CLARIFICATORY STATEMENT ON MEDIA REPORTS ON THE PEOPLE’S DECLARATION OF SANCTUARY OF PEACE

IN INUG-UG

As a clarification of media reports, the Sanctuary of Peace launched on June 13 in Barangay Inug-ug of the municipality of Pagalungan in Maguindanao is for this one barangay alone. Tabang Mindanaw has received assurances from both the Government and the MILF that there will be no combat operations conducted in Inug-ug to respect the community’s declaration of their barangay as a Sanctuary of Peace. 

As correctly stated by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the Sanctuaries of Peace are declared not by any party but by the communities themselves. The Government and the MILF only supports the people’s declaration by assuring them that their sanctuaries will be free from combat operations, to allow them to return and rebuild their homes, their farms and their lives. Tabang only assists the people in this process of peace building. Inug-ug is Tabang’s 43rd Sanctuary of Peace but only the first to be established after the new outbreak of conflict this year. For each new Sanctuary of Peace, a mutual assurance has to be provided by both sides. Peace will have to be won, barangay by barangay.

It is our hope that this process will soon be extended to the other eleven barangays of Pagalungan, Pagagawan and Pikit (with about 5000 families) where Tabang Mindanaw will assist the Government in rehabilitation and peace-building. In Inug-ug, we expect to build 300 houses in the next two months to allow its residents to return and restart their lives. Farms would have to be rehabilitated, school houses and mosques built, livelihood programs established and the culture of peace instilled in the community.

Inug-ug is a new beginning for 300 families. It is one of 268 barangays in 60 municipalities that have been evacuated. There are more than 40,000 evacuee families languishing in miserable conditions in over 161 evacuation centers who need to be helped. Malnutrition among the young children is worsening. A human disaster of great proportions is in the making if peace does not come soon enough to permit the safe return of these suffering evacuees to their villages. The task is overwhelming and everyone should help.

                                                                   Howard Q. Dee (SGD)

                                                                   Co-Chairman

c/o Assisi Development Foundation, Inc., 5/F Units 503-505 Prestige Tower, Emerald Avenue, Ortigas Center, 1605 Pasig City, Philippines. Tel. Nos. (02) 632-1001 to 03 or 6365855 Fax. No. (02) 632-7844 E-Mail: tabang@mindgate.net   Website: www.tabangmindanaw.org