October/November 2008

General Situation

The security situation in conflict affected areas of Mindanao further destabilised in
November with the pull out of International Monitoring Team (IMT) - especially of the
Malaysian contingent - from the Philippines. Throughout the months of October and
November 2008, sporadic fire fights continued in the conflict affected areas of
Autonomous Regions of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) between the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP) and the three base commanders of Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces
(BIAF) of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Most of the IDPs in the North
Cotabato region managed to settle back in their respective barangays while the IDPs in
the conflict affected areas of Maguindanao and Lanao provinces continued to stay in IDP
camps. The IDPs in such areas were reluctant to go back as there were random mortar
firing, aerial bombing and shelling incidents in their respective areas. Some parts of the
island of Basilan also remained tense after the outbreak of small armed skirmishes
between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the rebel forces of MILF.

On the invitation of the GRP, the British Security Advisor to the Prime Minister who
played instrumental role in the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland
visited Philippines and held meetings with the key members of the current government
and the Chairman of the Peace Panel of MILF. He further shared the experiences of the
Good Friday agreement in a conference organized by the Office of the Presidential
Advisor on the Peace Process which was attended by members of the Armed Forces of
the Philippines, the International Monitoring Team, higher government officials and the
representatives of the Civil Society Organizations.

Civil society organizations in Mindanao organized seminars, peace rallies, Peace
Caravans, workshops and forums to raise awareness on the controversial Memorandum
of Agreement - on Ancestral Domain (MOA - AD) and made calls on both parties to
immediately end armed hostilities and resume the peace talks.

NP's Work

NP Central Mindanao Team (CMT)

NP Central Mindanao field office became fully operational again during the month of
November when the road was opened to the public with NP's CMT staff among the first
few people who managed to return to the field site area.

The presence of NP staff increased the confidence of local residents in nearby areas to
return to their houses. The team monitored the IDPs camps and accompanied various
civil society organizations in the conflict affected areas. On the request of local partners,
NP teams met community leaders who reported the damages caused to their properties
and injuries sustained to the civilians from mortar shelling.

In coordination with the Main office, CMT team visited Midsayap along with local peace
advocates to validate and observe the situation after the ambush incident which killed
three civilians. The NP team along with local partners met the local Barangay officials
who requested NP to visit their area on a regular basis.

On the request of local health department, NP teams provided protective accompaniment
on various occasions to medical field officers, enabling them to visit IDPs camps situated
close to the firing lines and to evacuate injured children from the camps.

In partnership with G7 - Space for Peace, NP CMT and Main office organized planning
and consultation meetings to consolidate the role of G7 in setting up Human Rights
monitoring structures in the municipality of Pikit. In the initial phase, NP team and G7
identified critical areas in the municipality which are exposed to human rights violations
and consulted all the authorities on the ground. NP and G7 worked together during the
height of the crisis in Pikit in August and rescued civilians from areas close to the fire
fights between the Armed forces of the Philippines and one of the Base Commanders of
Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

CMT in coordination with the local partners continued to document cases of burnt houses
in various Barangays in Mamasapano, Datu Piang and Datu Saudi. NP CMT received
various cases of harassment and abduction of civilians who were released after a few
days. NP teams accompanied the families of the victims to the nearest police station and
shared the information with the relevant agencies on the request of the families of the
victims. During the months of Oct and Nov, NP was informed by local contacts of cases
of civilians being stopped, questioned and interrogated on the spot at the check points..

On the request of local community leaders, NP CMT organized and facilitated a meeting
with community leaders from Dapiawan/ Elian, Madia and Pagatin. The meeting
provided an opportunity to all the local leaders to share updates with the local service
provider groups. The meeting focused on the overall situation of evacuations centres and
how representatives of the IDPs could be connected with the relevant agencies.

CMT in coordination with NP main office organized another meeting with local partners
from KFI, a local chapter of the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Societies, to discuss
the security situation and plan joint monitoring activities in the critical areas. Many of the
activities of the local civil society groups and peace advocates were abruptly stopped
with the escalation of violence in the province of Maguindanao.

