Zamboanga City – Homecoming is one of the best things in the world. It reunites families, relatives, friends and even neighbours who have not seen each other for a long time. It may be an OFW who’s been longing to see his family back home or those returning from military service to spend some precious times with loved ones and in some rare cases, a family going back to their hometown to start anew.

Boundless Hope

Seven months and twenty three days, Inglan Osmena counted in exact their length of stay in Cawa-Cawa shoreline. The crisis that lasted more or less three weeks in the city last September has forced thousands of families, including Inglan to flee their homes for evacuation centers. “Way kuna nara in mga panyap namu. Basta dimagan na saja kami. Katangisun aku bang kutumtuman byariin ku sila lyaruk ha Bangka.”(I wasn’t able to carry and save our things. We just ran away immediately. I almost cry when I think of us jumping out of our house and I had to throw them into our boat.) said Inglan, recalling how he and his family escaped gunfire in their seaside home in Rio Hondo.

He and thousand other families were brought right away to Joaquin Enriquez Memorial Complex (Grandstand) for proper intake and interventions. Eventually they were transferred to Cawa-Cawa shoreline after expressing their felt need of staying near the coast since they have to watch after their bancas— and the rest was history.

Although most have already returned home, some are still taking temporary shelters at the evacuation centers, such as the Cawa-Cawa grounds.

As of April 22, 2014, there are still 762 families housed in the said evacuation center. Here, Inglan maintains a makeshift shanty where he, his wife and two children share a space. He shared that nothing significant has changed in their life now compared to what they had before the siege, except for one. “Tagna byaini da isab kami. Asibi da isab in bay namu sah amu saja way na kami byaun mga panyap. Amu tuud yatu in mahunit di.” (We were like this as well before. We had a small house. It’s just that now we have no belongings. That’s what makes it difficult to live here.)

But despite the unpleasant happenstances, Inglan never gave up the only thing they have— a courageous heart and boundless hope to fight.“Amu saini pagiyanun namu miskin na asal, byaini pa. Sah in pikil haja namu, di ini dihilun kamu sin tuhan bang di namu kaya.”(This is what we have always thought of, that we are poor and then we are still confronted with these happenings. But we still try to see the positive side that God will not give this to us if we can’t get through this.)

What’s in store for Inglan and his family?

Plight of Naima

In between sobs, Naima Lagrono related that she has never heard news about her mom since the gun battle between the government forces and MNLF fighters.

“Dugaing na kasi in panghula niya. Didtu na sya ha Arena Blanco ampa kami ha Mariki. Na di ku na kynatan hain na sya byaun. Way na kami nakapagkita ubus yatu.” (She lives in a separate house. She was in (Barangay) Arena Blanco while I used to stay in (Barangay) Mariki. We haven’t seen each other after that (standoff). I have no idea where she is now.)

Naima, 26 years old is a mother of 3. With all the things that happened to her, she says she sometimes finds herself wondering what she has done to deserve this degree of misfortune. As her misery didn’t stop at losing her mother, her father was arrested and put to cell a month ago.

“Di namu kynatan myta sya syagaw. In kyahatihan ku bahasa naka-agad kunu siya ha mga bagay nya nagdugsu tau ha Sinunuc.”(We don’t know why he was arrested. What I heard was he was one of the suspects in a stabbing incident in (Barangay) Sinunuc.”

Unlike Inglan, Naima is no longer staying at Cawa-Cawa EC. She and her family moved to her aunt’s residence a week ago as she wanted their children to continue attending school in Barangay Lower Calarian. “Didtu na kami nakabutang byaun ha anti ku ha (Barangay) Lower (Calarian). Paiskulun sana namu didtu in mga anak namu.”(We just moved to my aunt’s house at Lower Calarian last week. Because I really wanted my children to continue their studies.) However she also disclosed that her aunt didn’t allow them to stay there for long.

Will her children be able to continue school?

Tied to the Sea

On the 762 families in Cawa-Cawa, 712 of which belong to the badjao tribe. They are one of thousand villagers displaced from their settlements in the shallows near or within a stretch of mangroves facing the sea.

