Badjao being moved out of the sea

MEMBERS of the seafaring community of Badjao in Zamboanga City flee in their boats at the height of the siege of the city by followers of Moro leader Nur Misuari. EDWIN BACASMAS

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Badjao residents displaced by the three-week siege of the city by followers of Moro leader Nur Misuari in September here are appealing to the government not to uproot them from their traditional habitat—the sea or its coasts.

“It’s as if the government had killed us if it forces us to relocate away from where we wanted to resettle,” Abdusalam Antonio, 60, said.

Zenaida Arevalo, director of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)  in Western Mindanao, had confirmed that an initial batch of at least 100 Badjao families, who used to live on RT Lim Boulevard, are to be relocated to Barangay Tulungatong, which is far from the sea.

Arevalo’s revelation was met with criticism by Arpa Husaying of the Philippine Council of Samah and Badjao.

Husaying said the DSWD appeared to be forcing the Badjao into relocating to the hinterlands.

“[Tulungatong is] a foreign place for the Badjao. My people cannot live in the mountains. It’s the same as putting mountain people to the sea, they cannot survive too,” Husaying said.

“This is not an imposition. They were consulted,” Arevalo said.

She said the 100 families had volunteered to be relocated to Tulungatong during consultations.

Juhura Madane, 54, whose family was among those who agreed to be relocated to Tulungatong, said they were made to understand that the resettlement was temporary.

She said they were also told  they would be eventually relocated to Barangay Mariki, which is near the coast.

Madane agreed it was unthinkable for any Badjao to live far from the sea.

“Even here in Cawa-Cawa, we are already having difficulty surviving. How much more in Tulungatong?” she said.

Janari Hadjirul, a team leader of Badjao evacuees, said many sea people had opposed the DSWD plan.

“The government failed to consider what the Badjao really wanted,” Hadjirul said.

But Arevalo said the transfer to Tulungatong had been finalized and could actually start on Friday.

“Majority of the bunkhouses there had been completed and were ready for occupancy,” she said, adding that there are now 41 units of bunkhouses available for evacuees.

In Taluksangay, Arevalo said eight of the 20 houses programmed for construction had been completed and were ready for occupancy,  while 10 more had been completed at  Don Joaquin F. Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex.

Each bunkhouse, she said, has 12 rooms that can  accommodate up to 15 persons and costs about P516,284.

The bunkhouse’s foundation, the trusses and other parts are made of coconut lumber but the walls are covered with plywood, said Capt. Arvin Cabantug of the 545 Engineering and Construction Battalion.

Cabantug said the bunkhouses have GI sheets for roofs and each room has a window.

The Badjao said they did not care what the bunkhouses were made of as long as these were near the waters if it couldn’t be constructed at sea.

“That’s where we traditionally live,” Insi Alpa Jayari, a 39-year-old mother of four who used to live in Mariki, said.

Nurdiya Alvarez, 38, said this had always been their wish.

“We don’t have any other wish but to live where we are used to, the sea or near it,” she said.

Both Jayari and Alvarez said they could probably live at the resettlement site in Taluksangay because it is at least near the sea.

“But outside of it, we cannot live. Put us back on sea or anywhere near it and we will survive,” Jayari said.