The project is aimed at helping "lift up the spirit and rebuild the shattered lives" of evacuees in Damulog, said Nathaniel Don Marquez, chairman of the PDAP board of directors, during the project’s launch at the Marco Hotel here.
Jerry Pacturan, PDAP program manager, said the sub-project in Damulog aims to:
• Provide immediate relief to the evacuees through the provision of basic services;
• Provide a process for coping and dealing with social, psychological, economic and political wounds inflicted by the armed conflict; and
• Provide peace and development interventions such as assessment of the cost of rehabilitation assistance and formulation of development plans for the evacuees.
Assisting the PDAP in the project is the Philippines-Canada Development Fund (PCDF), which has given P2 million to help almost 400 Muslim, Christian and lumad families displaced by ongoing skirmishes between Armed Forces and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forces in nearby towns of North Cotabato.
"We are concerned that the evacuees in the Cotabato-Bukidnon border become invisible," Pacturan said.
He said that since the skirmishes erupted last January, the evacuees in Damulog have only received about P300,000 from the national government.
The evacuees, according to the PNRC, are housed at the barangay halls of Kitingting, Migcawayan, San Isidro and Omonay, and at the municipal gym in the town proper.
Most of the evacuees come from the barangays of Anggaan/Tukod, Tangkulan/Tukod, Lagandang and Omonay, all in Damulog; Sitio Turonan in Barangay Kisupaan, President Roxas town; and the towns of Antipas, Arakan, Magpet, Kabacan and Carmen, all in North Cotabato.
Marquez said they chose to focus assistance on the Damulog evacuees because "they received less attention from the national government and non-government agencies."
The provincial government of Bukidnon, headed by Gov. Jose Ma. Zubiri, has so far given 300 sacks of rice and 80 cartons of sardines to the evacuees, according to assistant provincial administrator Romeo Cardoza.
Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri, the governor’s son, has given P30,000, while the Office of Civil Defense and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) contributed 200 and 300 sacks of rice, respectively.
But the relief assistance received by Damulog evacuees is very small compared to those received by evacuees in other regions.
DSWD records show that as of April 10, the total relief assistance to 24,113 families in Region 12 has amounted to nearly P45 million.
The PDAP has also provided financial aid for livelihood and enterprise projects to several communities indirectly affected by the armed conflict at the North Cotabato-Bukidnon boundary, such as President Roxas, Antipas, Arakan, Magpet, Kabacan and Carmen, Marquez said.
He said they chose to extend relief assistance to these areas to "protect the gains of the peace process."