Inglan and Naima are both badjaos. They are part of the indigenous population whose culture and livelihood are tied to the sea. Their traditional homelands in Rio Hondo and Mariki were the entry points used by the MNLF rebels during the siege. The government has since declared parts of these villages as “no-build zones” and designated them for environmental protection under the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act (NIPAS Act). This is why there were previous efforts of transferring thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from evacuation centers to another temporary site while the government leads the construction of bunkhouses. But these sites are far from the shoreline. This caused them to resist. They reasoned that they could not bring their main source for livelihood – fishing boats that were left tied along the shoreline.Consequently, most of them opted to stay in Cawa-Cawa.

But the escalation of the number of deaths here fuelled the attempts of the villagers to leave the evacuation center. Eventually, Inglan and Naima finally decided to return their homes, hometowns at that.

The Homecoming

Children and the elderly represented the majority of mortality recorded in Cawa-Cawa camp. The poor sanitation of the surrounding has been blamed for the rising death toll.

“Maulung na ako ha mga anak ku mam. Gana-gana masakit pa mas mahunit na. Hangkanda, madtu na saja kami pa ina ku ha gensan. Gana-gana didtu katabangan kami.”(I pity my children. I don’t want them getting sick. It will be more difficult for us. So we thought of just moving to General Santos, my mom’s hometown. She might help us.) Inglan spoke in anxiety.

Naima also expressed her desolation about their current situation. So she and her husband opt to leave Zamboanga for Sitangkai, where her other aunt resides. “Plano na tuud namu sin bana ku madtu na haja pa anti ku ha sitangkai. Didtu na haja kami mangusaha.” (My husband and I are really planning to just move to my aunt’s place in Sitangkai. We’ll continue to look for a living there.) Together with Inglan and Naima, 55 other families had raised hopes that they too could soon go home.

Balik-Probinsya Program

Upon learning, the Cawa-Cawa Camp Coordinators immediately informed the Crisis Intervention Unit of the Department of Social Welfare and Development Regional Office 9 about this.

The CIU offers transportation assistance dubbed as Balik-Probinsya (Back to province) intended for disadvantaged and less fortunate people who can hardly afford financial requirements to return to their respective hometown. But instead of giving out cash or purchasing tickets, like what it used to do, the CIU provided litres of fuel for the IDPs who own banca.

Morning of Tuesday, the Crisis Intervention Unit headed by Ms. Rowena Mendoza and some of the CCM staff brought some 22 individuals to a gasoline station to fill up their gallons.

Inglan and Naima were just too happy to line up and get their share. “Makug tuud kami dihilan na kami ticket.Makauwi na tuud kami kamu.” (We are really happy that we will be given (transportation) ticket for free. Finally we can now return to our hometown) Naima blurted happily.

Meanwhile, Inglan was a bit emotional. He expressed how grateful he is to DSWD for giving him the chance to be with his family back in their hometown. “Maglabi sukul tuud kami na way kami pyasaran sin DSWD. Daing ha tagna yatu sampay byaun mig na kami. Iyayuput tuud nila kami.” (We are really thankful to DSWD because they never left us unattended. Right from the start until now that we are leaving the camp, they really took care of us.)

A total of 88,400 were provided by the agency to the Cawa-Cawa evacuees. They are expected to head back to the provinces of Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, Jolo, Zamboanga del Norte and other nearby cities of the Peninsula.

Aside from the transportation assistance, the IDPs were also given 2 food packs containing that will serve as their “baon”. Not only that, the IDPs have also undergone Social Preparation Orientation facilitated by the Camp Coordinators which mainly tackled on Human Trafficking, Drug Trafficking and other social issues that can possibly intercept them on their way home.

“This is a form of educating the IDPs about the risks that they might encounter and we wanted to make them understand that their vulnerability shall not hinder their plans of living a new and improved life.” Ben Isnain explained, Cawa-Cawa’s Camp Manager.

As of this writing, a total of 348,030 have been disbursed by the agency for the transportation needs of some 416 displaced families since the standoff. Rowena Mendoza, added that they send referral slips to each returning family addressed to Local Government of the Province where they are heading. This is so the displaced families can still avail of the government programs and services when they reach their respective hometown.