Military

DATE=03/12/03

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

TITLE=PHILIPPINES REFUGEES

NUMBER=5-53218

BYLINE=PHIL MERCER

DATELINE=MINDANAO, THE PHILIPPINES

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: In the southern Philippines, the struggle between Islamic rebels and the government is again flaring. Last week, a bomb attack in Davao on the island of Mindanao killed more than 20 people and injured 150 others. This comes after the government last month launched an offensive against the largest rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front - which has been waging a 30-year secessionist battle. The renewed fighting has created a new flood of mostly Muslim refugees. Phil Mercer reports from Mindanao.

TEXT:

/// SFX CHILD CRIES, FADE UNDER ///

Misery and hardship confront both young and old here in the southern Philippines. These refugees have seen their villages become battlegrounds and their lives turned upside down. United Nations official estimate 110-thousand people have been forced out of their homes since renewed fighting between the military and Muslim rebels at the beginning of February.

/// REFUGEE ACT, FADE UNDER ENGLISH TRANSLATION ///

This woman complains of harassment from the military. They think we're rebels, she says, but we're only farmers.

Father Bert Layson is a Catholic priest who has been here for five years and believes the young generation is suffering the most growing up amid the sights and sounds of war.

/// FATHER BERT ACT ///

Even in school, Christian children and Muslim children will fight each other and I ask the Principle 'is this the phenomenon before? No, Father, this is a new phenomenon that is developing among our children. When they see the multitude of war happening in their own backyard, the images go into their mind and they behave as if they are also rebels and soldiers and this is the kind of situation we're in now. And I pity the children because they carry these images and carry these sentiments against one another.

/// END ACT ///

A long-standing ceasefire between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front collapsed more than a month ago. The bomb attack at Davao Airport - the worst in two years - has made this a very nervous region.

/// SFX BUS LEAVES ARMY CHECKPOINT, FADE UNDER ///

Roads across Mindanao are dotted with Army checkpoints. Here a bus leaves after an exhaustive search by soldiers.

I was with a group taken to a rebel hideaway near the town of Cotabatu to meet a senior commander of the M-I-L-F - the largest separatist group fighting for an independent Muslim state here for three decades. Mohagher Iqbal told V-O-A the M-I-L-F had nothing to do with last week's explosion and the military is just using it as an excuse to crackdown even harder in the region.

/// IQBAL ACT ///

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is a revolutionary organization. It is a people's war and we're fighting for the people's rights and we don't intend to hurt the people so what had happened at the Davao International Airport is extremely an anti-people activity so we condemn whoever does that barbaric act for killing innocent people. . it has given the government and the armed forces of the Philippines enough pretext not to continue with the peace process.

/// END ACT ///

The government believes the M-I-L-F was responsible for the bombing and has issued arrest warrants for its leaders. Senior politicians are promising to crush the rebels as the military crackdown goes on with heavy movements of tanks, armored personnel carriers and heavy artillery.

The governor of Cotabatu Province, Emmanuel Pinol, says for the M-I-L-F, time is running out.

/// PINOL ACT ///

Given their activities right now; bombings of cities, killing of civilians, maiming of civilians, they are a terrorist organization. But let me tell you this, there are still members of the M-I-L-F who may be moderates whom we could talk to and we're looking at this as a last ray of hope in being able to resolve this problem. It will continue for as long as we are not able to address the inequities and sins of the past.

/// END ACT ///

SEGUE INTO:

/// SFX CHILD COUGHS IN TENT WITH CHATTER, FADE ///

For the refugees here, life just gets harder. The threat of disease grows by the day. Most people fear the security situation will only get worse in the months ahead. Many have seen hopes for peace rise and fade before and there is no sign this time it will be different. (signed)

NEB/HK/PM/JO