MAGUINDANAO (Mindanao Examiner / June 4, 2009) – Talamak diumano ang bentahan ng mga food rations sa ibat-ibang refugee shelters sa Maguindanao, isa sa limang lalawigan ng magulong Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Napipilitan umanong ibenta ng mga refugees ang kanilang mga bigas, noodles at mga de-lata upang makabili ng mas disenteng pagkain tulad ng isda at gatas sa mga bata. Sawa-sawang na umano ang mga ito sa paulit-ulit na kinakain sa loob ng maraming buwan na panantili sa mga shelters.
Karamihan sa mga food aid ay galing sa International Committee of the Red Cross at World Food Program. Sinasamantala naman ng mga negosyante ang sitwasyon ng mga refugee at binibili ng mga ito ang mga supplies sa murang halaga at saka naman ibibenta sa ibang lugar na halos ka-presyo na ng mabibili sa supermarket.
Malakas rin ang ugong na may mga grupong nagbebenta ng mga food aid at ni hindi na umano ito nakakarating sa mga refugees. Ilang ulit rin na nabalitang nahaharang ng mga armado ang mga truck ng bigas mula sa ICRC at WFP at nabebenta rin at ang iba naman ay napupunta sa mga rebeldeng Moro sa lalawigan.
May mga kaso rin ng mga refugee na nagbabayad ng kanilang food ration o kaya ay ginagamit itong kolateral sa mga bayaran sa pagamutan sa tuwing magkakasakit ang kanilang mga anak.
Naunang sinabi ng Moro Islamic Liberation Front na mahigit sa 600,000 katao ang apektado ng opensiba ng militar sa Mindanao at karamihan sa mga ito ay nasa mga refugee shelters sa Maguindanao at ibang bahagi ng ARMM.
Sinisi naman ni MILF leader Eid Kabalu ang pamunuan ng ARMM dahil sa lumalalang sitwasyon ng kahirapan sa Maguindanao at sa patuloy na kaguluhan doon.
“Ni hindi nga makausap o makita ng mga tao si ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan. Ni hindi nga nagpupunta sa mga refugee shelters si Ampatuan at madalas eh nasa Maynila o kaya ay nasa abroad. Ganoon rin yun kapatid na gobernador ng Maguindanao, si Andal Jr. at hindi rin makausap ng mga kawawang mga refugees,” ani Kabalu.
Ayon naman sa mga press statement ng ARMM ay hindi nagkukulang ng atensyon ang mga refugees at nabibigyan naman ng tulong mula kay Ampatuan. (May dagdag na ulat si Ferdinandh Cabrera)
Showing posts with label Gov. Andal Ampatuan Jr.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gov. Andal Ampatuan Jr.. Show all posts
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Blast kills 2, injures 4 in Maguindanao province
COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 3, 2009) – Suspected Moro rebels detonated an improvised explosive on Wednesday at a village in the troubled Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao, killing a soldier and a woman, officials said.
Four other soldiers were wounded in the blast in the village of Maitumbang in Maguindanao’s Datu Unsay town, said Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, a spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.
He said the victims were just washing their clothes at a creek when the bomb was detonated near them at around 8 a.m.
“The victims were washing their clothes at a creek, just about 50 meters away from the road when the blast occurred,” Ponce told the Mindanao Examiner. “The rebels were behind the attack.”
He identified the killed soldier as Pfc. Nathaniel Nacilo and the wounded as Lt. Ricky Organista, Pfc. Christopher Jimino, Pvt. Ryan Cubilanis and Pvt. Martin Mangantang, all members of the 64th Infantry Battalion deployed in the town.
The MILF denied it was behind the attack and said civilians angry with military abuses in the town could be behind the bombing.
“We have nothing to do with the attack. It was probably the locals who are angry with the abuses of the soldiers and the destruction brought about by the military offensives in Maguindanao. Never in the history of Maguindanao, not even in the time of President Ferdinand Marcos, that the Muslims had been affected so much by military campaign. Civilians houses are burned and our mosques destroyed by the government offensives,” Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, said in a separate interview.
He also accused Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan, of the Muslim autonomous region, and his brother, Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr., of Maguindanao, of failing to address the worsening situation in the province and the alleged human rights violations by the military.
“The people cannot even talk to them because they are always away. They have not visited the evacuation areas or do something about the plight of the refugees or address the human rights abuses by soldiers not only in the province, but the whole of the autonomous region,” Kabalu said, an accusation previously denied by the Ampatuans, who belong to one of the most influential political clans in Mindanao.
The MILF said more than 600,000 mostly Muslims have been displaced by government offensive in Mindanao. The Muslim autonomous region has previously said that it was addressing the problems in Maguindanao and in the past had sent food aid to different refugee shelters across the province.
Maguindanao is one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region. The others are Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Lanao. (Mindanao Examiner)
Four other soldiers were wounded in the blast in the village of Maitumbang in Maguindanao’s Datu Unsay town, said Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, a spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.
He said the victims were just washing their clothes at a creek when the bomb was detonated near them at around 8 a.m.
“The victims were washing their clothes at a creek, just about 50 meters away from the road when the blast occurred,” Ponce told the Mindanao Examiner. “The rebels were behind the attack.”
He identified the killed soldier as Pfc. Nathaniel Nacilo and the wounded as Lt. Ricky Organista, Pfc. Christopher Jimino, Pvt. Ryan Cubilanis and Pvt. Martin Mangantang, all members of the 64th Infantry Battalion deployed in the town.
The MILF denied it was behind the attack and said civilians angry with military abuses in the town could be behind the bombing.
“We have nothing to do with the attack. It was probably the locals who are angry with the abuses of the soldiers and the destruction brought about by the military offensives in Maguindanao. Never in the history of Maguindanao, not even in the time of President Ferdinand Marcos, that the Muslims had been affected so much by military campaign. Civilians houses are burned and our mosques destroyed by the government offensives,” Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, said in a separate interview.
He also accused Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan, of the Muslim autonomous region, and his brother, Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr., of Maguindanao, of failing to address the worsening situation in the province and the alleged human rights violations by the military.
“The people cannot even talk to them because they are always away. They have not visited the evacuation areas or do something about the plight of the refugees or address the human rights abuses by soldiers not only in the province, but the whole of the autonomous region,” Kabalu said, an accusation previously denied by the Ampatuans, who belong to one of the most influential political clans in Mindanao.
The MILF said more than 600,000 mostly Muslims have been displaced by government offensive in Mindanao. The Muslim autonomous region has previously said that it was addressing the problems in Maguindanao and in the past had sent food aid to different refugee shelters across the province.
Maguindanao is one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region. The others are Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Lanao. (Mindanao Examiner)
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