The Peacemakers: Tidurays find home

Story originally published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) on June 02, 2024
By Fernando del Mundo, PDI Contributor

(Second of a series)

CAMP BADRE, MAGUINDANAO DEL SUR, Philippines — It took a family of Tidurays half a century to find a home in this remote mountain forest.

The journey began from South Upi, where paramilitary vigilantes called Ilagas had gone on a land-grabbing rampage, and across ancestral lands torn by separatist wars and inhospitable terrain.

A Tiduray widow says she and her nine children had moved three times, until they were sheltered by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) here.

“Life is difficult,” said the widow, a farmer who declined to be named. She has not only been a victim of violence—and remained apprehensive—but now also of climate change.

Because of the long El Niño dry spell, she had only harvested 20 sacks of rice this time.

Badre is seemingly nowhere near the progressively transformed Camp Bilal of the MILF’s Abdullah Macapaar, popularly known as “Commander Bravo,” in Lanao del Norte.

But it is home for the Tidurays—among the indigenous peoples (IPs) that the humanitarian agency Community and Family Services International (CFSI) works with to initiate community development.

The World Bank has launched a $4-million Bangsamoro Camp Transformation Project (BCTP) to enhance access to socioeconomic services and basic infrastructure.

Practical business management
Implemented by CFSI and the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA), the BCTP is funded by the Bangsamoro Normalization Trust Fund, a new funding facility administered by the World Bank with contributions from Australia, Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom.

For the IPs, this means forming people’s organizations to decide and help implement initiatives that would improve their lives, while employing indigenous practices.

Community organizers of CFSI and BDA are giving them practical skills training on livelihood diversification, climate-adaptive practices, organizational development, coupled with community infrastructure and machineries.

Kadafi Sinulinding, a BDA project coordinator, says Camp Badre hosts 200 IP households—mainly Tidurays, but also including Manobos and Lambangians.

Another 350 IP families, who had fled discrimination and land-grabbing, are at Camp Omar in Maguindanao.

BDA is helping these people stand on their own, teaching the rudiments in disaster relief and climate change adaptation.

Instead of just planting rice and corn, the Tidurays are now engaged in planting all-season taro and yam and processing value-added products for marketing.

Confidence building
“They feel safe there,” said Kadafi. “They learn to interact. They join discussions, build confidence and decide the course of their lives.”

Kadafi, who studied business administration and economics at the International School of Malaysia, closely follows the work of people’s organizations, arranging consultations with the Joint Task Force on Camp Transformation (JTFCT).

The task force, composed of MILF and government representatives, coordinates initiatives that aim to transform six MILF camps into peaceful and productive communities.

Sheik Bashir Abdulbayan, an MILF camp commander, chairs JTFCT in Camp Badre.

An Islamic scholar who studied in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the sheik is faithful to the teachings of the late Salamat Hashim, who founded the MILF.

“The Moros were victims of discrimination and Salamat did not want the indigenous peoples to suffer the same treatment,” said Bashir.

The sheik faces a huge task in bringing the core of his camp in the mainstream of the rebuilding process.

The area is densely forested. There’s a stretch of concreted tire paths, but for the most part tractor-trailers ferry aid workers to his mountain redoubt across rugged roads and four rivers.

Digital age
Except for the heart of the camp, much of the six municipalities that comprise Badre have been turned into thriving communities.

The digital age recently dawned on a village at the foot of the main camp.

There, Babby Omar, 52, has installed a “Pisonet” machine, allowing him to stream the worldwide web. “You reach any place in the world, you learn,” said this farmer with an elementary school education.

Motorists driving by on the concrete highway stop to browse the net.

Omar recalled that during President Joseph Estrada’s “all-out war,” Bushra was pounded every day, with as many as 40 artillery rounds per hour.

Partnership for peace
“It is now peaceful, the military is a partner. Life has improved,” said Omar, a rice farmer who owns two jeeps and two motorcycles.

The same path to recovery that Omar experienced is being laid for the indigenous peoples at Badre.

Buildings with corrugated roofs are rising in the camp, to be used as meeting places, skills training, storage and marketing of farm produce.

The Tiduray widow welcomes such initiatives. “There’s so much we need to do to help ourselves,” she said.

For now, she depends on employment arranged by Bashir—helping in neighboring farms and taking care of households.