Shattered Peace in Mindanao: the human cost of conflict in the ...

20 Shattered Peace in Mindanao: The human cost of conflict in the PhilippinesLorena, a Christian woman with seven children, took her older children with her totend to their farm during the day. Many of her neighbours, all farmers, did the same.Before 5pm, they returned to a safer area. She said:“Many of us have begun to go home, but we don’t stay in our houses overnight.Most of the attacks happened in the middle of the night and we are afraid tostay. Besides, if the MILF and the soldiers have an encounter in our village inthe middle of the night, where can we run? How can we escape being caughtin a crossfire if we can’t see the way?”Amnesty International also met Fatima, a 46-year-old Muslim woman, who with herfamily lived in the “tent city” that was Batulawan Annex 2 in Pikit town, NorthCotabato province. She described their experience of leaving their village andbecoming an internally displaced person:“We did not really want to come to Pikit because we had our farm to thinkabout and our crops were ready for harvest. When the military came, we wereasked to leave our village. My husband asked for the military’s permission togo back to our farms just to harvest our crops, but they said no. They had to‘clear’ the area of MILF fighters. Then, that same day, the fighting began andwe had to flee to Pikit Poblacion (town centre). Nowadays we just sit here,waiting. Waiting for dole outs from NGOs. Waiting to receive rice, noodles,sardines. We wait for handouts, but our farms are also waiting for us. Thecopra in our backyard is waiting. The corn, ready to be harvested is alsowaiting. They wait, we wait. Look at our new home. When it rains, the waterseeps in. Last week, my husband had fever. Now, he’s better. He wants to goback and try to harvest our crops so that we do not have to rely on handouts.”Figure 12: Fatima’s “new home” is one of these tentsAI Index: ASA 35/008/2008 Amnesty International October 2008: