Giving birth and other stories from Mindanao’s evacuation centers

MANILA - It was trying enough for Rebecca Solon to live with scarce supplies of food water the past month, a difficulty shared by the Monobos who have been living in evacuation tents in Tandag, Surigao del Sur, since they flee their homes in neighboring Lianga town.

Now she finds herself in a worse fix. Solon gave birth to her first child last August 17 at the small evacuation center of the Diocese Pastoral Center. There it would be a luxury to ask for vitamins, clothes, blankets, and other baby things.

“We did not bring any when we came down,” she said. She only borrows pots and clothes from other lumads in the camp.

“It is difficult to live here. It would be better to raise a child in our home,” Solon was quoted in a media release by the group Kalumaran. Her baby is the fourth child to be born in the evacuation center, while there are 13 pregnant women among the evacuees.

Solon and her still unnamed baby girl are among the 1,753 Manobo lumads who were driven to Tandag when military men from the 58th Infantry Battalion arrived in their villages.

Though unsure when she can return home, Solon still hopes that government will send in help for evacuees or “bakwits” like them.

‘We’re Still Here’

In other parts of Mindanao where the military and Muslim rebels have clashed, displaced residents are not as optimistic with government assistance.

“You call on the government, nobody will listen to you. No help comes. If there’s any, it is just temporary. After that, we received nothing else. So why do we need to ask them for help?” Linog Macalig, a Maranao farmer from Piagapo town in Lanao del Sur, told Newsbreak in a phone interview.

Macalig, 45, said that the only time authorities paid attention to the deplorable state of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) was when clashes was sparked by the cancellation of the signing of the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD) between the government and Muslim secessionists in August 2008.

Their story, he said, was forgotten months after.

“When you don’t see us on TV it doesn’t mean that there are no more bakwits. We are still here,” he said.

1 Room, 7 Families

Macalig joined the exodus of thousands away from their homes when the military carried out a manhunt against rogue commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in August 2008.

Macalig recounted bitterly how the military burned his nipa house and tore down other houses in the village of Talao. He said the soldiers told him that they saw an MILF combatant in his house.

With nothing saved from the fire, Macalig managed to provide his 9 children with pasteboards to sleep on, just to ease the chill from the concrete floor. “Our life is painful here. If others can only see us, maybe they will cry when they see our condition.”

Bubongtawaan Primary School was turned into an evacuation center for displaced residents from the villages of Talao and Palacat in Piagapo. Bubongtawaan is not a regular school, actually—it’s just 1 room struggling to home 7 families, including the Macaligs.

Along with her 2 kids, 38-year old Salima Solaiman shares the small room with the Macaligs.

Though she can no longer recall the exact day when her family was forced to leave their home, she said she clearly remembers how her nightmare began.

Solaiman said nothing has changed in the evacuation center except that the children evacuees catch a bad cold more often.

DSWD Efforts

The heat inside the evacuation center was unbearable during the day, while at night, Solaiman said, her children have to endure the damp floor and the cold dew that penetrates through the rusty roof of the school.

Macalig said his family depends on the food handed by relatives, since they cannot rely on the relief goods that the government always promises. From what he remembered, there have only been 3 relief operations in Bubongtawaan since August 2008.

Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral, however, said that the government continues to extend assistance to the IDPs in Mindanao.

“These efforts are spearheaded by the DSWD, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), in cooperation with other non-government organizations (NGOs). We are deeply concerned about the displaced civilians, they are our first priority,” Cabral said.

Other than aids coming from international organizations and government agencies, DSWD has provided P97 million worth of assistance to families caught in the armed clashes in the provinces of North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Saranggani, and Sultan Kudarat in Central Mindanao; Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur in Northern Mindanao; Basilan, Maguindanao and Shariff Kabunsuan in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), as of January 2009.

DSWD also provided supplemental feeding program to around 23,627 children in conflict-torn areas in Maguindanao, Shariff Kabunsuan, Lanao del Sur, North Cotabato, and Lanao del Norte. It also released P5.19 million worth of "pabaon" family food packs to some 7,423 family evacuees in Lanao del Norte.

It also released some P22.4 million for rehabilitation projects in conflict-torn areas in Mindanao. In July 2009, DSWD said it has P2.5 million worth of food relief ready for distribution.

Not Enough Help

Bert Macapanton, human rights officer of Ranaw Consortium of Human Rights Advocates, said that poor healthcare and absence of relief assistance are the problems that evacuees have to deal with every day.

“Flu and diarrhea are rampant among children, and there’s a great need for medical assistance. There were efforts from the non-government organizations and the local government to conduct regular medical missions, but they are not enough,” he said.

Macapanton said that the government should focus on providing livelihood and continuous health service to the IDPs.

The stories of Solon, Macalig, Solaiman and were among the many stories of 745,763 evacuees that have not yet returned to their homes following the recurring conflict in Mindanao.

In November 2008, the NDCC estimated that 293, 315 evacuees already moved out of the evacuation centers. However, Macapanton said these bakwits did not return to their homes. They just left the evacuation centers to take refuge in the homes of their relatives in the neighboring towns. (Newsbreak)