Evacuees’ suffering: It’s indefinite

AS WAR continues between the government and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, residents of Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao province, which has become home to hundreds of evacuees, put up tarpaulins showing who to them are enemies of peace—the three senators blocking the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law. KENNY NODALO/CONTRIBUTOR

COTABATO CITY—Thousands of villagers now cramped in evacuation centers as a result of the ongoing war by the government on renegade Moro guerrillas would have to endure subhuman conditions in the shelters indefinitely as military officials could not say how long the war would last.

But Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Gov. Mujiv Hataman, leading a humanitarian effort for the evacuees on Tuesday, said the war might last until June.

Capt. Jo-Ann Petinglay, 6th Infantry Division spokesperson, said no fixed date had been set for the war, mainly in Maguindanao province, to end.

“Our operation is continuing,” Petinglay said in a phone interview.

She said the military was not just after members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a group of former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) members disgruntled over peace talks with the government, but also terrorist leaders like Basit Usman and several foreigners.

Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, 6th Infantry Division chief and head of Joint Task Force Central, said a police-Army-Marines task force had been created after Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr., on orders by President Aquino, ordered the war on the BIFF.

Pangilinan appealed to local government officials in areas where the BIFF operates to help “put an end to the atrocities perpetrated by this group.”

“We don’t like this war. Your Army is also tired of war, but we cannot allow these groups to continue terrorizing us,” Pangilinan told mayors of Maguindanao towns.

Petinglay said the MILF had stepped aside to allow the massive operation against the BIFF.

An example of community cooperation in the war on the BIFF, she said, was the foiled bomb attack by the BIFF in the town of Datu Saudi Ampatuan in Maguindanao where an improvised explosive device had been found and safely detonated after a civilian tipped off authorities about it.

The ARMM Humanitarian Emergency Action and Response Team (Heart) reported that as of Tuesday, the number of evacuees had risen to 31,000 people.

The evacuees’ needs were being attended to, said Laisa Alamia, ARMM executive secretary.

Alamia, however, said that if the war continued, “we will run out of supplies.”

“It’s the prepositioning of goods that takes time,” Alamia said.

At least seven villages in the town of Shariff Saydona Mustapha turned into ghost towns after 1,641 families had fled their homes there. In Mamasapano town, site of the

Jan. 25 Special Action Force debacle, at least 2,637 families were evacuated.

Classes had to be suspended, affecting more than 14,000 students.

Hataman said he feared more difficult days ahead for the evacuees who were now housed in schools and village halls in Maguindanao that were far from the fighting.

Hataman said all he could do was appeal to the BIFF to support the peace process between the government and the MILF.

Hataman said he had given President Aquino a briefing on the extent of the evacuations in Maguindanao and had sought help for the evacuees. Edwin O. Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao