MANILA, Philippines—Nearly all families in Lanao del Norte displaced by the four-month-old military offensive against recalcitrant commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front have returned to their homes, the Department of Social Welfare and Development said Friday.

Of the 37, 033 families that have been staying in evacuation centers, 30,405 families or about 152,000 people have already gone back to their homes, said DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral in a statement.

Cabral said it was the "improved peace and order situation in the conflict affected areas in Mindanao" that was among the reasons why the families have chosen to return to their homes.

Cabral said the internally displaced persons (IDPs) were from the municipalities of Kausawagan, Kolambugan, Poona Piagapo, Munai, Tangkal, Pantar Ragat, Magsaysay, Maigo, Tubod, and Iligan City.

The DSWD has provided P76 million worth of assistance, consisting of food and non-food items, to the affected families.

Scores of civilians and soldiers, and an undetermined number of rebels, have been killed in the fighting.

Some 145,000 families, or almost 700,000 individuals, were affected by the fighting in Central Mindanao after the Arroyo government vowed to hunt down and arrest MILF commanders Ameril Ombra Kato, Abdullah Macapaar alias Commander Bravo, and Aleem Sulaiman Pangalian after they went on a rampage in protest of the non-signing of the Memorandum on Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), which the Supreme Court had declared unconstitutional.

Critics have said the MOA-AD would have carved out a portion of Mindanao for the rebel secessionist group.