More than 750 volunteers from Metro Manila and different regions in Mindanao converged in different conflict areas in Mindanao on Wednesday, in response to calls for humanitarian intervention to communities affected by the fight between the government and the Islamic State-inspired Maute Group, as well as communities affected by the declaration of martial law in Mindanao.
Led by Kalinaw Mindanao, an alliance of faith-based, service organizations, human rights and people’s organizations, the volunteers responded to the call for an interfaith intervention through a National Interfaith Humanitarian Mission (NIHM) geared toward bringing relief and medical services to victims and evacuees, as well as document human-rights violations brought about by the declaration of martial law, a news release said.
The mission covered five mission areas: Marawi City in Lanao del Sur, Iligan City in Lanao del Norte, Matanao in Davao del Sur, President Roxas in North Cotabato and Mamasapano in Maguindanao.
In Iligan City the mission converged at the Minitheater of the Mindanao State Unversity-Iligan Institute of Technology for an opening program with more than 400 participants for the NIHM in Lanao.
“Kalinaw, meaning peace, is what we seek in Mindanao. So much suffering and violence has been done to the Mindanawons, especially our Moro brothers and sisters. This has to stop now,” said Aida Ibrahim, spokesman of Kalinaw Mindanao-Northern Mindanao Region.
“We visited victims of forced evacuations, both home-based and in evacuation centers to know their situation and their needs. We also provided relief packs, conduct psychosocial intervention to women and children. We listened to the stories of Marawi residents on the extent of damage done by military air strikes and the martial law in Mindanao,” Ibrahim said.
Gathering from their initial research, more than 200,000 evacuees are from Marawi. A total of 3,584 families, or 21,000 individuals, mostly children, elderly and women, have fled to Saguiaran, Lanao del Sur, Ibrahim said.
Evacuees in the gymnasium of Balo-I, Lanao del Norte, have put up signs inside the evacuation centers, such as, “Please stop martial law and stop bombing in Marawi City.”
Others pointed out their dire situation such houses and properties destroyed by bombing, people killed and wounded by bombing.
“Dear Mr. President, please stop martial law. Have pity on us civilians,” other signs read in Filipino.
“Their message is clear—it is the civilian communities who are defeated during martial law, not the terrorists. It is the lives of the children and the evacuees that are ruined. We call on the peace-loving Filipinos to join us in responding to the immediate needs of victims. We encourage the public to show support in calling for peace in Mindanao, for the Moro people, Christians and Lumad,” Ibrahim said in the news release.
“The Moro people are not terrorists. We condemn the terror acts of the Maute Group, the exaggerated counterterror response by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and their partner US soldiers that has aggravated the situation of the Marawi residents and their communities,” said Jerome Succor Aba of Suara Bangsamoro, a convenor of Kalinaw Mindanao NIHM 2017.
Aba condemned the role of the US government in instigating and using extremist groups and condoning their terrorist attacks in covert and overt operations to support their regime-change policy in countries against the United States government and to serve the purpose for justifying the US global “war on terror”.
“They have done that in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and now in Mindanao. They turned our communities into a war zone, showcasing their latest military arsenal and conducting military operations that are illegal, unconstitutional and destructive. They undermined the legitimate struggle of the people for right to self-determination by tagging all struggles as acts of terrorism,” Aba said.
Kalinaw Mindanao serves as a response of different groups to the call for a Muslim-Christian-Indigenous Peoples’ unity in addressing the roots cause of the conflict in Mindanao, and for the promotion of just and lasting peace.