When I had first decided to do participate in this field research trip, I had joined because of my interest in learning about the displaced populations within Mindanao due to the ongoing violent strives. After the first couple days, I realized that the kind of data I would need to analyze displacement trends would be unattainable because of lack of time. I ended up researching instead the BBL, but I wanted to write about what we did hear about displacement. Over the span of the conflict, over millions of people have been displaced in Mindanao either due to violence or erratic weather. I want to go over two of the main displacement factors we learned on the ground.
Tulunan is a small city in the Maguindanao region, and according to the mayor of the city, displacement is very real within her city and surrounding areas as well. Displacement is temporary – anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months – and periodic, taking place every couple months according to where a fighting breaks out and how bad it is. Thus, the cities, including Tulunan have to be prepared, that is an area – usually a school or city hall – is designated to temporarily housing the displaced people and the local government provides food. People are expected to return to their homes and livelihoods after a reasonable amount of time, but according to the mayor, may people do not return to their homes because they feel that it is unsafe and are thus forced to locate alternate housing and work. This is a huge problem, because there are no jobs for people who are displaced to occupy in other regions, the government does not want to create a dependency culture, so people are left to fend for themselves. Cities such as Tulunan have an ad-hoc reintegration program that attempts to provide stress debrief and food but these programs are temporary and more often than not have no funding.
Another type of displacement that takes place often in Mindanao is due to the erratic weather, Mindanao is right in the middle of the typhoon belt and many communities have had to move when rivers overflow or due to mudslides. In 2012, Typhoon Bopha displaced close to 3 million people. The government does provide evacuation spaces but they are temporary, people are expected to locate housing or rebuild because their house have disappeared because of excessive flooding. The temporary housing that the government created in 2012 in Cagayan de Oro has now become permanent and people are still residing in them as there is no where else to go. The apartments are truly what you would could match stick boxes, barely one room and another room with kitchen and living space combined, and some of these places are housed by 5-8 people. The basic needs that I had mentioned in a previous blog come to mind, as people are surviving and making the best of what they have. Displacement in Mindanao is a very serious issue and one of the main reasons that the government is considering the BBL because addressing the root causes such as violence may help address future displacement.
