Tiglao hit for dagdag-bawas on number of evacuees in M’danao

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Opposition Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. accused yesterday Presidential Chief-of-Staff Rigoberto Tiglao for allegedly doing "dagdag-bawas" on the number of evacuees displaced by the military’s ongoing campaign to weed out terror cells in Mindanao.

In a text of SMS (short messaging service) to The STAR, Pimentel said Tiglao deflated the figures on the number of persons displaced by the Mindanao war precisely to hide Malacañang’s blunder for ordering the bombing of so-called terrorist cells supposedly embedded in civilian communities.

"Secretary Tiglao [is] doing a dagdag-bawas re [the number of] evacuees in Mindanao. Secretary Dinky Soliman over dzRH this morning said figures close to 350,000 not 318,000 cumulative since offensive [begun] February this year," he said. He said that Tiglao committed a mistake by insisting that only a few thousand were forced to flee their homes as a consequence of the bombings unleashed by the AFP starting last week.

"Somebody is using dagdag-bawas tactic on the evacuees figures, not me. But what is certain is that thousands have been displaced by the Mindanao war," Pimentel said in a separate statement electronically mailed to The STAR. He also debunked Tiglao’s claim that only 3,500 civilians have been displaced by the latest military offensive.

Pimentel said that the number of evacuees was supplied to him by non-government organizations (NGOs) in Mindanao that have been monitoring the movement of evacuees in Zamboanga del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Maguindanao and North Cotabato since the military offensive in Buliok complex, Liguasan Marsh last February.

He said an updated report indicated that the number of evacuees has soared to 350,000 as of yesterday.

"Unofficial latest estimate showed that 350,000 not 318,000 civilians have been displaced since the first military offensive of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration," he said in his email. Pimentel also questioned the wisdom of the military bombings of terrorist cells allegedly embedded in civilian communities because of the high risk that innocent villagers would be hit by artillery. "What kind of tactic is that? If the cannon bombs fall right inside the civilian communities, not only the MILF fighters would be hit but also the civilians," he said.

He also said the bombings have scared evacuees, including those in Pikit, North Cotabato, from returning to their homes and resuming normal life after several months of staying at the evacuation centers.

Pimentel said that President Arroyo’s botched trip to Mindanao yesterday was calculated to appease the angry civilians and to tell them the military offensive would wind down.