports of continues deaths of refugees in Zamboanga has alarmed the senator, who is also the daughter of Vice President Jejomar Binay.
Just before Christmas, President Benigno Aquino flew to Zamboanga City and briefly inspected temporary shelters occupied by refugees. Aquino assured them of the government’s rehabilitation efforts, saying his administration is working closely with various agencies to rebuild houses destroyed during the war. (Mindanao Examiner)
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