Relief response under pressure in Mindanao

Providing assistance to the thousands of people displaced by the conflict between troops and Muslim separatist rebels is straining government resources, UN agencies and government officials told reporters on 2 October in Manila, as they agreed to step up relief operations.

UN agencies also raised the issue of the need for adequate security for their relief operations as fighting escalated between troops and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) at the end of Ramadan on 30 September.

Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral, head of Manila's special task force on internally displaced people (IDPs), said certain "guidelines" on cooperative measures were being drawn up to effectively deliver aid to displaced people who remain beyond the reach of humanitarian agencies. She declined to elaborate, citing the sensitivity of the situation.

Cabral said the government had spent more than 130 million pesos (US$2 million) since August on food and non-food items as well as emergency shelters for the IDPs.

"The number of IDPs is very fluid," she said, acknowledging that there could still be people who had not yet received vital aid. She said more than 500,000 people had been directly or indirectly affected by the fighting, with more than 100,000 remaining in relief camps.

"The current situation is difficult, but is being handled within the capacity of the government," Andrew MacLeod, a senior adviser on relief efforts in the UN Resident Coordinator's Office in Manila, told IRIN.

He said the displacement was directly attributable to the ongoing fighting between troops and the MILF as well as floods in the past month.

"If there is a major additional shock, an increase in fighting or another natural disaster, then the capacity of the government would be extremely stretched," MacLeod warned.

He said the UN had recently completed an assessment mission in Mindanao, but further investigations by the government's National Disaster Coordinating Council were needed before the results could be made public.

The fighting, according to Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, was making it harder for aid workers to move into some areas. He said UN agencies and NGOs had asked for protection to enable them to safely deliver food and other relief goods.

"One of the issues raised was the security of international aid workers," Teodoro told reporters. "We are concerned with their safety and will provide as much security assistance as possible,” he said. Depending on the availability of police and troops, Teodoro said they would escort relief agencies to places where they wanted to deliver assistance.

"The most [important] thing right now,” said Teodoro, “is the necessity of the national government to coordinate the efforts of all those who may want to help in Mindanao," he said.

Photo: Jason Gutierrez/IRIN

Aid agencies have promised to step up assistance

The World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) said they would step up assistance. The WHO said it would release 15 million pesos (US$320,000) for three months of emergency assistance in Mindanao.

"Evacuees are vulnerable to diseases such as diarrhoea and respiratory tract infections that may be acquired because of crowding and less than ideal environmental conditions in temporary shelters," said Soe Nyunt-U, the WHO representative in Manila.

WFP's deputy country director, Alghassim Wurie, said the food agency could deliver more rice if requested. "Let us hope that the conflict comes to an end, and that the IDPs can return home," he said. "But they continue to stay in the camps and the numbers keep on increasing."

The WFP has delivered more than 12,000 sacks of rice to evacuation camps in Mindanao, helping more than 80,000 families, he said.

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