Displacement and Armed Conflict Situationer
A total of 234 families from the communities of Binasan, Baniogan, and Salingsing within the Bayug-Iligan ancestral domain and undetermined number from communities of Limonda, Bagocboc, and Cauyonan from the Dulangan ancestral domain were displaced due to ongoing sporadic fighting between suspected guerrillas of the New Peoples Army (NPA) and troops of the Philippine Army and members of the Civilian Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) as of Monday, April 6.
Both Bayug Iligan and Dulangan ancestral domains (AD) are covered by ECOWEB’s project Formation of Production Guilds for Social Enterprise and Economic Development of Indigenous Communities (FPG-SEEDIC) supported by Germany-based Bread for the World. The three affected communities are identified as production areas under the project. Binasan is the next focus community for the formation of production guilds and IP Social Enterprise (IPSE). Consultations and data gathering started in middle March and formal consultations were scheduled in April for Binasan. The Dulangan ancestral domain is targeted for guild formation by middle of the year.
A total of 234 families have evacuated to the community centers of Binasan and Salingsing after they were badly scared and caught in the cross-fire of about 3-hour running gun-battle that started at 10:00 AM and ended at around 1:00 PM of Wednesday, March 31, killing one member of the CAFGU and wounding 3 regular soldiers. The army-CAFGU detachment in Binasan was raided late in the afternoon of the same day. The CAFGU who died is the husband of ECOWEB’s former community volunteer. They have 3 young children.
In Salingsing, in the morning of March 31, the house of Datu Behar Hondilay, the community’s tribal chieftain, was raided by the NPA apparently on suspicion that he is providing information to the military. In the afternoon of the same day, he was arrested by police officers allegedly on suspicion of supporting the NPA guerrillas. The Datu (tribal chief) is still in the custody of the police and waiting results of investigation.
According to the Datu’s relatives who requested anonymity, Datu Behar’s case is an example of an indigenous community leader caught in the middle of the conflict between the CPP-NPA and the Government. Relatives said that the Datu was suspected by the security forces of being supporter to the CPP-NPA because of suspected guerrilla camps discovered within his traditional domain thus paving the way for the issuance of the arrest warrant. The discovery of the camps also made the NPA to suspect that the Datu informed the military of their whereabouts, thus the raid.
As of the morning of April 6, sporadic gun-fires are still taking heard in the forested regions of Cadayonan, Limonda, Bagocboc and Nangcaon in the neighbouring Dulangan ancestral domain of another community of Higaunons in the adjacent municipality of Opol, Misamis Oriental. Undetermined number of families are also affected according to Datu Junny Mahunyag, the tribal chieftain of Binasan. Marilou Degumbes, a community leader from barangay Mainit, also part of the Bayug-Iligan domain, reported that they are on alert and scared as gun-fires were heard from the mountains not far from their community.
At present, the affected families are staying at the center of Binasan and Salingsing in the homes of relatives and public buildings for the last 6 days. They now lack food because the military restricted their mobility and advised everybody to stay in the center. No one is allowed to go back to their houses in remote areas and go outside of the community. Government support was only limited to 6 kilos of rice and 6 cans of sardines for every family for the last 6 days. The Datu’s of Binasan and Salingsing are requesting food assistance for a few more days that they are still unable to go to their farms. Some Datu’s also requested support to reduce the psychological impact of the fighting to children and adults who were very near to the battle site including to the families of the members of the CAFGU who are now scared of the dangers faced by their family member usually husband-father and sons.
ECOWEB is maintaining contact with community leaders in the affected areas despite intermittent phone access. Entry to communities is quite restricted and need to be well coordinate with the military. Information from government agencies are also very limited. The local media has not reported the incident and some just got information from ECOWEB.
IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED
ECOWEB is requested by the partner affected communities to provide emergency food assistance to the displaced families in the 3 communities in the Bayug-Iligan AD and emergency relief in the other affected areas in Dulangan AD. Continued monitoring of the situation
ECOWEB Management is creating a fact-finding team to investigate the situation and determine its potential impact to project implementation.
Prepared by
C. V. Antequisa
Program Development Advisor, ECOWEB
