Friday, August 15, 2008 Editorial: UN secretary general's call
DOWN South, in the vast, placid plains of central and southwestern Mindanao that was converted not long ago into the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), open warfare ensued.
Only a week ago, the place was subject of an effort to expand the ARMM and rename it the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE).
The secrecy with which the BJE was clothed apropos the signing in Malaysia of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that would have made the proposal a binding document caused an explosion of resistance and deep suspicion.
The effort to grant recognition of Muslim ancestral domain has somehow backfired.
The failed signing of the MOA instead worsened the conflict between the government and the Muslim rebels, a dilemma that has dragged on across the decades,.
It has become a cause celebre of the gun battle in North Cotabato between government forces and elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
UN statement
The situation appears to be a gravely serious one that it has drawn a political caveat from the United Nations (UN) secretary general.
In a statement, the secretary general reportedly expressed concern over the “unfolding humanitarian crisis as a result of fighting in central Mindanao.”
He warned that the current conflict could cause the loss of many lives, and appealed “for restraint and sobriety between the Philippine military and the MILF.”
Some 160,000 civilians have been displaced in just a few days, most of them facing the risk of losing their livelihood, if not their very lives.
The UN secretary general appealed “for protection of all civilians as well as access for the provision of speedy humanitarian assistance to the affected population.”
Chaos
In Pikit municipality, displaced families have appealed for assistance, claiming they “have no clean source of water…we are running out of food supply.”
Reports said that elements of the MILF that had occupied some 22 villages in central Cotabato have started to withdraw from the occupied barangays.
But in their wake, the rebels had laid mines, explosives, and booby traps designed to further sow chaos in the villages.
