Humanitarian Bulletin

Philippines
Issue 8 | 1 31 August 2015

In this issue
Indigenous IDPs in Zamboanga P.1
Early warning in Maguindanao P.2
HIGHLIGHTS
Over 17,000 IDPs remain in
World Humanitarian Day P.3
12 transitional sites two Food security analysis in Mindanao P.4
years after the conflict in OCHA/A. Hashim
Zamboanga, including some
5,400 indigenous people.
Traditional communication
Zamboanga: Respecting indigenous culture and
system of indigenous people
in Maguindanao is adopted
identity in a time of displacement
for community-based early Over 17,000 IDPs remain in transitional sites two years after the conflict
warning. The Philippines is home to an estimated 14 million to 17 million indigenous peoples (IPs)
World Humanitarian Day who belong to over 110 ethno-linguistic groups, according to a 2010 report of UNDP. They
celebrations take place are concentrated in Cordillera Administrative Region in northern Luzon (about 33 per cent)
and Mindanao (61 per cent). While the Philippine Constitution and the Indigenous Peoples
across the Philippines.
Rights Act of 1997 recognise their rights to manage ancestral domains, some of these
New food security analysis in indigenous groups in Mindanao have been particularly vulnerable to recurrent and
Mindanao finds 12.6 million protracted displacement due to natural disasters and conflict. Besides being deprived of
people suffering chronic food homes and livelihoods, disruption of the social fabric which had kept in place delicate
insecurity. intergroup dynamics and traditional cultural practices can be a major challenge for
displaced indigenous communities.
FIGURES In September 2013, fighting broke out between a faction of the Moro National Liberation
Front and government forces and displaced some 118,000 people in Zamboanga City. Out
Zamboanga Crisis of over 17,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) who remain in 12 transitional sites
# of IDPs in Lupa- 1,200 across the city today, almost two-thirds are Tausug people, who originate in Sulu
Lupa and Mariki ES archipelago and the northern part of Borneo Island. About one-third are indigenous
peoples of Zamboanga, majority of whom are Sama Badjaos (or Badjaos) who are
# of IDPs in all 17,200 sometimes referred to as sea gypsies. The remaining IDPs are from other indigenous
other transitional
sites
groups or non-indigenous settlers.

