80,000 displaced persons in Mindanao may be unable to return home soon

An estimated 80,000 Mindanao residents displaced by internal conflict may be unable to go home by June 30, an official said on Monday. Not everyone will be sent home but "best efforts are being done," said Mindanao Development Authority (MinDa) chairman Jesus Dureza, who is also the presidential adviser for Mindanao affairs. He echoed orders of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who said that the government should focus on "bringing as many people as it can to their homes." MinDa has been chosen as the lead agency to take charge of internally displaced persons (IDPs). However, the task is not as simple as bringing evacuees to their homes, Dureza said. Besides being provided with food, core shelters, and housing, they should also be given means of livelihood and continued health and psychiatric assistance, he added. IDPs must also be given guarantees of safety since they have fled their homes owing to armed conflicts and/or clan wars. "You need also an enabling environment were they feel secure," he said. While the peace and order situation in Mindanao has already stabilized, a number of IDPs prefer to stay in any of the 56 evacuation centers, mostly in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The government is drafting a comprehensive framework with the assistance of IDP themselves to identify their needs and how hese can be addressed. The recent signing of an accord between the Philippine government and the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) is a step toward convincing evacuees to return home. At least 300 families had been returned to their homes as a result of the accord, he said. The foreign community including the European Union and the International Red Cross among others are also providing aid to IDPs during their stay at the evacuation centers and once they return to their communities. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV