Let the evacuees return

The World Food Program reported recently that about 250,000 people displaced by the internal conflicts in Muslim Mindanao are facing starvation. This is alarming and heart-rending especially when a few kilometers away from these troubled spots people who have embraced peace have enjoyed the benefits of living normal and productive life.

Displaced families have fled their homes and farms because of unending struggle which the secessionist fronts have been pursuing in futility. In dire pursuit for a practically utopian goal, many armed elements had compromised with terrorist elements identified with Jemaah Islamiyah in Central Mindanao and with the Abu Sayyaf in the island provinces of Sulu and Basilan. Add to these unholy alliances the unabated kidnappings and bloody clans war and you have a savage environment which deters peace loving communities from returning to their homes.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front promises to at least help in hunting down kidnappers and their syndicate. The delivery of their promises however had been wanting. The reason behind this is that in pursuing the suspects they end up in their own territories.

In not a few instances, the MILF threatens to lodge complaints against the government peace keeping force for intruding into their so-called territories and provoking war. The truth is, the government forces have to intervene to prevent clashes between clans to prevent the escalation of conflicts into bloody confrontation and spreading to other communities. Ironically, in many of these conflicts, the protagonists are mostly leaders of combatants belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

At this time when many are looking at opportunities, displaced families are virtually kept hostage in the confines of evacuation centers. This bizarre condition must end and since this squalid state are engendered by futile separatist war and terrorism, then the primary responsibility rest with the front, for secessionism is focal in their agenda and terrorism is nurtured in their camps. We agree with the MILF proposition that peace agreement must be crafted now. We appreciate the fact that they have offered to drop their secessionist agenda. We have heard them promised that they will run after kidnappers who are likely members of the terrorist band out to raise fund to keep them going. If so, why wait? Why not offer a guarantee that the communities where the evacuees came from will henceforth be zones of peace. Those victims of conflicts cannot wait for debates and disputes to settle into a peace accord. If we have a heart for those who suffer in the evacuation camps then help them go back where they came from and help them build their burnt houses and leave them in the quiet of their farms.