Displacement Updates: June 2005 - 2006

Posted in Features and Articles

Internal displacement in the Philippines is most pervasive in areas where militarization and clashes between government forces and rebel fighters take place. In urban centers, the informal settlers, who are branded as squatters, are the most common victims of demolitions to give way to commercial and infrastructure projects. The following are documented displacement data from June-December 2005 and January - May 2006.

Documentation of Displacement: June – December 2005
Date	No. of Families	No. of Individuals	Place	Cause	Evacuation	Perpetrator
7/20/05	30 houses of Indigenous People: Ibaloi Clans		Baguio City	Use of Government land reservation – government reservation being used as dairy farm and research facility		City Govt. / DA
7/23/05	300 families	1400 individuals	Bgys. Mabini, Maglilinab, Basey Samar	Massive military operation – were forced to flee their homes out of fear as the sound of gunfire draw close to their village	Town gymnasium	46th Infantry Brigade under Lt. Col. Manuel Ramos
7/29/05	12 families	55 individuals	Bgy. Sooc, Arevalo, Leyte	Massive rain and flooding	Bgy. Day care center	Natural Disaster
9/8/05	400 families	1755 individuals	Guindulungan & Talayan Towns, Maguindanao	Prolonged military operations against the Abu Sayyaf	Evacuation centers	Military
9/17/05	140 families	600 individuals	Bgy. Bansoy, Matag-ob Leyte	Due to flood	Elementary school	Natural Disaster
9/17/05	100 families	450 individuals	Bgys. Banglos & Anoling, Gen. Nakar, Quezon	Fearful of the repeat of another flash flood from the Agos river	Moved to higher grounds	Natural Disaster
9/17/05	138 families	589 individuals	Bgy. Buca, Candaba, Pamp.	Raging flood waters at the Pampanga River	Moved to homes of relatives	Natural Disaster
9/17/05	100 families		Paltic, Dingalan, Aurora	Due to heavy rains causing the river to overflow – residents became wary of floods and landslides.	Took refuge in the homes of relatives	Natural Disaster
9/17/05	3 families		South Poblacion, Gabaldon	Same as above		Natural Disaster
10/4/05	3000 families		Guindulungan, Talayan Town	Returned home
10/8/05	1400 families	6200 individuals	San Luis, Aurora	Intensified military operations: bombings, restriction of movement, food blockades	Evacuated to Dingalan (other residents were barred from leaving their place)	48th Infantry Battalion under Lt. Col. Joselito Kakilala
10/8/05	few families	6200 individuals	Brgy. Dimanayut & Dicapinisan			48th Infantry Battalion under Lt. Col. Joselito Kakilala
10/27/05	Undetermined number of villagers		Bgy. Magansin, Palimbang Sultan Kudarat	Hostilities between two rival MNLF factions		MNLF factions
11/28/05	11,200 families	50400 individuals	Bulacan	Due to the right of way of the North Rail Project	Meycauayan, Marilao, Bocaue, Balagtas, Guiguinto and Malolos	National Housing Authority
11/17/05	470 families (new evacuees, aside from those already in evacuation since the hostilities begun. Number of evacuees reaches 1000).	1880 individuals	Panamao and Indanan towns in Sulu	Caused by new fighting that erupted between government troops against Abu Sayyaf and Misuari Breakaway Group		104th Brigade
11/24/05		Nearly 5000 residents of three villages fled their homes and farms	Indanan, Sulu	The fighting broke out when the military's counter terrorism task force ran into a large group of Abu Sayyaf rebels in the mountains near Indanan		Military
11/24/05	800 families	3600 individuals	From the villages of San Mateo, Antonino, Mangahan & Bgy. Bungoy, Dolores Quezon	Fled their homes since Monday for being caught in the crossfire between communist gunmen and government soldiers.	Church and town halls	Military
11/25/05	More than 1000 families	5000 individuals	Dolores, Candelaria, Tiaong Quezon	Residents from these different villages fled their homes since Monday for fear of being caught in the crossfire between communist gunmen and government soldiers.		Military
12/7/05	About 3000 families from 14 villages of Lucena City	12000 individuals	Lucena City	Due to continued rain as flood continues to rise.	Schools and barangay halls	Natural Disaster
12/9/05	20,274 families	120,000 individuals	Calapan, Mindoro	Due to floods	City hall	Natural Disaster
12/15/05	5000 people		Aborlan, Dimaran, Taytay in Palawan	Due to heavy rains and flooding	Evacuation centers in the municipalities	Natural Disaster
	345 families
	272 families
	250 families
12/18/05	1,750 families fled their homes	7500 individuals	Bgys Sta. Cruz, Tres Reyes, Divina Pastora, San Rafael and Santiago in Bato Camarines Sur, Bikol	Due to heavy rains and flooding		Natural Disaster
12/19/05	1125 families from 102 villages	4500 individuals	Calapan, Naujan, Baco, Oriental Mindoro	Due to heavy rains and flooding	Evacuation centers	Natural Disaster
	869 families consisting of 3,555 individuals in 30 barangays		Calapan City proper
	340 individuals		Najuan, Oriental Mindoro
12/20/05	2700 families	10,855 people	Oriental Mindoro	Due to heavy rains	In evacuation centers and other shelters	Natural Disaster
	193 families	772 people	Sorsogon
	200 families	755 people	Camarines Sur
	105 families	400 people	Palawan
12/26/05	Hundreds of residents evacuated to higher grounds		Lakeside villages in Marawi city (Taraka, Tamparan, Masiu, Ditsa-an, Ramain, Una Bayabao, Ubong) and at least seven towns in Lanao del Sur	Floods due to continued rains	Madaris and relatives who live in higher grounds	Natural Disaster
12/31/05	500 families	2000 individuals	Casiguran, Aurora	Due to heavy rains and flooding	Town hall	Natural Disaster

Summary:

24 incidents of displacements from June to December 2005
7 caused by the military’s operations against the MILF or NPA
2 caused by national and city governments [urban displacements]
15 caused by natural disasters specifically floods, landslides
Heavily affected provinces come from Eastern, Central and Southern Luzon, Western and Central Mindanao
235, 711 individuals

Notes:

Less cases of urban as well as rural displacements were noted during the period; few newspapers carries news about pocket displacements in other provinces.
Period covered is characterized by Gloria scandal
Media coverage were focused on the Gloria scandal
Extra judicial killings of known leftist sympathizers were also reported during this time.

