ROMY ELUSFA
MARAWI CITY—The recent "abuses" allegedly done by soldiers against Muslim civilians in war affected areas in Mindanao has given the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) more reason not to agree on the demobilization, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) formula that government has set as pre-requisite for the peace process to continue.
Atty. Blo Umpar Adiong, legal counsel of the MILF and president of a local human rights group named Kabnar, told a media forum organized by civil society organizations in Lanao del Sur that the MILF has "already been demobilize during the past six years" as a result of the ceasefire agreement they agreed with the government.
The sad part of the MILF's demobilization, Adiong said is the alleged increase in the number of cases of human rights violations against their constituents.
"What we have are mounting human rights violation cases against the Bangsamoro people—injustices against our people," he said.
The Office of the Presidential Assistance on the Peace Process is currently conducting consultation meetings with civil society organizations (CSO) in Mindanao in its effort to explain why the government is pushing for DDR.
But Dr. Safrulla Dipatuan, representative of the Bangsamoro Development Agency in Lanao del Sur, said that the government has no moral ascendancy to discuss DDR because "it could not even abide by and implement" the things they have already agreed in the peace negotiations. He was referring to the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain which signing was aborted by a restraining order of the Supreme Court.
"They can even dare violate or not honor the things they agreed with us now that the MILF is still armed, how much more if we have already laid down our arms," Dipatuan asked.
While government is pushing for DDR, the internally displaced persons in North Cotabato, Maguindanao and the two provinces of Lanao are asking government to stop the war against the MILF.
The call was echoed during rallies in Cotabato City and at the evacuation center in Datu Piang, Maguindanao last Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
The protesters, shouting "no to war in Mindanao," and "yes to peace in Mindanao," were asking the United Nations to "intervene" in resolving the conflict in Southern Philippines. Aside from huge streamers that bannered the call to stop the war, utility tricycles also carried a short bond paper size that carried the call.
Among the alleged human rights violations reported in the war affected areas are illegal arrest, torture, burning of houses of civilians, looting and harassment.
Datu Musa Diamla, who represented the provincial government of Lanao del Norte in the forum with CSOs here last Wednesday, reported that there were 28,437 internally displaced persons in his province as of last September 26. Excluded in the figure are 499 families in Malatag, 829 in Malugon and over 600 in Kalanugas.
The figure could be more, Diamla said while citing many Maranao evacuees who have opted to stay with their relatives. They pegged the number of evacuees at various evacuation centers at only five percent of the total number of displaced families.
Diamla also reported 19 houses burnt and estimated the damage to have cost P3.3 million.
While he claims that the government has "worked hard to assist our displaced families," he agreed that there is a humanitarian crisis in the area, citing lack of relief goods and medicines for the evacuees. ###