# of home-based 11,300* Sama Badjao people and their unique needs in displacement
IDPs who are We associate ourselves with the sea because it is where we belong and it is our home,
hosted by relatives
and friends or says Imam Wahab, a Badjao leader. He and fellow Badjaos used to live along the coast
renting temporary near the city centre in houses built on stilts, many of which were burned during the conflict.
homes As a tight community that often finds it uneasy to mix with other ethnic groups, many
Badjaos have stayed together for almost two years of displacement as they relocated from
# of IDPs received 3,500**
permanent housing
one IDP site to another. Today, about 90 per cent of Badjao IDPs in Zamboanga (except
for those home-based) are found in Mampang-I transitional site with Imam Wahab.
# of IDPs received 8,300** While the majority of Badjaos consider themselves Muslims, they also hold a folk belief in
home material
assistance Ommboh Laut (Sea Spirit). According to Hadji Abdulbaki Sandag, Secretary-General of
the Indigenous Peoples Council of Leaders, Ommboh Laut serves as an anchor for
Source: CCCM Cluster (as of 24
August 2015), *Protection Cluster
Badjao identity and distancing them from the sea would make them weak and sad. I have
(as of December 2014) **National Badjao friends who are well off enough to own cars and concrete houses, but they still
Housing Authority (August 2015) prefer sleeping in traditional houses built on stilts over the water at night, explains Hadji.
Life in Mampang has not been easy for Badjao IDPs. Their bunkhouses are built on the
land, not over the sea, and the site suffers from irregular and insufficient supply of water
and electricity, exposing them to health and protection risks. Many of them cannot practice
fishing as they used to, or find work because of the distance between Mampang and the
city centre. Our house and all our belongings were burnt in the fire during the fighting,
says Matet, a Badjao mother of six children living in Mampang-I transitory site. Matets
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We associate husband sells fish in a local market and earns around PhP200 (US$4) a day. Our
earnings are not much, but we try our best to survive and to send our seven-year-old son
ourselves with the sea to school. Protracted displacement facing many uncertainties made Matet realize the
because it is where we importance of education for her children.
belong and it is our Being deprived of the traditional ways of life for many months have also changed Badjao
home - Imam Wahab, IDPs views towards modern medicine. Matet recently gave birth to a baby boy at a local
Badjao leader hospital and is eager to take him to postnatal checkups. Like some of my fellow Badjaos,
I used to be afraid of clinics because of anecdotes I heard from others, but I overcame my
fear and now understand that medicines given there are good for us, she explains.
A few doors down from Matets unit
lives Nurisa and her husband Jordan.
Nurisa is four-months pregnant and
has been making regular prenatal
visits to a local clinic. Repeated deaths
of young children in Mampang
prompted her and other Badjao IDPs
to take advantage of common health
services to keep their families healthy.
Adopting modern medical
interventions, however, does not mean
that Badjao IDPs are setting aside
their indigenous cultural practices.
Nurisa still sees a traditional Badjao
midwife to receive ritual bathing and Credit: OCHA/S. Taulani. Nurisa in black dress with her husband
massage for their bellies, because she behind her in Mampang-I transitional site. Zamboanga (August 2015).
needs to ask the divine blessings of
Ommboh during pregnancy to ensure good health of the mother and the child.
Protracted Providing culturally-sensitive assistance to displaced Badjaos
displacement made
Humanitarian responders have also made efforts to provide culturally-sensitive assistance
Badjao IDPs realize the to displaced Badjao families, through hosting consultations for Badjao IDPs and city
importance of education government officials to discuss challenges in water and sanitation issues in transitional
and modern medicine, sites, advocating for the IDPs to be able to return to or resettle in the areas close to their
places of origin, and providing livelihood assistance for fishing and seaweed farming.
while humanitarian
Despite the challenges, many Badjao IDPs in Mampang are still hopeful that one day they
responders continue will be able to go back to their place of origin. There, they can once again enjoy the
their efforts to advocate traditional ways of life close to Ommboh Laut, though this time aided by some newly
culturally-sensitive sought learning and realizations from a tough chapter of their life in displacement. For the
government and partner responders, continuous dialogue with the IDPs including
solutions for their
indigenous groups to attend to their culturally-unique needs in displacement remains
displacement imperative for maintaining their dignity and securing them durable solutions.

Indigenous alert system adopted for modern-

day disaster preparedness in Maguindanao
Technology plays a major role in todays emergency communications, from mobile-
mediated earthquake early warning to crowdsourced crisis mapping. Timely, accurate and
well-targeted information about imminent threats, damage and needs of crisis-affected
communities and status of relief activities can and does save many lives. However, this
does not mean that communities without modern communication technology cannot
develop and improve an effective crisis communication system of their own.
Barangay (the smallest administrative unit of the Philippines) Rempes is a small village in
the mountainous area of Maguindanao province in central Mindanao. Located 6 km away
from the town proper of Upi municipality, Rempes has no Internet or television and is
largely cut off from the mobile telephone network. There is one community radio installed
by the Canadian development agency in 2004 to serve as the voice of the mostly
indigenous residents of the barangay.

