Moro group records 245,522 victims of war; lambasts AFP’s add’l P10-B budget

COTABATO CITY – A Moro human rights group here expresses fresh apprehension that number of innocent civilian victims will magnify with the persistent military operation against MILF commanders Kato, Bravo and Pangalian, now that Ramadhan had concluded.

The Kawagib Moro Human Rights Group has documented, since June, 14 types of human rights violations and International Humanitarian Law (IHL) that has affected 245,522 individuals from the three provinces of Central Mindananao – North Cotabato , Maguindanao and Shariff Kabunsuan.

Bulk of these cases are victims of forcible evacuation due to indiscriminate firing, shelling and aerial bombing while the gravest human rights violation transpired was the massacre of Daya family in Barangay Tee, Datu Piang, Maguindanao, where six are killed – four are children and a pregnant teenager.

Bai Ali Indayla, the group’s spokesperson, said, “Moro residents of Datu Piang and Datu Saudi Ampatuan, reported that around 70 houses were conflagrated and 18 families were divested of their properties by military elements designated in their communities. And these violations transpired while Muslims observe Ramadhan.”

Moreover, Kawagib criticizes the Armed Forces of the Philippines ’ (AFP) additional P10 billion-budget in the ground of an effective hunt against their so-called ‘rogue MILF commanders’ and materiel upgrade. Defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr.. proposed the additional budget which amounts to a 17.7% increase in the P56.6 billion already earmarked under the 2009 national budget.

Indayla stressed that instead of additional war paraphernalia, the proposed additional budget is of big help to supplement assistance to affected civilians.

“The AFP’s bombs and bullets target not only Commanders Kato, Bravo and Pangalian but large number of innocent people. Much has been killed and it’s very disheartening that our military troops that supposed to be the ‘people’s safeguard’ only treat the victims as collateral damage,” Indayla lamented.

Further, the group appeals to the conflicting parties (GRP and MILF) to heed the cry of innocent civilians, respect the rights of the Bangsamoro people and return to the negotiating table.

A National Interfaith Humanitarian Mission, to be spearheaded by Kawagib and several rights and church groups, will be conducted this month in Central Mindanao .

“We call all sectors to support the mission so that we can give a little relief to our Muslim and Christian brethrens,” Indayla concluded

Human Rights group condemns military brutal attacks against civilians, calls observe Protocols of War

Cotabato City- The Kawagib Moro Human Rights Organization here condemn on its highest term the inhumane acts and brutality of the military forces when it indiscriminately dropped bombs from OV10 to families crossing Bugok River in Barangay Tee in Datu Piang, Maguindanao leaving 6 civilians killed, 4 of them minors and a pregnant teenager, and other 2 minors wounded.

The attacks launched by the military troops were no longer attacks against the MILF commanders but an attack to Muslim civilians and communities. The use of planes belies the previous announcement of the AFP not to use planes and mortars in respect of the civilians and Ramadhan but their operations go against their previous statements.

“Their statements contradict to what they are doing, and we are used to these lies of the military officials whenever they committed human rights violations. They denied they used bombs but later admitted they dropped rockets to scare MILF. They told that those killed were rebels but photos and reports showed that victims are minors and civilians” Bai Ali Indayla , the group’s spokesperson said.

“The government and its troops are again showing its military might and it seems that there is an undeclared Martial Law here. What the military have done is a big violation to the International Humanitarian Law, the Protocols of War and Human Rights, the military officials in command should be held accountable and for disrespecting the rights of the Muslim civilians to peacefully observe the holy month of Ramadhan”, Indayla added.

On September 08, 10:30 in the morning, Manunggal-Mandi family rode a pumpboat  crossing Bugok River when an OV10 bomb dropped to them. Killed were Daya and Vilma, 18 yrs. old and 6 months pregnant, Bailyn Mandi , 10 years old, Caharudin Mandi, 7 years old, Adtayan Mandi , 5 years old, and Faiza Mandi , 2 years old.

