Support for displaced civilians in southern Philippines needed: WHO

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 4, 2009) - The World Health Organization is seeking nearly $1 million to provide assistance to hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes by fighting between troops and rebels on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.

“Urgent financial and material support is needed to strengthen the health response to this humanitarian crisis and reduce the suffering so many people are facing,” Soe Nyunt-U, Country Representative of the World Health Organization, said in a statement Friday.

WHO said more than 300 people have reportedly been killed since clashes began in August 2008 between government troops and separatists in the area.

In addition, some 350,000 to 400,000 people have been displaced, a quarter of whom are housed in 164 camps in six provinces, while the rest are staying with relatives or taking refuge in makeshift shelter.

Recent flooding has made matters worse by displacing more people, according to the agency. Local authorities estimate that some 300,000 people had been affected by monsoon rains, and more can be expected with the typhoon season approaching.

The funds being sought – about $914,000 – will help to ensure the provision of health services to internally displaced persons (IDPs), who are facing various health risks ranging from malnutrition and diarrhea to respiratory illness and psychosocial trauma.

WHO said it plans to establish a field office in Mindanao, control communicable disease outbreaks by supplying medicines and other emergency health provisions to local health providers, and recruit new health staff or strengthen capacities of existing staff to improve the delivery of basic health services.

Thousands Attend Serviamus Assembly In Mindanao; Army Brigadier Seeks Help For Refugees

The Serviamus Foundation is headed by Bishop Elenito Galido of the Diocese of Iligan City and Norma Gejon, the President and Executive Director. Also in the photo is Army Col. Benito de Leon.

ILIGAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 1, 2008) – Some 3,000 people gathered in Iligan City in Lanao del Norte province in the southern Philippines for the 11th General Assembly of the Serviamus Foundation Inc.

The weekend assembly, held at the gymnasium of the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, was successful with Serviamus vowing to continue its micro-financing programs to uplift and strengthen socio-economic condition of poor households in Mindanao through a quality innovative financial and other development services.

The foundation is headed by Bishop Elenito Galido of the Diocese of Iligan City and Norma Gejon, the President and Executive Director. The assembly highlighted the various local products from the Small Enterprise Development Program Project. Government and military officials and

Col. Benito de Leon, commander of the Army’s 104th Infantry Brigade, asked the Serviamus Foundation Inc., to also help the internally displaced persons (IDPS), particularly the Muslims, as a result of the August 18 attacks by Moro rebels in Lanao del Norte province.

In his speech before the assembly, De Leon said his soldiers are now also much involved in the return, resettlement, and reintegration of the IDPs in the province consistent with the International Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement as well as the implementing instructions of government leaders.

He noted, however, that many of the IDPs have lost the drive and the capacity to recover economically. He suggested a similar Small Enterprise Development Program be made by Serviamus to also benefit the IDPs.

“In being able to also extend your service to the IDPs, especially to the Muslims, this Foundation would have demonstrated firmly its full transformation from being church-based into a true NGO,” he said. (With a report from Merlyn Manos)