Spared by bullets, 1,600 who fled war stricken by diseases

A TRICYCLE is packed with evacuees and their belongings as people flee attacks by renegade Moro guerrillas in Pikit, North Cotabato that prompted an all-out offensive by the military on orders
of President Aquino. JEOFFREY MAITEM/INQUIRER MINDANAO

COTABATO CITY—The displacement of people by the government war on renegade Moro guerrillas is taking its toll on the health of the evacuees with at least 1,600 of them getting sick, according to autonomous region and provincial officials.

“There is no fatality but at least 1,600 IDPs (internally displaced persons) are sick and still counting,” said Dr. Kadil Sinolinding, regional health secretary of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), in a phone interview.

The number of evacuees has swollen to 45,000 people coming from seven towns in Maguindanao that have become battlegrounds between government soldiers and members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a breakaway group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front which has a peace agreement with the Aquino administration.

“Our hands are full since day one (of the fighting),” said Sinolinding. “No one should die in evacuation centers,” he said.

He said conditions in evacuation centers are conducive to highly communicable diseases.

Sinolinding said all available health providers in the region and towns not yet affected by the fighting are now helping prevent the spread of diseases.

He said in evacuation sites, diarrhea is likely to occur due to lack of safe drinking water. Among the symptoms of diseases noted by health providers are fever, cough, skin rashes and diarrhea.

Dr. Tahir Sulaik, Maguindanao health chief, said health workers are trying to ensure the evacuees are safe from water-borne disease.

Sulaik said water is being treated.

Sinolinding said every evacuation center in Maguindanao’s seven towns has at least one or two health providers on standby 24 hours a day.

“Ambulances are on call. Health workers and facilities from towns not affected by displacement came over to help,” Sinolinding said. “This is to prevent humanitarian crisis from happening,” he added.

Psychologists are also available to deal with trauma, he said.

“They are here to provide listening ears and shoulders to cry on for our traumatized civilians,” said Sinolinding.

Lawyer Laisa Alamia, executive secretary of the ARMM and chair of the regional government’s Humanitarian Emergency Action and Response Team (Heart), said as of Thursday, the number of evacuees has reached 46,900.

On orders of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, Alamia said Heart is implementing a system to put order in the evacuation centers.

“We would like to cover all that is why we determine which agency attends to which evacuation sites,” Alamia said.

Aside from food, Alamia said evacuees are in dire need of blankets, mosquito nets, tarpaulin, water containers and medicines.

If the war does not end soon, Alamia said Heart would have to put in place a larger evacuation plan.

“Drinking water is a problem but that is being addressed,” she said.

Firetrucks, she added, are providing water for bathing and washing. Heart, she added, plans to build one toilet for every 250 persons per evacuation site.

During the fighting, the military said two BIFF camps and a bomb-making factory had been found and neutralized by government soldiers. Edwin O. Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao