Kidapawan City (CNN Philippines) — Displaced families from Barangay White Kulaman in Kitaotao, Bukidnon refuse to go home as the peace and order situation in their area remains unstable, with bagani (chief tribal warriors) fighting against the New People’s Army (NPA).
The evacuees will remain at the Tribal Filipino Center of Arakan Parish in North Cotabao, according to Fr. Peter Geremia, assistant parish priest, unless the government can assure their security.
The evacuees fled their homes three weeks ago after police and military authorities arrested 13 lumad (native) leaders who were accused of being members of the NPA.
Government troops said they recovered from the houses of residents various firearms and explosives, which were used as evidence in the filing of rebellion complaints against them.
The information that a total of 67 homes are subjects of the search warrant issued by a local court further caused the residents to panic and leave their homes.
Geremia said the evacuees have no where else to go to so they went to the Tribal Filipino Center to seek refuge.
The Tribal Filipino Center has been providing them with food, medicine, and other needs.
They cannot ask for assistance from the Arakan municipal government since they are from Bukidnon.
Geremia said the center was negotiating for assistance from Bukidnon and Kitaotao as it had only limited resources.
A total of 28 families composed of 132 individuals remain under the care of the Arakan Parish.
The Church and Civil Society for the Protection of Human Rights (CCSPHR) group has been formed in Kidapawan City to intervene in the on-going conflict in Kitaotao.
The group is set to go to Kitaotao for a dialogue with local officials to discuss issues being faced by the residents.
Among the issues the group wants to discuss are the safe return of the displaced residents, the security of the school children in the Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation (MISFI) school, and government action on the terroristic activities of the bagani forces.
There are 80 children staying inside the Arakan Parish who had to stop schooling due to the presence of gun-carrying bagani forces near the MISFI school.
The Promotion of Church Peoples Response (PCPR), Karapatan, and other groups want to know the actual plight of the residents in White Kulaman through a National Humanitarian Mercy Mission, which run from September 16 to September 18.