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Since long before the arrival of the radio, people of Rempes and other parts of Upi
municipality have been using traditional communication tools made out of bamboo to
organize public gatherings and to raise the alarm of any troubles or threats to community
members. The lack of sophisticated communication tools does not hamper our
communication. We will continue to preserve our traditional communication system here,
says the Barangay Captain of Rempes.
The lack of Agong and apos are two of the most
commonly used communication tools in
sophisticated Upi. Agong is a musical instrument and
communication tools used in festivals and general assemblies,
does not hamper our while apos is a bamboo pole used as an
early warning device to alert community
communication. We will
members of crimes, tribal feuds, conflict
continue to preserve and natural disasters.
our traditional Each family of Barangay Rempes has this
communication system bamboo pole hang in front of the house.
here We trust our communication system
because we have used it for a long time
- Barangay Captain of and it is proven effective in warning people.
Rempes It also expels would-be-thieves and
negative spirits, says Norma, a barangay
resident. Though we also have a mobile
phone, it is expensive to buy credit units
and the signal is very weak, she added.
While Rempes has been spared of major
Credit: OCHA/F. Kasuyo, An IP family showing the household
bamboo pole. Upi, Maguindanao (August 2015). armed conflict, cattle rustling,
housebreaking and suspicious recruitment
of community members to work in nearby cities became prevalent in the past years. This
prompted the barangay to adopt an ordinance in 2013 to institutionalize the use of apos as
an early warning system to prepare the community as a whole for not only crimes and
fighting but also natural disasters such as flooding and landslides caused by excess rains.
The practice was commended by the municipal government of Upi and is now replicated in
other barangays. It is hoped that the traditional communication system will complement
other technology-mediated communication tools which, despite their advanced
information-processing capacity, can fail to turn on or catch signals especially during the
acute phase of large-scale emergencies.

Filipinos gather to inspire the worlds humanity

Global campaign to #ShareHumanity
On 19 August, the world marked the twelfth anniversary of the bombing of the UN
Headquarters in Bagdad, which killed 22 people including many aid workers. Designated
Digital campaign calls by the UN General Assembly in 2008, World Humanitarian Day (WHD) is a day to
commemorate all people who have lost their lives in humanitarian service and to celebrate
for social media users
the spirit that inspires humanitarian work around the world.
to donate their
This year, under the theme Inspiring the Worlds Humanity, the UN and partners
Facebook and Twitter launched a digital storytelling campaign #ShareHumanity, which flooded over half a billion
feeds to tell inspiring Twitter and Facebook feeds with real-life stories of people who survived and responded to
stories of humanity humanitarian crises in countries like Nepal, Syria and Afghanistan. Alongside, local events
took place in more than 40 countries to celebrate the WHD and spread its message.
Local events in Manila, Tacloban, Maguindanao and Zamboanga
In the Philippines, the WHD kicked off with Tae bo and Zumba for Humanity in
Zamboanga City, where humanitarian agencies, city government officials, IDPs and youth
leaders joined force to celebrate the day with presentations and photo exhibits by different
organizations showcasing their operations in Zamboanga since the September 2013
conflict. In Tacloban City, international NGOs (INGOs) in partnership with the local
government and community members organized a Fun Run for Humanity to pay tribute
to humanitarian responders who have helped the communities affected by Super Typhoon
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Haiyan (Yolanda), which hit the central Philippines in November 2013 and claimed a least
6,000 lives and displaced over 4
million people.

Humanitarian agencies In Maguindanao province,

humanitarian agencies teamed up
in partnership with local with the Mindanao Health
governments and Organization, the T'duray day
community members School Project and local authorities
of Upi municipality to host a joint
celebrate the 2015
activity with indigenous community
World Humanitarian members, local government officials
Day across the and students. The half-day
Philippines programme included presentations
by humanitarian partners, a
community-driven disaster response
and preparedness campaign, a tree-
planting activity and groundbreaking
of a halfway shelter for pregnant Credit: OCHA/F. Kasuyo. IP women join the celebration of World
Humanitarian Day. Upi, Maguindanao (August 2015).
women.
In the evening, UN agencies, IOM, Red Cross and INGOs held a public event in Manila,
which included a call for action to join the #ShareHumanity campaign, a film screening of
the Scaling Up Resilience in Governance (SURGE) project to highlight community-based
disaster risk reduction initiatives across the country, video presentations by humanitarian
agencies and sharing of stories by local celebrities about their humanitarian work.
The WHD events across the Philippines together drew over 600 participants and received
various local media coverage. National celebrities including actresses KC Concepcion and
Anne Curtis donated their Facebook and Twitter accounts for the #ShareHumanity
campaign, which further amplified advocacy.

