ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / May 7, 2014) – Police said it helped convinced many war refugees in Zamboanga City to avail of the government’s relocation program rather than stay in filthy evacuation centers.
Police also denied reports that it arrested a war refugee Abdil Sakandal for putting up a sign outside his tent opposing the relocation. The Department of Social Welfare and Development complained to the police authorities that Sakandal violated public order.
Sakandal’s signs read: “Ayaw naming ilipat kung saan-saan lugar. Kung saan kami nagmula doon pa rin sa Rio Hondo at Mariki.” And “No to relocation. Only in Mariki.”
Human rights groups said Sakandal was only expressing his sentiments and his rights must be respected.
Senior Inspector Joseph Ortega, a regional police spokesman, said officers only invited Sakandal at the police station to explain to him about the government’s relocation program and convinced the refugee to remove the signs because it will only create agitation among other refugees.
Some of the refugees also put up signs opposing their relocation to other areas, but also removed them later.
“There was no arrest and we only invited the refugee at the office and explained to him about the good intention of the government’s relocation program and he was convinced by it and he eventually removed all the signs he put outside his tent. Our intention really is good. We uphold human rights because we are the protector of the people,” Ortega told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
Sakandal, a resident of Rio Hondo, was among hundreds of refugees still staying at the beachfront along Roseller Lim Boulevard. The government has offered them to relocate in bunkhouses in other villages while the rehabilitation project is still going on.
Mayor Maria Isabelle Salazar has vowed to protect human rights in Zamboanga City and called on the public to support the government in the pursuit of peace and development here. “We respect human rights and we uphold the rights of citizens in Zamboanga,” she told the Mindanao Examiner.
The United Nations and the Human Rights Watch have issued separate statements over the plight of thousands of war victims are still in filthy evacuation centers eight months after Moro National Liberation Front members attacked Zamboanga.
The assault left more than 400 people dead and wounded and displaced over 120,000 villagers following three weeks of deadly street clashes and house to house battle.
The mayor said there are bunkhouses for refugees where they can temporarily stay while the government works on the rehabilitation projects in areas devastated by the fighting. But many refugees wanted to return to their original village and habitat.
Gammar Hassan, a refugee leader, said since September, said at least 117 refugees, including children, had died from diseases in the evacuation sites and the number of casualties is still rising due to lack of medical and emergency facilities there.
Salazar has appealed to citizens to support the government’s peace and development programs in an effort to build back better Zamboanga.
President Benigno Aquino visited Zamboanga City in December and accompanied by Salazar inspected the sports complex where thousands of refugees are staying. He assured them of the government’s rehabilitation efforts, saying his administration is working closely with various agencies to rebuild houses destroyed during the war.
Aquino said the government already spent some P273.8 million in relief aid and cash-for-work program for those displaced by the fighting and that he allocated an additional P3.5 billion for the rehabilitation efforts here. (Mindanao Examiner)
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