STATE OF THE BAKWITS ADDRESS (SOBA)

By: The Bakwits (Internally Displaced Persons)
23 July 2009

Eleven months ago, we fled our homes, our villages because we were afraid to get caught in the midst of renewed hostilities between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Philippine government.

We do not understand why the war has again erupted when the parties in the last five years had been pursuing peace talks and were in fact about to conclude the peace negotiations. It was shocking and frustrating for us to flee our homes and communities to save our families and ourselves.

This war has left wounds so deep and wide and has made our lives so miserable. Some of our houses have been burned; our meager belongings and farmlands destroyed. Even as many are helping us, many are still awaiting help.

Baby Boy Kureg was two months old when he died on June 20. He died because he had nothing to eat but “simbug” – a mixture of water and sugar. His mother, herself lacking in food, could not feed him and could not afford to buy him a can or bottle of milk. Baby Boy Kureg is just one of many children who died from illness, lack of nourishment and difficulties brought by war.

The Mandi family – six of whom did not survive that bombing on September 8, 2008 – is just one of many who lost their lives. Many bakwits have been orphaned or widowed. Several pregnant women have suffered miscarriages. Children and the elderly have died of shock from mortar explosion.

Many of us now fear staying in the evacuation centers because of sudden enforced disappearances, like the case of our fellow bakwits Lao, Kaharudin and Harudin, who have not been heard from since May 7, 2009.

We fear we will be the next victims of bullets or mortars, like what happened on June 15, 2009 when the evacuation center in Libutan, Mamasapano, Maguindanao was hit by three mortars. Even evacuation centers are not safe anymore.

We are afraid for our children. Most of the bakwits are children. Many of them are no longer in school. We fear the children will learn nothing but evacuation, war and hopelessness.

We pray to God/Allah, to help us resume our interrupted lives.

We ask the government and the MILF

1. to immediately declare a ceasefire and to return to the negotiating table to talk peace so that we can return home. We want to go home now!
2. to ensure our safe, organized and permanent return to our respective homes before Ramadan (Ramadan begins on August 21 or 22).
3. We ask that the ceasefire mechanisms be reactivated immediately.

We appeal to the Malaysian government to redeploy the International Monitoring Team to help us once again in enforcing the ceasefire agreement.

We ask all armed groups to keep away from the evacuation centers and civilian-inhabited areas.

We ask government

1. to provide food and other support and livelihood assistance to the returning IDPs and those still in the evacuation centers
2. to ensure that houses that were destroyed totally or partially, be repaired or reconstructed immediately
3. to indemnify relatives of the slain or injured IDPs
4. We recommend for the Commission on Human Rights to operate in Maguindanao and Cotabato and mobilize its fullest power, mandate and resources in order to protect the human rights of the IDPs.

To all service providers and international humanitarian agencies, we urge you to step up and coordinate humanitarian efforts and work together to fulfill the rights of the IDPs under the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (UNGPID).

Please do not allow us to spend another Ramadan in the evacuation center. We want to go home now.

We extend our thanks and gratitude to the persons and groups who understand our plight and are helping us ease our suffering. We also thank God and Allah because despite everything, we continue to be alive.

May God bless us all! Inshallah.