Tuesday, September 02, 2008 Army limits aid workers By Froilan Gallardo
ARMY troops have restricted aid workers from visiting conflict zones to distribute relief supplies to 2,869 families trapped in the fighting in Lanao del Norte.
Lt. Gen. Cardozo Luna, chief of the military's Forces Task Force Mindanao, said the Army had imposed some restrictions to ensure the safety of aid workers bringing in food and other supplies to evacuation centers in the towns of Poona Piagapo, Munay, Tagkal, and Pantao Ragat in Lanao del Norte.
He said the Army feared that rebels led by Abdul Rahman Macapaar alias Commander Bravo will kidnap aid workers and use them as leverage to stop the ongoing military offensive.
"There's no food blockade," Luna told reporters in Camp Evangelista Emergency Station Hospital in Cagayan de Oro Monday.
"But it will be a major headache for us if one of the aid workers will be kidnapped especially if these are Caucusians," he added.
Luna said covered by the restrictions are aid workers from the United Nations and the International Committee of Red Cross.
He urged the aid workers to deliver the humanitarian aid to the Regional Disaster Coordinating Agency and the Office of the Civil Defense who will distribute them to the displaced residents in Lanao del Norte.
"We are dealing with hardened criminals who have no respect of the law. If they succeed in kidnapping an aid worker this could exarcebate the situation," Luna said.
Last Friday, soldiers stopped a U.N. convoy from distributing food to displaced people in Barangay Delabayan in Kauswagan town, asking aid workers to coordinate their activities with local disaster agencies.
Some international and non-government organizations involved in the relief operations said the restrictions may worsen the humanitarian crisis in conflict-affected areas.
Abel Jose Moya, program manager of Pakigdait--an NGO involved in the relief operations, said they were not informed by the changes in the delivery of relief goods.
"In effect this is a food blockade. This is a throwback to the days of Martial law," he said.
Moya said they are concerned by the plight of 2,869 families who are living in makeshift temporary shelters in the four Lanao del Norte towns.
He said in Tangkal town where they managed to deliver 11 sacks of rice last Sunday, they found residents and evacuees resorting to eating rootcrops to ease the hunger.
Moya said the situation has worsened because Tangkal residents are afraid to go down to get food for fear of reprisals from armed Ilagas or vigilantes who blamed them for the attack in Kolambugan that left 33 people dead.
Dr. Reuel Toledo of the United Nations’ Act for Peace program said the soldiers who blocked the UN food convoy told them that they were acting on orders from the Army 104th Brigade that food packages should not be allowed into combat zones least these could be used by the rebels.
Toledo said the Philippine Army has violated the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement if it indeed ordered a stop to the entry of food convoys to evacuation centers.
The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 requires all combatants to allow "the free passage of all consignments of medical and hospital stores; essential foodstuffs; and clothing" intended for internally displaced persons.
Subsequently, the 1977 Additional Protocols to the Geneva Convention requires combatants to ensure free movement of humanitarian aid to civilians.
Leah Bugtay of the UN Act for Peace said in a meeting with aid agencies that the army agreed that the shipments will be accompanied by only one aid worker preferably a resident of Lanao del Norte.