Pikit, North Cotabato

kawagib and suara relief operation, Pikit, North Cotabato

Bai ali Indayla spokesperson of Kawagib condemn human rights violations to-civilians

Evacuees are still in evacuation centers afraid to return home

Children assist their parents during relief operation in Pikit, North Cotabato

IDPs afraid to go home because of the stalled peace talk; HR group calls stop Human Rights Violations

North Cotabato- Progressive and human rights organizations give assistance to internally displaced persons in Annex 2 Evacuation Center in Pikit, North Cotabato. 300 families stay here since July, only few of them, 20 families returned to their communities. Most of them from Brgy. Dalingaoen, Nalapaan, Pagangan and Tapudok, among barangays affected by the armed conflict in North Cotabato Province.

Evacuees are afraid to go back to their barangays because of the stalled peace talk between GRP and MILF and for possible clashes again. Kawagib- Moro Human Rights Group have documented several cases of violation to Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law such that military used Barangay Hall and Day Care Centers as their camp in Barangay Dalingaoen, Pikit, North Cotabato since August 11.

According to Bai Ali Indayla, Spokesperson of Kawagib, civilians reported they were indiscriminately fired by the military which forced them to evacuate and this is violation to the rights of the civilian and the community.

“Despite the poverty they experience in evacuation centers, as Muslim, they are oblige to fast in observance of the Ramadhan. They go to mosque near their evacuation center and collectively pray specially when it is Friday” Indayla added.

“The people here, Muslim, Christian and Lumad want peace like the meaning of ‘Islam’. We are peace loving people and we don’t deserve to be militarized. We call to the GRP and MILF to resume its talk so that civilians could go back to their communities and children could attend their education” Indayla said.

Justice to Victims of Military Offensives in Mindanao, Respect Muslim’s Observance of Fasting

Cotabato City – Kawagib Moro Human Rights calls for a stop to on-going offensives in Moro areas and Mindanao and reaches out to other human rights organizations to help the victims of the recent offensives made by the Armed Forces of the Philippines as a result of the failed signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

According to Kawagib spokesperson Bai Ali Indayla, the government has tallied more than 360,000 evacuees have been crammed in makeshift evacuation centers in North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte and Basilan.  In Maitum, Saranggani alone, there were already 249,194 displaced residents since June 2008.

In their initial investigations, Kawagib has documented 13 civilians dead due to strafing and mortar shelling by the AFP in North Cotabato , Lanao del Norte and Maguindanao including a pregnant woman, three minors, three elderly and a two months old baby.

For the whole month of August, Kawagib has documented eight wounded civilians including four minors and one seven month-old baby.

One man was arrested in Kabakan suspected of being an MILF member responsible for the bombin in Midsayap.  Another man was reported to have lost his sanity because of the military offensives.

Kawagib further reported that they have documented five houses burned in Aleosan, both belonging to Muslims and Christians, and a house of a Moro family in Matalam was strafed by unidentified armed men.

Indayla deplores government troops and officials to respect the Muslim’s observance of the holy month of fasting by stopping the offensives in communities and stop issuing orders of heightened military offensives during the Ramadhan.

“It is already difficult for the evacuees to live in makeshift evacuation center, it will be harder for them to keep on being uprooted from their communities while observing fast,” said Indayla.

According to Indayla, her group is concerned that violence against civilians will further escalate despite of the seeming withdrawal of troops by the national government.

Indayla added that resurgence of vigilante groups like the Ilaga and arming civilians through police auxiliaries will only aggravate the situation of the civilians and make them more vulnerable to violence.

“We will hold liable the President Arroyo and the DILG chief  Reynato Puno should any civilian die as a result of the rise of the vigilante groups,” said Indayla adding that in the past it had been difficult for families who were victims of Ilaga violence to go after the perpetrators and the government agencies that organized and supplied arms for them.

Indayla said that rekindling Ilaga as a group and fanning anti-Moro biases will not help resolve the situation in Mindanao , and may even start mayhem in Mindanao.

Brgy. Batulawan, Pikit, North Cotabato.

