Half a Million Displaced by Fighting in the Philippines

Half a Million Displaced by Fighting in the Philippines

By IRIN News

MANILA, 5 September 2008 (IRIN) - Up to 500,000 people are enduring poor health services and unsanitary conditions after fleeing the fighting between the government and Muslim rebels in the south.

Moreover, analysts fear that President Gloria Arroyo's 3 September decision to dissolve a negotiating panel seeking a political solution to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's (MILF) 30-year rebellion will trigger increased violence across the southern island of Mindanao.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said on 4 September that four weeks of fighting between government soldiers and MILF forces had displaced some 423,772 people. These people "are directly affected and needing assistance of any form. They either lost their houses, are displaced and/or lost their livelihoods."

Cases of acute respiratory and urinary tract infections have been reported by medical authorities in camps near Kolambugan, one of the towns in Lanao del Norte province raided by MILF forces. Classes remain suspended in many areas, with schools burned down by rebels and not yet repaired and others serving as temporary shelters, according to the NDCC.

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