Fighting ends but residents wait to return home

SOLDIERS belonging to the 103rd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army and members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces-Moro Islamic Liberation Front repaint the elementary school building near Camp Busra in Butig, Lanao del Sur province. RICHEL UMEL

MARAWI CITY—Most residents displaced by clashes between government troops and members of the Maute terror group in Butig town in Lanao del Sur province have to wait for clearance from the military before they return to their villages, despite a declaration that armed men had been driven out of the town, an official said.

Vice Gov. Al Rashid Lucman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) said while some of more than 2,500 families who evacuated when armed men stormed the town on Nov. 24 have started to return home, some areas in Butig, especially those previously occupied by the Maute group, have yet to be cleared of unexploded ordnance.

“[This] prevented other villagers from returning home,” said Lucman, also ARMM social welfare secretary.

With the military’s declaration, relief workers in ARMM started augmenting aid initially provided by the provincial government to Butig evacuees.

Myrna Jo Henry, speaking for the ARMM’s Humanitarian Emergency Action Response Team (ARMM-HEART), said regional aid workers have been assisting 2,540 families in Butig and nearby Lumbayanague town.

Henry said of this number, only 627 families (3,137 people) are in evacuation sites in Butig. She said 1,823 families (9,119 people) fled to other areas.

Lucman said some houses were burned by Maute gang members while other structures caught fire after these were hit by shelling from both sides.

He said the ARMM government would help the Lanao del Sur government and the affected towns in rebuilding.

Another concern, he said, was the condition of children, who were “traumatized” after violence erupted in their communities and disrupted their families’ lives.

“The children are heavily affected … I see their faces, their eyes—these are all full of fear,” said Lucman, who joined the ARMM-Heart team in distributing relief assistance.

He said at the height of the shelling, children would tremble and hug each other, even if the explosions were happening far from where they had sought refuge with their families.

“You can see them shaking in fear. This is one psychological effect of war that is very hard to address,” he said.

He said the ARMM government would conduct sessions with children to help them overcome the impact of the conflict.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman said the regional government has asked the military to station soldiers in Butig to reassure residents that they would protect them.  —EDWIN FERNANDEZ AND JULIE ALIPALA