Reports from the war zone

Today, I give way to two women whose heartbreaking reports on Facebook about the brewing humanitarian crisis in Marawi and Iligan should be read by a wider audience. 

Former DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman on her recent visit to Iligan:

“It has been four days since I came back from Iligan. The stories and images haunt me and I could not put into words the emotions I felt upon listening to the people we met.

“There was the mother in the rural health clinic holding her months-old baby with an IV in his tiny arms and the mother telling us that her daughter died last week of dehydration.

“Another mother in the Ranao Rescue Team office telling us that her special child died of a heart attack upon hearing the bombs.

“There was the 10-year-old boy who was picking up each grain of spilled rice on the soil and placing it on a plastic fan because it can still be cooked for his family…

 “DOH has reported deaths in the evacuation centers due to dehydration among others...Why do the children have to die because of lack of clean water?

“There are tried and tested systems already set in place. They just have to be activated. There are international humanitarian organizations that have in-country resources that can be mobilized. There are civil servants in the response cluster of NDRRMC who know what to do, if only they can be supported and given the authority to do what needs to be done.

“This is not the time for reinventing processes; this is not the time to hold back requests for assistance because it is clear that help is needed. Trucks can be mobilized, transitional shelters can be put up, child-friendly spaces can be organized, women-friendly spaces can be set up. These steps have been taken several times....

“To the new leadership of the different national government agencies — please listen to the civil servants who know how to do this...children are dying, senior citizens are getting sick and the families who are hosting the evacuees are also in hunger situation now. We have to reach all of them. According to ARMM HEART data, 47,677 families are home-based which translates to 233,200 individuals; in evacuation centers are 3,687 families which translates to 17,647 individuals.

“Bakwits themselves (evacuees ) are the volunteers working with the LGUs to do relief work in the towns around the lake and Marawi. They are home-based evacuees, but they go to the villages to deliver whatever donations they can get to the people. They do it with hope and love. They loved the donated scarves and were thrilled at the promise of lipstick by Bro. Armin of PBSP. They said there is dignity in beauty and it lifts their spirits at this very depressing time when it should be joyful because Ramadan is ending.

“We have a long way to go in rebuilding Marawi.

“Maranao men do not cry, I was told. But in the Ranao Rescue Team office we met a retired civil servant, a 70-year-old man, who just came in from Marawi. When we asked how is Marawi, he said it is not improving and he teared up. We cry with him.

“A woman Maranao teacher in MSU gave me strength...she said....‘Babangon ang Marawi! Inshallah!’”

Regina Salvador-Antequisa, executive director, Ecosystems Work for Essential Benefits, Inc. (ECOWEB), Iligan City, writes:

 “Too many meetings, so much need on the ground, too much information to share, with some to correct. Need much time to process everything to ensure that the situation and needs on the ground are communicated well to the government, the donors and the public.

“Humanitarian volunteers and CSO workers are already starting to demand for care-for-the-carers and, I suppose, it is the same for the government workers. And the fighting or exchange of bullets is not over. So many civilians are still stranded, feared to be dying or have died already. CSOs are demanding for humanitarian action to save the remaining civilians in the war zone or retrieve the dead, for they also deserve a proper burial.

“It’s been 30 days now since the siege. In yesterday’s CSO coordination meeting, emotions poured out, teary-eyed, expressing frustration and questions:

“Will the government or the military listen to us? A Maranao CSO worker feels the pain knowing  that all Maranaos are considered ‘suspect’. And in this time of martial law, will the military really listen to the humanitarian voices? Will the government and the public give value to the dying (if they have not yet died) trapped civilians? Will they continue to rescue or even just bring water and food to the war zone?

“How about the hungry home-based IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) especially in Lanao del Sur and interiors of Lanao del Norte? They are hungry, getting sick, and some are dying, a number have died already. Why does bureaucracy still prevail in this emergency situation? Why can’t the government simplify things for the IDPs to be able to access immediately the food they need to survive? Even the host communities are becoming hungry for many of them are poor as well and sharing their food with their IDP relatives for 30 days is too much a burden to carry.

“Where is our humanity? Why is there so much divide? Why is it hard to converge? Even coordination between regional governments is a challenge affecting the humanitarian response. Is it that hard to organize the system of coordination in a war situation? Isn’t it that the humanitarian system has standards? Has the gravity of the Yolanda disaster not taught us how to make humanitarian response more effective and faster? Well, this is a war situation, this is different. So is this telling us we are not actually ready for civil defense in times of war?

“Why so much assistance only in the ECs (evacuation centers)? Why are we still not able to reach most of those who are home-based? Culture, realities, local context — how do we factor these in designing a humanitarian system? We have had wars and displacements before. We have had experiences that should tell us what needs to be adjusted and improved in our system so it is not only the convenience of the humanitarian workers but of the IDPs that is considered.

“Why the seemingly inhuman treatment? Don’t they realize that the IDPs don’t want this to happen? No one would like to become an IDP! No Maranao would like to be a beggar! No one would like to be displaced from his/her home and source of living! This is not our own making! Why are we treated like this?

“IDPs have rights and dignity. But as long as the humanitarian response and systems are not designed based on this principle, IDPs will always be treated as numbers and figures of displacement, without faces. Without knowing their stories, people from outside would easily believe that they are the reason of their own displacement.

“What a tiring day it was yesterday. Today is another day...”

Dear reader, the crisis in Marawi is real and we are all called to do something about it.