Filipinos in Imperial Manila continue to talk about the reports of the various agencies that probed what happened in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on January 25.
The Philippine National Police’s Board of Inquiry, led by General Benjamin Magalong just released its finding this week, while the Senate committee on public order will make its report next week.
Meanwhile, President Benigno Aquino III has pronounced his own assessment of Oplan Exodus, which successfully killed a Malaysian bombmaker but claimed the lives of 44 Special Action Force commandos: Then-SAF Commander, General Getulio Napenas, was so stupid as to not have “situational awareness.”
As these reports are analyzed and speculated on, however, somewhere down south thousands of families feeling the very real effects of the Mindanao conflict are being ignored.
These are the tens of thousands of Maguindanao residents who have fled the safety and comfort of their homes because of the fighting between government soldiers and the group the Armed Forces of the Philippines had waged war on, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
The displaced, who refer to themselves as “bakwit” (from the word “evacuate), find themselves at the mercy of the warring forces with hardly anybody paying attention to the difficulties they have to endure.
Displacement disrupts these families’ routine, rendering it impossible for children to continue going to school and for their parents to go to work or attend to their livelihood. They leave their homes not knowing whether they would even be able to return to it, or even keep the family intact.
Once in evacuation centers, most times no more than tents hastily put up or dingy schools or basketball courts, the evacuees find themselves not only living in cramped conditions but also exposed to diseases of all kinds.
As those who wield considerable influence figure out what to do with the Bangsamoro Basic Law or the entire peace agreement, the rest of us shall not forget those who have the biggest stake in the entire Mindanao question: its people.
Local government leaders and concerned agencies of the national government must ensure that the needs of those displaced are attended to in the best way possible. Fighters from both sides must realize that the battles are not only about the pursuit of victory. There are innocent people trapped in the middle, and whatever the outcome is, they end up as losers.