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| The heartland of crisis, ground zero. |
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| The elderly, children and mothers are the most affected IDPs. |
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| Dr. Wei Teen, a Singaporean doctor who has a heart for the IDPs volunteered her services and resources. |
In war there is victory, but
no winner only victims! After 100 days since the beginning of the siege in Marawi,
the only Islamic city in the Philippines, the action in the ground still going
on. Cadavers on both sides and of those caught in between are still awaiting
for burial and proper
identifications, the hype of helping the
internally displaced people is already
waning but in the City of Iligan in
Lanao de Norte is still a scene of cornucopia of characters coming
from the distress ground zero, in
the market place and other commercial centers
it is a common sight to see men in uniform hurriedly buying supplies, hotels became lairs of the media hungry for coverage
to sensationalize and exclusive coverage, INGOs and local NGOs cramming to bring help on whatever they
think the IDPs need. Meanwhile most of the
government offices in Marawi are now in Iligan renting or occupying a
space for them to do their tasked, unfortunately,
the services they can render is limited for they are also IDP’s.
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| Ash, is an IDP volunteered to help IDPs. |
Thousands of evacuees are randomly
scattered all over the periphery of. the ground zero that spilled over to Iligan City and neighbouring
places. However, IDPs are also classified in groups, one is IDP’s who stayed in
the designated areas and received a regular supplies or relief either from the government
welfare agencies or from private sectors twice a week and most of them are
issued with green cards while the others IDPs are classified as home based as
they stayed with their friends or relatives but they are the most vulnerable
ones and most likely the neglected one. However, I observed in most IDP areas,
only women and children are there except for some especially those who stayed
in the Evacuation Centers (ECs) the presence of men was evident.
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| Unidentified cadavers after DNA extraction are readied for mass burial with the aid of local volunteers. |
Nobody expect that the siege will become longer as of most of the IDPs and the locals of Marawi were already use to in - fighting in the area that it will last only for few days or week but the current one already dragged to months. It is a buzz that the crisis will be over, but the stress and the trauma that it causes to the IPDs will linger for years or maybe throughout their lifetime.
In West Pantar in the outskirt
of Lanao del Norte along the route to Marawi, we visited a group of IDP’s. As they lead us to the area where thy start to
garden, the war planes and helicopters hover us, as they talked of the when
they can go back to their homes and how to rebuild it, and for some there is no
home anymore for them to go back. But all of them worry about their income to
sustain their living. So, the IDP’s bonded themselves to start gardening but
they face challenges too, they have limited tools and no capital to start with
aside from the meager resources that they have. But even if they start
gardening now hoping that it will help them earned a living, they worry about
their day to day existence until their garden start producing.
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| Arriving at the command center in Marawi |
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| Home based IDPs living in the garage |
In one area, the IDP’s airs out how they were exploited by greedy individuals
who formed groups or by local NGO’s who capitalize them only to get funds
and relief goods only to find out it is
a bogus one, that only a certain group can have the funds and divide among
themselves but not the IDP’s that they front in getting the funds. Whatta a
perk! Thanks for the SAVE MYSELF AND MY FAMILY FOUNDATION! Ask those NGOs where
is there community, they cannot bring you to the site instead show you a very
grand office and full of staff who are all familial affiliated.
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| Children, the most vulnerable IDPs. |
On the other end, the IDP’s
cannot get relief or help or very little only due to logistic reasons over
security, they were trapped inside the war zone.
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A special thanks to Marawi CDRRM local volunteers who assured safety and order during the relief and medical mission. Special mentioned to Revi and Hanifi Sani. |
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| Our multipurpose vehicle. clinic, if space and location is not available to render services, then we have it. |
While visiting EC’s, it looks
like a competition of brand, INGOs and local NGO’s have it each own section,
deliver what they believed that the IDP’s need only to find out how the IDP’s
can use it. Some facilities though
temporary cannot be use. One of the IDP’s
complained, “how can we used the LPG tanks when we cannot afford to buy the
gas, we have no money? We are evacuees, we do not have source of income”.
Some also distribute relief or
provide psychosocial support but without
considering the cultural context of the IDP’s. It should be taken into
consideration also in the delivery of free services. Relief providers
complained that the IDP’s sells their supplies, how can we blamed them when
they will be given a box of sardines every week and a low-quality rice. Relief
givers said that the IDP’s should be grateful that they were given but still complained
about it. Come to think of it, if you will eat the same thing all throughout if
you too will not complain, I guess there should be variety. On a comedic note,
I asked an IDP why complained they complained that they were already given a
corned beef? “Nah, the corned beef is
colored red sir” the IDP relplied. It is naturally colored red since it is a
meat, I countered. Nah, sir the ‘chorizo” is red, so I am afraid eating that
corned beef.
Though there is an effort especially
among the government agencies and private entities, there is need to beef up
the communication to identify specifically the intervention to be delivered and
needed and in sharing the available resources.
The IDPs are victims, there
are of things we must consider when we deliver help and services, do they really
need it, is cultural context considered, and how can we help in rebuilding and
integrating them back to the mainstream communities? As they say, people's first, the IDPs knows their concern, the solution to it but they need help for the resources, let us listen and and offer our helping hands and our shoulders for them to lean in rebuilding their lives and their dreams.