Justice to Victims of Military Offensives in Mindanao

Moro Human Rights Group condemns US troops participation in military offensives

Cotabato City- KAWAGIB moro human rights group here condemn us troops’ intervention and participation in military offensives against MILF. On August 17, reporters team saw 4 US soldiers joining filipino soldiers in search of unexploded dumb bombs dropped from OV-10 Broncos in Barangay Baliki, Midsayap resulting to massive displacement of civilians.

US troops staying in the country under the Visiting Forces Agreement are involved in cases of human rights violation. Early this year on February 04, 4 US soldiers participated in the military operation which massacred a community of fisherfolks in a community in Brgy. Ipil, Maimbung, Sulu killing 8 civilians including 4 children and a woman pregnant. Last year, Corporal Daniel Smith was found guilty in raping a Filipino woman Nicole in Subic on November 2007.

The mere presence of the American troops in areas affected by armed conflict and its participation on the military offensives is a violation to the Philippine Constitution while they remained unaccountable for the human rights violations they committed.

US Ambassador Kristie Kenney is only lying when she said that US government is committed in helping the Mindanaons to attain peace. US is backing the government in fast-tracking “peace package” in Mindanao to ensure its economic and political interest is secured. Everything is only a propaganda because US is of no interest in helping the Bangsamoro people attain its right to self-determination and govern its natural resources.

Exxon-mobil, American-based oil company already singed an agreement with the government to explore oil in Sulu Sea . At the expense of people’s lives, the US-Arroyo will continue to push its own agenda for political and economic survival.

The use of Barangay Halls and Day Care Centers in Barangay Dalingaoen in Pikit by military should also be investigated because this is a violation of the International Humanitarian Law. Military also occupied houses of civilians in Pikit forcing civilians to evacuate. The indiscriminate aerial bombing and shelling of 105mm mortars in Datu Piang, Maguindanao wounded 4 civilians and killed a 5 year old child.

We are challenging the legislators to call the attention of US to stop its military intervention. We also challenge Mrs. Arroyo to pull-out its troops in Maguindanao and North Cotabato and stop its military offensives if she is true in resolving conflict.

The GRP and MILF should resume peace talks and investigate whoever violated ceasefire agreement and human rights so that the around 200,000 displaced civilians in conflict affected areas could go back to their communities.

BAKWIT- Busian, Pikit, North Cotabato

Moro groups Call for a Stop to Military Offensives and Dares Arroyo to prioritize evacuees

Kawagib Moro Human Rights condemn the continuing military offensives made by the Armed Forces of the Philippines in North Cotabato and calls for the immediate pull-out of government soldiers in conflict areas and in the evacuation centers.

Kawagib spokesperson Bai Ali Indayla protests at the presence of military tanks and trucks in evacuation centers situated in Pikit saying that presence of armored vehicles cause fear among the residents.

Indayla also received reports from evacuees that military aboard a red civilian vehicle was filming evacuees placed in Batulakaw without their knowledge.

She further said that instead of continuing military operation in the ground, the government should concentrate in giving relief to the victims of displacement that has already reached —— persons.

“As the government troops continue to indiscriminately drop bombs from OV10 planes and strike at Moro and Christian villages in Aleaosan and Pikit with 105mm howitzer, more and more civilians will have to be forcibly displaced from their communities,”  said Indayla saying that recent evacuees had to sleep in makeshift evacuation center with no roof on their heads for three days.

Indayla calls on the government to prioritize giving relief to the evacuees instead of military offensives.

Initial reports says that government offensives has rsulted to the wounding of a student, Robert Malagia, 19 years old and the 10 year old Naima who was hit by a passing military truck while evacuating in the highway of Pikit, North Cotabato on August 08, 2008.

“So much bloodshed and lives have been uprooted brought about by the military offensives, and all President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo could think of is her bid for extension of presidential terms by peddling Charter Change,” said Indayla reacting to Arroyo’s declaration that Federalism is the answer to the raging conflict in Mindanao.

Indayla said that Arroyo should be stopped from using the struggle of the Moro people for the recognition and assertion of ancestral domain to make way for her Charter Change and calls on fellow Moro people to unmask and expose Arroyo for her failure to resolve peace in Mindanao.

PIKIT EVACUEES