Documentation of Displacement: January – May 2006
Date	No. of Families	No. of Individuals	Place	Cause	Evacuation	Perpetrator
1/27/06	25 families	120 individuals	Casiguran, Aurora	Heavy rains causing	Town hall	Natural disaster
	6 barangays	3600 individuals	Dipaniguan, Dibolo, Dimalundo, Digumasid, Bucal Sur/Norte, Ayod	Floods & landslides - isolated by floods
	20 families	65 individuals	Ilagan town - Bgy. Cabcab, Buhangin, Aurora		Safer grounds	Natural disaster
2/03/06	750 families	3000 individuals	Sta. Ignacia, Tarlac	Due to clashes between government troops and communist rebels, many of them left their villages	Houses of relatives	Col. Ricardo Garcia – chief of Army 702 Infantry Brigade Lt. Col. Gregory Cayetano – Commander 71st Infantry Battalion
2/14/06	924 families	3558 individuals	14 Barangays of San Francisco, Panaon Island, Southern Leyte	Have been forced to leave their homes after continuous heavy rains for over a week causing the river to swell & triggered numerous landslides	Evacuees are staying at the town's gym, parish centers & schools	Natural disaster
	250 families	1010 individulas	Bgy. Habay, gabi, Bungawisan	Due to flooding – irrigation system in Habay was damaged, the river overflowed		Natural disaster
	100 families	1010 individulas	Marayag			Natural disaster
2/15/06	1099 families	4612 individuals	15 villages in Saban Francisco, Panaon Island – Sta. Paz Norte/Sur, Tinaan, Kahayag, Jabay, Tuno, Gabi, Dalin, Punta, Bonggawisan, Sabang Ubos, Central, Marayag, Sudmon, Pinamilaan	Non stop rains spawning floods and mudslides		Natural disaster
2/18/06	2 – 3000 families	12000 individuals	Ginsaungon, So. Leyte	Mud and rock slides		Natural disaster
3/22/06	98 families	588 individuals	3 farming villages in Motiong Samara	Military operations against NPA insurgents Counter insurgency operations For fear of being caught in the cross fire	Sought refuge in a public elem. School in their relatives homes Relatives’ house, municipal hall	Soldiers of the Army’s 34th Infantry Battalion led by Col. Glorvida Dida and based in San Jorge town.
	100 families	600 individuals	Bgy. Hagisay (San Jose de Buan)
	37 families	222 individuals	San Andres
	31 families	186 individuals	Bari
	30 families	180 individuals	Sto. Nino
4/20/06		100 mostly women and children	Bgy, Tugal, Midsayap, North Cotabato	50 armed men attacked Bgy. Tugal Midsayap. The attack came 3 days after MILF renegades killed the barangay chair Tubog Pulalong a former MILF field commander	Multi purpose building in Bgy. Nas, Midsayap, Notrh Cotabato	3 armed men: - could have been misunderstanding in the past. (He & his militias were involved in previous misunderstanding with other armed group operating in the villages of Mindanao.
4/21/06	70 houses, gov't structures have already been demolished At least 200 families are protesting – who are going to be displaced by the project (Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Resident eng Agusuhin) Samanra	150 residents rendered homeless	Sitio Agusuhin, Subic, Zambales	Construction of what is deemed as the country's largest ship building facility consisting of a 230 hectare lot along the Redondo peninsula – failure to giv3 proper compensation for their houses and a relocation site.		Hanjin Shipping Company
5/01/06	51 families	200 individuals	Sitio Agusuhin, Subic Zambales	Violence broke out when residents resisted the demolition of their homes on the construction site. They refused to leave their homes until they were transferred to the relocation site	Relocation Site: Sitio Mahumling in Bgy. Cawag. ( 70 families have already been relocated)	Hanjin Shipping Company Presence of soldiers
5/02/06	+4000 people failed to return to their homes in 4 villages in Patikul town – Bgys. Kabuntakan, Kandabal, Maligoy, Darayan since 2000	4000 individuals	Sulu	War on Abu Sayyaf	Some of them are still residing in Danagkatipat & Jolo town	Marine brigade
5/08/06	Hundreds of Agta families - Nap Bundicho = President Of AGTA (Adhikain ng mga Grupong Taong Katutubo na Nagtatanggol sa Lupang Ninuno)		Sierra Madre	Due to the military's counterinsurgency program – military have been suspecting that Agta settlements were serving as sanctuaries for rebels especially during military operations.	Gen. Nakar and Infanta towns – Bgy. Katublingan temporary shelter, tribal center for development Polilio island.	Military

Notes:

34, 191 individuals were affected by displacements during the period as reported in the newspapers;
14 cases of displacements
cases were caused by armed conflict; 7 cases caused by natural; disasters and 2 cases caused by a private company affected provinces were from Eastern and Central Luzon, Western and Central Mindanao, Eastern Visayas