Common currency for food security analysis

What is the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)?
While an intensifying El Nio is feared to trigger draughts and water shortages in parts of
the Philippines, there are steady efforts made by food security experts to properly assess
the food security situations on the ground and plan and implement appropriate response.
IPC makes complex Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is a set of analytical tools and
food security analysis processes used to analyse and classify the severity of a food security situation according
more accessible and to scientific international standards. Its aim is to provide decision makers with a rigorous
analysis of food insecurity in both emergency and development contexts, and inform
meaningful for
priorities in response to better coordinate interventions.
stakeholders across
The IPC standardized scale informed by indicators including food consumption levels,
borders and sectors, livelihoods changes, nutritional status, and mortality categorizes the severity of acute
through providing a food insecurity into five phases and that of chronic food security into four. Each phase has
common basis for distinct implications for where and how best to intervene.
resource prioritization, The IPC is a multi-agency initiative globally led by eleven partners including FAO, WFP,
INGOs and other international organizations. Introduced in 2004, the IPC has evolved into
intervention design, and
a system that makes complex food security analysis in different contexts more accessible
advocacy and meaningful to stakeholders across sectors. It is now used in over 40 countries.
IPC in the Philippines aids acute food insecurity analyses after typhoons
At the country-level, the IPC is a forum for the government, the UN, NGOs and the civil
society that conduct joint food security analysis to reach technical consensus on the
nature and severity of food insecurity. Using the IPC as a common currency, they can
work together to consolidate wide-ranging evidence on food-insecure populations and
determine the geographic and demographic distributions of food insecurity, key causes
and severity of the situation.
In the Philippines, the IPC is led by the multilateral National IPC Steering Committee and
overseen by the National Nutrition Council (NNC). Since 2012, the country has conducted
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three exercises of acute food insecurity analysis, the first of which began in November
2012 with 25 most-at-risk provinces in Mindanao. This was followed by another analysis in
February 2013 of the provinces in Mindanao affected by Typhoon Bopha (Pablo).
After Typhoon Haiyan barrelled through three regions of Visayas in November 2013, the
IPC again provided a platform for objective food security analysis, aiding identification of
the most-at-risk provinces. The IPC analysis illustrated that the typhoons impact on food
security was mitigated by humanitarian response across geographic areas. It also helped
the Department of Agriculture and development partners with formulating disaster
assessment reports and designing relief and recovery assistance.
About 12.6 million people suffering chronic food insecurity in Mindanao
In January 2015, the first IPC chronic food
insecurity analysis in the Philippines was
conducted for 18 provinces of Mindanao.
The analysis found an estimated 12.6
million people or about three quarters of
the population in the analysed provinces
suffering mild, moderate or severe chronic
food insecurity. The provinces of Lanao
del Sur, Sulu, Zamboanga del Norte,
Lanao del Norte and Maguindanao
registered the highest percentages of
food-insecure population. These
provinces indicated high prevalence of
Credit: NNC/ F.Tan. IPC Chronic Analysts discuss area-
stunting, poor access to improved water specific food security levels in Mindanao. Manila (January
sources and low breastfeeding rates. 2015).

The first IPC chronic

food insecurity analysis
in the Philippines finds
an estimated 12.6
million people in 18
provinces of Mindanao
suffering mild,
moderate or severe
chronic food insecurity

As for the cause of chronic food insecurity, limited access to food and poor diversification
of the food consumed are major contributing factors in many provinces despite abundant
food supply. In addition, a large number of landless households relying on inefficient
energy sources seem to be an underlying factor, as their access to food are limited due to
low income and seasonal employment. The long history of armed conflict in parts of
Mindanao such as Maguindanao and Sulu islands, which has deterred investments and
long-term interventions for food security, is believed to be another underlying factor.
Going forward, another chronic food insecurity analysis for the remaining provinces of
Mindanao and selected provinces of Luzon is planned for the fourth quarter of 2015. The
outputs are expected to inform the new medium-term food security planning of the national
government and development planning at the provincial and regional levels.

For further information, please contact:

Mark Bidder, Acting Head of Office, OCHA Philippines, bidder@un.org, Tel. (+63) 917-524-2928
Madoka Koide, Associate Humanitarian Affairs Officer, koide@un.org, Tel. (+63) 917-597-4722
OCHA humanitarian bulletins are available at http://philippines.humanitarianresponse.info |
www.unocha.org/philippines | www.reliefweb.int

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