RELIEF MISSION. The People’s Council for National Unity Reforms and Peace groups composed of progressive and religious organizations hold a second mission for 3 days in Brgy Salbo, Brgy Dapyawan and Brgy Timbangan of Shariff Aguak were there are 500 families affected by All-out offensive by the Armed Forces of the Philiipines against Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter. (Ace R. Morandante/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY – Groups led by the People’s Council for National Unity, Reforms and Peace left here Tuesday morning to visit several towns of Maguindanao province for a humanitarian relief, medical and psychosocial mission.
The mission aimed to aid the ballooning number of evacuees amidst the government’s intensified “all-out offensive” against Moro rebels.
The group said some 8, 236 families comprising 55, 000 individuals are now in evacuation centers across 11 Maguindanao towns “and are in dire need of support for their daily sustenance.”
Among the 120 participants are from the Suara Bangsamoro, Kawagib, Panalipdan-Southern Mindanao and Bayan from Davao City and social work students from the Cotabato City State Polytechnic College, Notre Dame University Psychosocial Team, Makabayan, Kilusang Mayo Uno, RVM sisters, Marist Brothers, OND Sisters and Liga ng Kabataan Moro and former senatorial candidate, Satur Ocampo.
This is the groups’ second mission to Maguindanao as some of their convenors were in the town of Mamasapano early February as part of an independent investigating body of the botched police operation which killed nearly 70 people on January 25.
A group of Philippine National Police – Special Action Force officers entered Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano last January 25 to “serve” a warrant of arrest to Zulkifli Bin Hir alias Marwan, a high-value target of the United States.
While authorities claimed victory as the operation killed Marwan, many consider it a failure by the sheer number of people killed in an ensuing gun battle between the SAF and members of Moro armed groups Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and a “private armed group.”
After the “Mamasapano incident,” the armed forces have set their eyes on Abdul Basit Usman, the Filipino “right hand” of Usman also wanted by the US for terrorism.
The Army alleged that Usman and about five other terrorists are being sheltered by the BIFF.
However, Bai Ali Indayla, spokesperson of Moro human rights group Kawagib said “the Army is practically targeting the communities of Moro civilians. Their indiscriminate firing of mortar cannons and aerial bombs hit houses of civilians.”
She said “the sheer number of the bakwits (internally-displace persons) alone tells us how big the impact of this operation is in the lives of the Moro people.”
Indayla said they got reports of wounded civilians but they have yet to verify these as the mission will start in the area Wednesday.
“We have reports that soldiers padlocked the homes of the civilians and will not allow them to return to their community,” she said.
Sheena Duazo, spokesperson of Bayan, said “the mission aside aims to hear the side of the civilians on how the state waged this so-called all-out offensive.”
“We want to see for ourselves the hidden interests of this war which is most likely to secure the way of foreign investments deep into the Moro people’s territory,” she said.
Duazo, said “like other provinces in Mindanao, the story is all the same, the state forces are waging a war against the people.”
“In Southern Mindanao and Northern Mindanao, the ancestral lands of the indigenous peoples are the staging area of the state forces in their war against communist guerillas but the IPs become the target themselves,” she said.
The group will have a series of missions to help the municipalities of Datu Hoffer Ampatuan, Datu Salibo, Datu Saudi-Ampatuan, Datu Unsay, Mamasapano, Pagalungan, Rajah Buayan, Shariff Aguak (Maganoy), and Shariff Saydona Mustapha in the province of Maguindano and Pikit in North Cotabato.
For this mission, the groups will distribute food packs and other goods to Barangay Salbu and Barangay Dapiawan in the town of Datu Saudi-Amptuan and Barangay Timbangan of Shariff Aguak, where a total of 500 evacuees sought refuge.(davaotoday.com)
