Wednesday, October 29, 2008 Cost of war: P167.7M in aid; P258.3M in damage By Bong S. Sarmiento
ASSISTANCE extended to thousands of individuals displaced by the latest gunfights between the government and Moro rebels in parts of Mindanao stood at P167.7 million as of last week, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said.
But much more is needed to help the internally displaced persons -- to a tune of at least P437.3 million of the Filipino people's money.
Also, the destruction wrought by the war to properties and crops runs into hundreds of millions of pesos.
Glenn J. Rabonza, NDCC executive director, said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has sought a funding of P437.3 million from the Office of the President. This would bring the cost of humanitarian assistance to a staggering P605 million.
The number of individuals displaced by the war in and outside evacuation centers in the past few days reached 391,266 or 79,855 families, the latest NDCC report said.
Of the P167.7 million already extended, Rabonza noted that P130.9 million was government money while the P36.9 million came for domestic and international non-government organizations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and United Nations agencies.
"Relief assistance provided were in the form of food assistance, temporary shelter through construction of bunkhouses, health and psychosocial services," Rabonza said.
The total amount of P167.7 million extended so far could buy 16,770 young cows at P10,000 each or build 883 classrooms under the Donate A Classroom program of Filipinos living abroad.
Under such program, a 7x7 meter classroom costs $4,000 each or P190,000 at the exchange rate of P47.50 to a US dollar.
Skirmishes in parts of Mindanao escalated in August after the Supreme Court (SC) decided to stop the signing of the controversial memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD).
The ruling prompted disgruntled Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels headed by commanders Ameril Umbra Kato and Abdullah Macapaar alias Kumander Bravo to separately attack civilian communities in North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte and Sarangani.
The Bangsamoro homeland deal seeks to include areas outside the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm), giving the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) wider political and economic powers.
But recently, the High Tribunal declared the ancestral domain deal unconstitutional.
Government troops continue their punitive operations against the "rogue" MILF elements, as ordered by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last Saturday in a visit to Central Mindanao, in a bid to capture Kato and Macapaar, both of whom are carrying P10 million bounty on their head.
To date, the latest war in parts of the island caused the death of 93 internally displaced persons. The NDCC report said that 120 others were injured, adding that destroyed houses in conflict-affected areas reach 2,039 units.
The war's total cost of damage to agricultural crops and infrastructure facilities such as schools, bridges and irrigation, among others, amounted to P258.3 million in Northern and Central Mindanao, as well as in the Armm, the same report said.
The European Union, through its delegation in the country headed by Alistair MacDonald, has pledged assistance worth seven million euros or P470 million.
Of the amount, P270 million is intended for humanitarian assistance and P200 million for long-term rehabilitation of the conflict-affected areas, MacDonald said.
The latest flare up of skirmishes prompted the provinces of Lanao del Norte and Maguindanao -- where government offensive operations are concentrated -- to declare a state of calamity, the NDCC report said.
