Saturday, September 27, 2014

Foiled plans


I think the cynical saying goes:

Man plans, God laughs. 

In my case this weekend, it's: 

Yen plans, thesis students laugh.

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

IDP Situation in Zamboanga City


Below is an article I wrote in July 2014 for Windhover, the official magazine of the Philippine Jesuits. 

While the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) at the evacuation centers have dropped 10% (25550 in july, 22954 in september), the number of people who died in these centers have increased 20% (139 deaths then, 168 deaths now). 

The massive undertaking of resettling thousands of IDPs is ongoing. The program is in three phases: IDPs at evacuation centers are processed, then they are moved to transitory sites, then finally to permanent resettlement areas. As of July, 1,579 families had been moved to transitory sites. As of a few days ago, 594 more families moved to transitory sites, including 70 Sama Laut families that used to occupy Cawa-Cawa Boulevard. But phase two is far from over: 2,256 families remain at three evacuation centers.


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Children of families displaced by the Zamboanga Siege of 2013 frolic in the rain at the Joaquin Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex. A year after the siege, over 2,000 families continue to stay at place, in makeshift shelters made of lightweight materials. Photo by Haiko Magtrayo.


The IDP Situation in Zamboanga City
Yen Blanco Delgado
July 9, 2014

The road to recovery is proving to be a long and arduous one for the people of Zamboanga City, the largest city in Southwestern Mindanao. Nine months after a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) attacked residential barangays adjacent to the city’s commercial district, over 25,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) still crowd the evacuation centers and transitory sites, living in subpar conditions.

Since the September 2013 attack, aid workers have recorded 139 deaths among the IDPs. Almost half of those who died are children below five years old.


Haiko Magtrayo, communications officer of the International Organization of Migration (IOM) in Zamboanga City said that while the death rate has started to go down two months ago, the incidence of diseases, especially among children, is rising.


DISMAL LIVING CONDITIONS
This evacuation center floods at the slightest rain. Photo by Haiko Magtrayo.
There are five evacuation and six transitory sites throughout the city. The Joaquin F. Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex has the highest concentration of IDPs, with up to 2,429 families- equivalent to 13, 005 individuals.

Almost half of these families still live in makeshift shelters of tarpaulins, sacks, and other flimsy materials which, nine months since they were hurriedly set up, are now in tatters. The families are exposed to the elements; the ground floods at the slightest rain and the tarps do not offer much protection from the midday sun.

Portable toilets and facilities for bathing and washing at the sports complex are also sub-standard. The ideal ratio of these facilities to the evacuees is 1:50 but in these sites, it reaches far beyond the ideal. These poor living conditions contribute to the high mortality and morbidity rates. The situation is further compounded by the poor health-seeking behaviors of IDPs. Magtrayo laments that despite the presence of health workers in the camps, many of the IDPs seek help for sick family members only when the situation has become very serious.


PROTECTION ISSUES ON THE RISE
On top of the health and sanitation issues, humanitarian workers are concerned about the growing number of issues related to security and protection, including human right violations, child trafficking, gender-based violence, domestic violence, and prostitution. These issues surface during focus group discussions involving IDPs and in reports of camp managers. A few months back, the police, together with social workers, apprehended the operators of a prostitution den within an evacuation center. Humanitarian workers, however, fear that these incidents remain largely unreported.

The IDPs, local and national governments, and the humanitarian aid organizations working in Zamboanga agree that immediate resettlement will address many of these problems.


A MASS OF IDPs
In October 2013, a month after the siege, 125,000 IDPs were recorded. As of June 2014, the number has significantly dropped down to 25,000. Of the 100,000 IDPs who have left the centers, some have chosen to avail of the government’s Balk Probinsya (Back to Province) program—that is, they had gone back to their places of origin. Others, called “home-based IDPs,” have opted to rent a house or live with their relatives.

Of the remaining IDPs, 67% are still in the evacuation centers while only 33% are already in the transitory sites.


TAGGING: A CONTENTIOUS ISSUE
 Tagging is the program whereby the government determines which families are the most vulnerable IDPs—victims of either the siege or the flash floods that hit parts of Zamboanga soon after the MNLF attack. This is a tedious process since there are some families who take advantage of the situation by availing of the IDP benefits even if they are not qualified. Only families who are tagged can avail of the shelters or programs such as food for work or cash for work.

Officer Christian Olasiman, who works for Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar, however, clarifies that untagged families will not be disregarded—that is, no one will be left behind.


CITY GOVERNMENT: "THE TIMING IS WITHIN BOUNDS"
Diseases run rampant at the evacuation centers. Photo by Haiko Magtrayo.
While many IDPs and other residents of the city are disgruntled over the slow pace of resettlement, the local government is still within the 18-month rehabilitation period announced by President Beningo Aquino, Jr.

Moreover, Olasiman said that there have been many roadblocks in the resettlement process. Acquiring land for both transitory site and permanent relocation site is difficult due to the lack of appropriate lots and some legal impediments. In some cases, even if appropriate lots have been found, the government cannot begin the resettlement since the residents in the identified lots oppose the government's move to relocate the IDPs in their area. On the other hand, there have also been instances when the IDPs themselves refuse to move to particular sites for cultural reasons. For one, the sea-faring Badjaos will only live near the sea.

Another unforeseen problem is the lack of building materials brought about by a log ban in the region. Families cannot be moved into a site unless bunkhouses including latrines, community kitchens, water sources, and other facilities are already in place.

Olasiman also stressed that transfer from evacuation center to a transitory site is always voluntary. The government cannot force families to transfer, even if the sites are ready.

WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW
The government plans to build 7,248 permanent shelters. This number includes 1,661 Home Materials Assistance (HOMA) packages which will provide Php 30,000 worth of building materials to families who already own their own lots.

In a recent visit to Zamboanga City, Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman pledged to give money to lease a 25-hectare property in Kasanyangan, which will be converted into a transitory site for the majority of the IDPs staying at the sports complex. Still in Kasanyangan, the government plans to develop a 38-hectare lot into a permanent shelter site. But so far, only 11 permanent shelter units have been constructed.


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Yen Blanco-Delgado is a teacher and journalist. She finished her MA in Journalism at the Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism in Ateneo de Manila University. At present, she is Chair of the Department of Communications at Ateneo de Zamboanga University.