UCA News
Contribute

Philippines

Evacuees And Supporters Tell Their Stories To Filipinos Far From Battle Zones

Updated: November 28, 2008 10:51 AM GMT
Support Asia's largest network of Catholic journalists and editors
Support Asia's largest network of Catholic journalists and editors
Share this article :

A 13-year-old refugee from Mindanao, the southern Philippine region, told residents in this northern Philippine city, "I miss being with my classmates." Muchtar Nawal, who now stays in an evacuation center in Pikit town, Cotabato province, was among 35 Mindanao representatives who visited Santo Nino Cathedral in Calapan City, 130 kilometers south of Manila, on Nov. 23. The Nov. 21-28 "Duyog Mindanao People´s Caravan for Peace and Solidarity" brought them first to Baguio City. Their journey back south, which will end in Cotabato City, brought them through Quezon City, bordering Manila, then Lipa archdiocese, south of the capital, before they arrived in Calapan. Participants stopped to stage programs in various towns and cities along the way to increase public awareness of the cost and impact of war. Nawal narrated how his family and fellow villagers were forced to flee their homes in Pagangan, about 10 kilometers northwest of Pikit, when fighting broke out in August between government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forces. The military is pursuing three MILF commanders, one of whom admitted in a nationally televised interview that he led an Aug. 18 raid on Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte province, north of Cotabato. The government´s National Disaster Coordinating Council reports 13,302 families are staying in evacuation centers and 53,092 are residing with relatives or private shelters in Pikit. "I´m really sad, and I always think of how I can go home," Nawal said in the Tagalog dialect, used in the northern Philippines. He told of sleepless nights in warm tents at crowded evacuation centers where "everybody gets sick." However, he concedes that he has to bear this because the center is a safer home than his own. The peace caravan asked local people attending their programs to sign a petition calling for an immediate cease-fire, resumption of peace talks between the government and the MILF, and humanitarian protection and assistance to people affected by the fighting. Father Nestor Adalia, cathedral parish priest, signed the petition during the program in the parish hall. He and Oriental Mindoro Governor Arnan Panaligan welcomed the caravan to the city. Its members joined a televised morning Mass at the cathedral before staging their program. In his homily, Father Adalia challenged the congregation to act with charity toward the evacuees -- and all people -- "otherwise Christ will remain crucified and will not reign." He later announced the parish would donate collections from the Mass to the caravan. Gerardo Gamboa, peace educator with the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Integrated Rehabilitation Program in Pikit, asked in remarks he made after the homily: "Why is there a war in Mindanao" when government expresses commitment to peace? Speaking during the program, Syrianbai Sangcupan, a pregnant evacuee, appealed for combatants to stop the war. Program hosts said she comes from Datu Piang town in Maguindanao. The Department of Social Welfare and Development has joined with local governments to set up evacuation centers in that province, Lanao del Norte, northern Cotabato, Saranggani, Sultan Kudarat, Lanao del Sur and Shariff Kabunsuan, where the fighting has been concentrated. Cotabato reportedly has the largest number of Mindanao evacuees. Philippine and international non-governmental peace advocacy groups and social and evacuee-service organizations including Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID), Mindanao Peace Weavers, Waging Peace Philippines, Generations for Peace Network and Gaston Z. Ortigas Peace Institute are sponsoring the peace caravan. The Catholic Bishops´ Conference of the Philippines, Bishops´-Ulama (Islamic scholars) Conference and the office of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo´s peace adviser also are supporting the activity. Gus Miclat, IID director, expressed gratitude for the "overwhelming" hospitality members of the Church and provincial government in Oriental Mindoro offered the tired pilgrims. He told the audience the caravan would turn over to leaders the donations it collected while stopping in major cities and towns to hold forums and discussions. From Calapan City, the caravan was scheduled to go through Iloilo and Bacolod cities in the Visayas, the central Philippine region, before returning to Mindanao to go through Cagayan de Oro, Marawi City, Sumilao, Malaybalay and Davao City. The final program was scheduled for Nov. 28 at Notre Dame University in Cotabato City. END

Help UCA News to be independent
Dear reader,
November begins with the Feast of All Saints. That month will mark the beginning of a new UCA News series, Saints of the New Millenium, that will profile some of Asia’s saints, “ordinary” people who try to live faithfully amid the demands of life in our time.
Perhaps the closest they will ever come to fame will be in your reading about them in UCA News. But they are saints for today. Let their example challenge and encourage you to live your own sainthood.
Your contribution will help us present more such features and make a difference in society by being independent and objective.
A small donation of US$5 a month would make a big difference in our quest to achieve our goals.
William J. Grimm
Publisher
UCA News
YOUR DAILY
NEWSLETTER
Thank you. You are now signed up to our Daily Full Bulletin newsletter
 
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia