DAVAO CITY – Militant group Suara Bangsamoro demanded the pullout of soldiers from what it described as civilian facilities in Maguindanao to avoid threats to the lives of evacuees.
Jerome Succor Aba, spokesperson of Suara Bangsamoro, said soldiers pursuing the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Maguindanao had been occupying civilian facilities in Barangay Madia, Datu Saudi Ampatuan town. This, he said, had put the lives of evacuees, who have sought refuge in the adjacent madrasah, in danger.
Aba said soldiers belonging to the 2nd Mechanized Batallion of the Philippine Army and the Marine Landing Battalion Team 8 had occupied the barangay (village) hall of Madia for more than two weeks now.
They even set up artillery equipment beside the building, which is adjacent to the madrasah (Islamic school), where over 267 families have sought refuge due to the all-out offensive against the BIFF.
“They have already suffered trauma, loss of livelihood, and destruction of properties as a result of the military operations in the village,” said Aba, who joined the March 11 multisectoral peace and humanitarian mission in the area. “Now, their lives are under threat,” he added. “Stationed in the barangay hall are military personnel and military vehicles including more than ten (10) tanks and several trucks.”
He said local officials of Madia could no longer use the barangay hall because the military has been using the building as command post, turning the residents in the vicinity as human shields.
READ: BIFF, MILF war: Army to protect civilians
“The presence of state troops in the area endangers the lives of the civilians,” he said, “The structures they occupy become legitimate targets of attacks from their enemies,” Aba said.
“This only comes to show that the AFP is not interested in protecting the population from so-called terrorist groups, but has turned out to be a terrorist itself,” he added.
Madia Barangay Chair Eidris Sindatok said insurgent groups launched a long-range attack using an M-79 rifle against the soldiers in Madia on March 6. The resulting evacuations disrupted livelihood and the schooling of children.
Aba said soldiers of the 2nd Mechanized Battalion were setting up at least two mortars ready for the next shelling apparently directed at nearby barangay Dasikil, when the mission left Madia at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
“If they were indeed pursuing rebels, they would position themselves in areas where their enemies camp, so as not pose danger to the lives of noncombatants,” he said.
As this developed, at least 93,402 residents had fled their homes as the military combat operation continued, according to data from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao government.
READ: Gov’t forces kill 73 Moro rebels, lose 4 soldiers
The ARMM’s Humanitarian Emergency Action and Response Team (Heart) said 13 towns were now affected by the military operation.
Laisa Alamia, Heart head, expressed fear that the relief supply will eventually run out as their budget was shrinking too.
The government needs at least P2,861,250 per day just for the food supplies of the displaced residents, she said.
“For this week, we will be able to do another round of relief operation. I think we will breach the 100,000 mark for IDPs,” Alamia said.
She said the ARMM government was also running out of medicines for the displaced residents, which are necessary to prevent outbreak of diseases in the evacuation centers.
She said the regional government was set to talk with such international aid groups as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) for additional support.
Requests, Alamia said, were also sent to the national offices of the Department of Health and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Apparently, many of the international aid and UN agencies have already slowly pulled out resources and shifted to larger conflicts, such as in Syria, when the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front went on smoothly in the past few years until the Mamasapano incident of January 25, she said.
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