The ‘lumad’ deserve better

Solita Collas Monsod prefaced her column, “Who is exploiting the ‘lumad’?” (Opinion, 9/19/15), with demographics of indigenous people and the lumad “in order to know how many are affected by the current lumad crisis.” She went on to conclude that the 3,000 evacuees, presumably referring to the ones from five Surigao del Sur municipalities now encamped at Tandag Sports Complex, are a mere 0.03 percent of the lumad population. She closes her piece by opining that it is not the Army but the leftists who are taking advantage of the lumad.

There are lumad evacuees or internally displaced persons (IDPs) other than those in Tandag. There are IDPs, too, at the Haran Center in Davao City; in San Luis, Agusan del Sur; in Cabanglasan and Malaybalay, Bukidnon; and in Lagonlong, Misamis Oriental. Perhaps there are other cases of conflict-triggered displacement not known to the public. There is no humanitarian organization that is systematically monitoring and documenting internal displacement caused by various forms of conflict and violence.

Internal displacements due to conflict and violence are small in scale and protracted, and do not get as much attention and assistance. Hence they are called “forgotten crises.”

But there are humanitarian principles guiding governments, intergovernmental organizations and NGOs in cases of internal displacement, including upholding the rights to protection and security, and to humanitarian assistance. Governments in particular are obliged to protect indigenous peoples and other groups with dependency on—or attachment to—their lands from displacement.

Even if the lumad IDPs are just 0.03 percent of the entire lumad population—certainly there are other lumad IDPs (and also non-lumad) in various parts of the country displaced by conflict—they equally have rights to protection and security, and to receive adequate humanitarian assistance.

The Surigao del Sur provincial disaster risk reduction and management office estimates that food supply will last until mid-October, after which meeting the basic food needs of the 3,000 lumad IDPs will be uncertain. There is also the urgent need for improving water and sanitation facilities, for nonfood items such as slippers, underwear and childrenís clothing, and temporary shelters. We are all obliged to extend adequate assistance to the lumad IDPs as we have helped those displaced by “Yolanda” and other natural disasters.

The return of the IDPs to their communities remains uncertain. Aside from meeting the IDPs’ urgent humanitarian needs, it is equally urgent that the underlying and root causes of displacement be immediately resolved so that the IDPs will be able to return home and start their recovery. Any oversimplification of the IDPs’ situation such as the lumad just being exploited in the conflict between the “hard left” and the government will not contribute to creating the necessary conditions for the safe return of the lumad IDPs to their community. The lumad IDPs deserve better.

—CELSO DULCE, humanitarian response and integrated risk management advisor, [email protected]