Maguindanao evacuees lament hardships of displacement

“Evacuees in Maguindanao bewail hardships caused by displacement” was first published in MindaNews on March 2, 2015.

By Ferdinandh B. Cabrera/MindaNews

SHARIFF SAYDONA, Maguindanao (MindaNews/02 March) – Crossing rivers at nighttime with their children and their carabaos either on foot or aboard motorboats.

This was just one of the hardships that civilians displaced by military offensives against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) had to endure as they left their homes to avoid being hit by mortar fire on Saturday night as government forces closed in on suspected rebel positions.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) humanitarian agencies said some 28,500 individuals have fled to safer areas since Friday when the Philippine military launched offensives against the BIFF in Mamasapano town.

Lenny Anayatin, 20, of this town’s Barangay Inaladan, recalled the miserable experience she had with her daughter and neighbors while fleeing her community in the middle of the night last Saturday.

“We were awakened by loud explosions near our village; our officials told us to move out quickly … we scampered … we ran,” said Anayatin, who gave birth in December.

In between sobs, Anayatin said she didn’t know what to do and what to bring when town officials, in the middle of the night, told them to evacuate.

“We walked for three kilometers, crossed rivers in the middle of the night,” she said, adding that a neighbor offered her space in a motorboat “because I was carrying a baby.”

The boat was already loaded with the children of other fleeing families.

Bai Zahara Alim had to cross rivers with her three children and the family’s water buffalo.

Bai Zahara said she has become tired of living life on the run.

“All I am asking is a stop to all these atrocities in our communities,” Ali said in Filipino. “Since I was a child, my family has been in this situation. We flee, return home and rebuild our lives. Then we evacuate again. It is never ending,” she said.

Bai Zahara lamented that the fighting was one of the reasons why she was deprived of an education, aside from being poor.

The war, she said, has also worsened the residents’ poverty because they can no longer attend to their farm due to being displaced from time to time.

Delmo Sali, another evacuee from Shariff Saydona, said he also feared for the mental health of his children who have had to endure frequent evacuations to escape the fighting.