THE Switzerland-based International Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) has reported that more than 4 million Filipinos were displaced from their homes as an aftermath of armed conflicts and natural disasters in 2019, making the Philippines the country with the second-highest internal displacement count in the world and highest in the East Asia and the Pacific region in that year.
“Together with China and India, the Philippines is among the countries to record most disaster displacement worldwide each year,” the IDMC said.
The IDMC added, “Between six and nine major typhoons make landfall annually, and the country [the Philippines] also sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, making it prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Storms and earthquakes triggered 4.1 million new displacements in 2019.”
The center issued the report just before the Philippines marked the September 26 anniversary of Typhoon Ondoy, which dumped record rainfall in just a few hours and turned huge parts of Luzon mainland into virtual seas in 2009.
Based on IDMC data, around 4.277 million were forced to flee from their houses due to disasters and armed conflict. These include 4.094 million displacements due to disasters and 183,000 displacements caused by armed conflict.
There were 364,000 total internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country due to disasters and 182,000 IDPs due to conflict and violence as of December 2019, the IDMC said.
Natural disasters
Data showed tropical depression Usman caused 550,000 displacements across nine provinces in early January of that year; Typhoon Hanna, 38,000 displacements in August; and Typhoon Tisoy, 1.4 million displacements across the central regions of the Philippines in December.
Further, earthquakes that struck the southern provinces of Cotabato and Davao del Sur in October and December caused 413,000 additional displacements. Many of those who were displaced had to stay longer in government shelters because their homes were destroyed by the earthquake.
“The government’s commendable data collection, combined with the use of anonymized Facebook user data, made it possible to understand where people moved from and to and for how long they were displaced,” the IDMC said.
“Robust data of this kind is vital to guide responses in the Philippines, which has to deal with the impacts of disasters, including mass displacement, across an archipelago of more than 7,500 islands,” it added.
However, in June, the National Housing Authority (NHA) said the pandemic caused delays in various infrastructure projects, including permanent housing projects for residents affected by Supertyphoon Yolanda in 2013.
These delays caused by the unavailability of construction materials and restricted mobility of workers has prompted the NHA to cut its mass housing production targets by 32 percent this year.
NHA Group Manager-Management Services Group Marissa B. Maniquis said the NHA now targets to complete 68,095 from the initial target of 99,510 houses.
Data showed 318 projects which accounted for 75 percent of total completion projects covering 47,055 units were delayed.
Conflict and violence
In terms of armed conflict, IDMC said Mindanao, the southernmost island of the Philippines, has been the scene of conflicts between government forces and radical Muslim groups for four decades.
More than 120,000 people have been killed over the years of fighting between security forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the New People’s Army, smaller “radicalized” groups such as the Abu Sayyaf, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS), among others.
IDMC said tens of thousands of people are displaced each year and around 182,000 people were still living in displacement as of the end of 2019. IDMC said 95 percent of the new conflict displacements recorded in the Philippines in 2019 were in Mindanao.
IDMC, meanwhile, said the government’s ratification of a law to establish the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) should help resolve, if not drastically reduce, one of the issues at the heart of the conflict by giving more independence and autonomy to more than 3.5 million Muslim Mindanaoans.
The law provides for a transitional administration for the region, which will transfer power to former MILF fighters who will govern until the elections in 2022.
“The new BARMM administration is developing strategies and entities to address the humanitarian and development needs of its population, including those of displaced families, but many challenges still lie ahead,” IDMC said. “Armed groups that were not part of the negotiations are still active.”
Marawi reconstruction
Efforts to rebuild the war-ravaged Marawi City are still ongoing, though. The total funding requirement for both least affected areas (LAA) and most affected areas (MAA) reached P60.506 billion. Of this amount, P22.24 billion has already been released as of August 2020.
Data showed that the total funding requirement for the LAA is P47.388 billion, while the amount for the MAA reached P13.118 billion.
Of these amounts, the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) said P15.523 billion was released for projects in LAA areas and P6.718 billion for the MAAs as of August 2020.
The DHSUD, however, has committed that it will complete the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the city within the term of the President.
DHSUD Secretary Eduardo del Rosario issued a public declaration that by December 2021, 90 percent of all infrastructure projects in Marawi will be complete. If there are slippages, he said, these could be made up for not later than March 2022.
In a recent presentation, Del Rosario said there are eight completed and ongoing projects in LAAs and two of these, the Philippine National Police Compac 1 Center and the Marawi Fire Substation, were completed in February 2018 and May 2019, respectively.
In the MAAs, there are 10 projects and three have been completed. These are the Mapandi Bridge completed in June 2019; Banggolo Bridge, September 2020; and Maritime outpost, July 2020.
Among the ongoing LAA projects, the Marawi Police Station has a completion rate of 69.41 percent; correctional facility, 33 percent; and Salintubig Reservoir, 13.89 percent.
The ongoing projects in the MAA included the pumping bridge which is 79.9 percent complete; Marawi Museum, 24.28 percent; Peace Memorial Park, 17.01 percent; 24 barangay complexes, 16.87 percent; and Grand Padian Market, 16.42 percent, among others.
Meanwhile, projects that are currently being processed in the Marawi rehabilitation are the Tourist Police Building; Multi-Modal Transport Hub; hospital with basic equipment; multi-level carpark; Halal slaughterhouse; Marawi City Health Office and road infrastructure projects.
The list also includes the sewage treatment plant; bulk water system; maritime building; port facilities; nine school buildings; and a convention center.
Image credits: AP/Aaron Favila, AP/Bullit Marquez