“The assassination of Allende quickly covered over the memory of the Russian invasion of Bohemia, the bloody massacre in Bangladesh caused Allende to be forgotten, the din of war in the Sinai desert drowned out the groans of Bangladesh, the massacres in Cambodia caused the Sinai to be forgotten, and so on, and on and on, until everyone has completely forgotten everything.” Milan Kundera  The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

In July 2013 the military ordered a village to displace and then shelled the zone it ordered them to displace too,  at least this is what we were told by the people living there. People where injured most of their injuries consistent with heavy mortar shelling; shrapnel lodged below the knee. The military claimed their actions were legitimate and that the wounding of the civilians was unfortunate. In fact Major General Gapuz (MG) went on local radio as saying,

“That’s true. We admit that and as I’ve said during the press conference that I have yesterday, we’re not saying its collateral damage. It’s really just unfortunate that at the time that the fierce skirmishes is happening that we have also to give protection to our soldiers so we fired those cannons that we have and because of firing maybe some of them was within the vicinity…so we really regret that such thing had happened.”

oh sorry the question was “There are also reports of civilians that were hurt because of the military action against the BIFF. It is also said that some were wounded because of the mortar shelling made by military troops”

At the time this case was reported to both the Peace Panels yet given the primacy of the peace process and the need to show progress nothing was done. The local human rights commission interviewed the victims some of whom despite being wounded by the military and MG’s claims on Radyo Natin to the contrary were refused treatment in the hospital as they didn’t have any money to pay and no medical insurance. Due Dilligence in this case was shown by the investigators yet the Commission en Banc is still to resolve on the case despite the military admitting they shelled the civilians.

MG said it was unfortunate though another branch of the same state apparatus actually labelled the community as BIFF. Below is an expert from an email i received in october. The sender part of the peace process architecture  holding the rank i think of General or major or perhaps major general i forget now.

‘…not to mention that said barangay is the base of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) which does not respect the GPH-MILF peace process. We therefore suggest that the visit be postponed for now. Thank you very much and more power!”

I particularly found the more power ironic given the circumstances. Of course that trip never happened, for me a least. My friend and colleague Juliana did managed to slip under the net and get to talk to some of the folks injured and displaced. Juliana also took the photo attached to this post. Photos are useful they can help to both jog ailing memories and provide evidence to the human cost of military solutions to political problems. The cart you see in this photo is an essential piece of the equipment for the majority of the muslim population in Mindanao. Some families have been displaced 17 times loading up the cart each time they go.

I also remember that in 2012 just up the road in Bagan that around 247 people were displaced due to fire-fights between the Philippine Military and the BIFF again just before Ramadhan. 7 families never returned home. Children just like those in the photo were injured one small girl died due to her injuries. Her father who was taken to hospital due to a wound below the knee was further intimidated by men in plain clothes who took photos of him. The village mosque still has bullet holes in the walls. Again nothing was done. To try and get some attention to that particular case I even included some very gruesome photos of the dead child in a report to the EU. Nothing.

Today the Mamasapano Joint Investigation Team of the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines and the Regional Human Rights Commission turned back due to military operations in the same area. Seeing them sip their juice whilst discussing how the investigation was going and receiving reports that the Military had closed all access roads reminded me that for as long as I have been in Mindanao these communities have been the subject of continual attacks. i wonder if the residents of these villages will ever enjoy the luxury of forgetting.