A study by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has put the Philippines in international limelight again. Under the leadership of President Macapagal-Arroyo, our country has topped the list of the highest number of victims of internal displacement or forcible displacement.
In the article by Jeof Maitem published in a national broadsheet, documented figures of victims of internal displacement in the southern part of the country reached 600,000 last year. But this figure from the NRC study only documented those who were displaced by the fighting between the Moro liberation groups and the government forces.
It is also important to realize that forcible displacement or internal migration in other parts of Mindanao also happen at the onslaught of the militarization a.k.a “Oplan Bantay Laya” (Operational Plan Freedom Guard) and the “investment defense force policy” being enforced by the Arroyo government. Both are clearly maligned and futile attempts to counter the rising insurgency in the country.
As election fever heats up, this expos by the NRC should serve as a strong reminder to all 2010 electoral candidates of the grave importance of their peace and human rights agenda amidst the worsening status of the ongoing civil war in the country which has resulted to a vicious cycle of death and displacement, to a culture of impunity and violence and has put the country under a veil of an unannounced martial law.
As an organization working with the indigenous peoples in Mindanao, our experiences alone have shown us the brutal and inhumane face of these government polices. For instance, in Southern Mindanao region alone, we together with rights groups have documented in 2008 (and validated by media reports) a series of internal displacements victimizing hundreds of families of Lumads or indigenous peoples: 150 families of Ata-Manobo, more than 400 families of Mandaya from Baganga, Davao Oriental, more than 100 families of Mansaka and Mandaya from New Bataan, Compostela Valley Province, more than 70 families of Dibabawon-Manobo from the towns of Compostela and Monkayo in Compostela Valley Province, and more than 50 Dibabawon families from Montevista.
To focus on the figures alone blinds us of the terror that these victims of internal migration has had to suffer. Internal displacement is but the the result of horrifying crimes that are mostly glossed over by the “figures.” Behind each instance of displacement is a crime perpetuated against humanity — aerial bombardments, hamletting, strafing, torture, summary executions.
All these have been done with impunity, abuse of authority at the behest of the powers that be in government, acting for the protection of foreign and big local mining, hydropower, monocrop investments in the rural areas. And all of these crimes are committed at the expense of the lives, rights, and culture of our indigenous brothers and sisters, who were in fact the genuine stewards of these mineral-rich lands.
As early as now, we are hearing presidentiables and other 2010 hopefuls enumerate their programs on health, education, employment, globalization, and graft and corruption. But we hardly or never hear anyone try to address the cries for justice in the war-torn villages of the Moro people and in the neglected areas of the Lumads and farmers, where as early as now, calendars and shirts soliciting the votes of these majority and marginalized sectors are already being distributed.
Indeed, we wonder why. But one thing is clear, the electorate will and should not vote for someone who will merely continue the Arroyo government’s legacy of causing the highest incidence of internal displacement, extrajudicial killings, killing of the media and passing laws and executive orders that blatantly violates our human rights.
Yes we need jobs, food on the table, education and health services. But what would we need these for if we are dead or in jail for merely trying to stand up for our rights?
We enjoin all to put the candidates’ human rights and justice agenda as a priority qualification or basis for their choice candidate this 2010 elections.
For reference:
Kerlan Fanagel
Pasaka Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao
Dona Juna Subd. Davao City
yutangkabilin@yahoo.com
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