PART 1: Marawi bakwit by the numbers

MARAWI CITY (MindaNews) – Task Force Bangon Marawi (TFBM) is saying that by September this year, there will be no more IDPs staying in tent cities or evacuation centers. This is long overdue, but nevertheless, we pray that this will be realized the soonest considering the poor state of those living in tents.

But, do tent cities and temporary shelters represent the whole or true state of Marawi Bakwits? Let’s check the numbers:

According to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) which was included in the TFBM Marawi rise plan or master development, a total of 127,309 is the number of people affected within the Most Affected Area (MAA).

Just this May 22, 2019, the International Committee of the Red Cross or ICRC in a statement put the number of still displaced from Marawi to over 100,000.

In the ongoing “Kathanor” profiling by TFBM funded by UN, they were able to profile over 66,000 displaced or 15,500 families. But those are just the initial numbers, as renters and late homeowners and sharers are yet to be included.

Of the 66,000, 3,500 are still staying in evacuation centers and 10,800 in temporary shelters. If we put it into percentage, assuming that only 66,000, 5% are staying in evacuation centers and 16% in temporary shelter if we add that a total of 21 percent are staying in government shelters? So what happened to the majority 79% home-based IDPs (internally displaced persons)?

How are they? What are the interventions given to them aside from the 73,000 pesos allocated last year but released only this year?

But that percentage could change if we base the number of IDPs from the UNHCR and ICRCs count.

If the total IDPs is 127,309: only 2 - 3% are in the evacuation centers and 8% are in temporary shelters. The rest are home-based or what we call on-their-own IDPs.

These numbers are important so that we will not be misled that Marawi IDPs are doing fine after more than two years of displacement.

Majority of the bakwits were neglected.

The fact and the truth is over 100,000 IDPs from Marawi are still homeless. Tents and temporary shelters could not be considered our homes.

Next: The search for the 49 Unexploded ordinance UXOs

MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. OUR Marawi is open to anyone who wishes to share his/ her thoughts on what is happening in Marawi. Drieza Lininding is chair of the Moro Consensus Group.