Some Maguindanao IDPs still refuse to return home

TALAYAN,
Maguindanao – It is safer here for now,
last night we heard gun burst and fighting is still possible to occur again.”

With these
words, 38-year-old Salemah Lambuan preferred to stay for few more days” in an
evacuation in Barangay Tambunan here.

Observe-observe
muna kami, pag sure na uwi din kami siyempre (We are observing the situation in
our communities, if we think it is safe, off we go),” Lambuan, a three month
pregnant, said from her temporary home in Barangay Tambunan.

She is among
the more than 90,000 internally displaced persons in Maguindanao’s 79
evacuation centers who remain displaced as of April 5. The highest number of IDPs was placed at
P120,000 persons.

Another
evacuee Andol Tulon, 35, also based in Tambunan, said his family and village
mates opted to stay in evacuation sites at night and return to their villages
at day time.

Marami pa
kasing tangke, marami pang sundalo, indikasyon yan baka magbakbakan uli
(Soldiers and military hardware are still visible, for us this is an indication
war is still inevitable),” Tulon said as he take few sips of his coffee despite
excruciating heat in the evacuation center.

For the past
days, Tulon said he and his siblings have been hopping back and forth to his
village in Nunangan, Guindulungan to ensure his home is still there.

But at night
time, we return to evacuation center,” he said. Today, I stayed because we
heard relief goods will be distributed.”

Five days
after the military lifted the massive law enforcement operations against
lawless Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), many civilians refused to
fully return home for fear fighting might erupt again.

Lambuan, who
hails from Barangay Nunangan, Guindulungan town, said on Sunday dawn the
evacuees in Tambunan, one of the evacuation sites located in Poblacion Talayan
over-looking the marshland, heard gun bursts.

It appears
there was brief fighting there,” Lambuan said, pointing north where her village
was located.

Capt. Joann
Petinglay, speaking for the 6th Infantry Division, said no major
skirmishes have transpired since March 30 when AFP chief Gen. Gregorio Pio
Catapang visited Maguindanao and announced the termination of law enforcement.

But Abu Misri
Mama, speaking for the BIFF, said his group attacked an Army position in
Barangay Muslim, Guindulungan.He said
the fighting lasted only for about 10 minutes.

We suffered
no casualty, I don’t know on the government side,” he said.

The Department
of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Maguidnanao reported that about 25,000
individuals have already returned home.

Dr. Kadil
Sinolinding, regional secretary of the Department of Health in the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said health providers have treated 15,138
individuals who got sick while in evacuation center. Of this number, 3,543 were aged five years
and below while 11,595 were five years old and above.

He said of the
more than 120,000 IDPs, only one has died in the evacuation center due to
dehydration. Two civilians, 18 and 62
years old, were wounded by stray bullets.

Sinolinding
said the Maguindanao provincial health office and its field workers are on
standby 24/7 to attend to the needs of IDPs who are still in evacuation
centers.

Lawyer Laisa
Alamia, ARMM executive Secretary and chief of ARMM’s humanitarian arm, said
relief operations continue as more aid have come as a result of ‘Tabang
Sibilyan’ campaign.

Relief
operation will continue as long as there are IDPs,” she said in a radio
interview.

She also cited
Johnson and Johnson-Philippines for donating 250 case of hygiene products
amounting to P143,000.Health Sec. Janette Garin visited Maguindanao for three days before the Holy Week and distributed dignity kits to pregnant women evacuees.