Saturday, August 22, 2009

Vacate mosques: Mindanao priest urges military

Mindanao priest, Fr Eduardo Vasquez, is appealing to the military to vacate a number of mosques currently occupied by soldiers to give way to Moros displaced by recent fighting so they can properly observe the holy month of Ramadan.

Fr Vasquez OMI, parish priest of Datu Piang, Maguindanao, said soldiers have used a number of Moro communities in Maguindanao as their base, without sparing even the mosques, Inquirer.

“In the spirit of holy Ramadan, I appeal to the military to vacate the mosques that they have occupied up to the present. We must show our respect and solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters by helping them maintain the sacredness of their house of prayer,” said Vasquez in a text message to the Inquirer on Thursday.

He cited as example the mosque in the village of Sambulawan in the municiplaity of Datu Salibo which has been used by soldiers of the 5th Infantry Division’s 54th Infantry Battalion as their camp.

The mosques in the villages of Balanaken and Magaslon in Datu Piang were similarly being used, he added.

Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesperson of the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command, acknowledged that soldiers had occupied some mosques but said it was only “in passing.”

“And if soldiers are still occupying mosques, they must leave now,” he added. “We believe that, like Christian churches, mosques are not military targets. We would appreciate if they can provide us with information for us to act on this. The command would be giving appropriate sanctions to the soldiers who will be proven to have done this.”

The National Disaster Coordinating Council said that the number of houses damaged in the fighting between government soldiers and Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels has reached 3,763. Of these, only 1,039 have been rehabilitated.

Vasquez said the evacuees are afraid to return to their places of origin because “most of them have no more houses to return to. The suspension of military operations and suspension of military actions are not yet clear to them as there are not enough assurances for them to go back home.”

The evacuees, Vasquez said, are “afraid that they will just go hungry in their original places since their farms were also already destroyed.”

“The government must assure first the rehabilitation program for the internally displaced peoples before they come back,” he said in a message to the Inquirer.
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