On the invitation of UNICEF, NP main office sent two CMT staff members (one
international and one local) to attend a UNICEF Child protection training in Davao. It
was a second training on Child Protection issues organized by UNICEF to support the
organizations working on Child Protection issues in the conflict affected areas of Central
Mindanao.

NP Main office helped CMT in finding a back up house in the town of Datu Piang which
is approximately 8km away from NP CMT field office. The need for a back up house in a
safer area was felt during the height of crisis in Maguindanao when NP along with the
local residents of Dapiawaan/Ellian evacuated the area which became a battle ground
between the AFP and the base commander of MILF.

NP CMT in coordination with the Communication and Strategic Relations Coordinator
verified rumours and relayed information to relevant partners and authorities to address
the protection issues faced by the displaced communities.

NP Sulu/Basilan Team

The overall security situation in Basilan remained quite tense throughout the months of
Oct and November 2008 while Sulu remained relatively calm except for a few fire fights
in the hinterland areas between AFP and ASG. Civil society organisations in Sulu
organized peace rallies during the visit of the Bishop Ulema group in Sulu and registered
their concerns about the lack of Muslim representation in the Bishop Ulema conference
in Jolo Sulu. The island of Basilan remained under the grip of intermittent armed
skirmishes between the Philippines Marines, Abu Sayyaf group and some members of the
Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces of MILF which affected the peace and security
situation and caused displacements of hundreds of civilians in the municipalities of Tipo
Tipo, Al-Baraka and Maluso. NP team received reports of a few civilians got injured
during the fire fights. The island of Basilan remained constantly tense over the possible
chances of communal violence between the Muslim and Christian communities in the
critically located pocket areas.

The NPP Country Director visited NP Basilan office a few times during the months of
Oct and Nov and shared the planned programme activities of NP along with its local
partners in the island of Basilan. NP Sulu/Basilan team in coordination with the local
network partners of Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society Organization and Yakan
integrated Resource Development Centre conducted a series of dialogues with the Armed
Forces of the Philippines, offices of the provincial governors, local government units,
Philippines National Police, Peace and Order Councils, Moro Islamic and Moro National
Liberation Front, local community based organizations in the targeted areas, community
leaders, Christian & Muslim religious groups and especially women and youth groups.
The initial consultations helped NP team to connect with all the key stakeholders and get
their support and feedback on the planned community based human rights programme.

The concept of community based human rights workers was shared as a purely non
confrontational approach to raise awareness on human rights issues and to strengthen
local capacities to protect human rights through engagement rather than confrontation.
The Civil Society organizations and communities welcomed the community based human
rights programme as there is a lack of awareness on human rights issues and there are no
human rights support structures in the island of Basilan.

After the initial dialogue and sharing with the all the above mentioned stakeholders,
activities were conducted in the targeted municipalities of Tipo Tipo & Tuburan of
Basilan island. NP Sulu Basilan team in coordination with the local partners conducted
municipal level consultations in each of the municipalities which were attended by the
mayors, deputy mayors, municipal councillors, barangay captains, barangay health
workers, religious leaders, women and youth groups. NP teams informed all the key
parties in advance before conducting municipal level consultations in order to keep them
fully informed of NP presence and work in the island of Basilan. .

NP Basilan team received multiple cases of human rights violations as the intermittent
fire fights broke out in the island of Basilan. NP team shared the cases with the relevant
partners and agencies. NP team along with the local partners addressed rumours which
were creating panic among the local residents. NP relayed the relevant information to the
key authorities on both sides in the conflict to prevent the escalation of violence. NP team
visited the office of Commission of Human Rights in Zamboanga city and updated them
on NP work in the islands of Basilan and Sulu and further shared with them the human
rights situation in the critical areas of Basilan. The Commission on human rights
extended its support to NP. Both NP team and CHR agreed to maintain regular
communication and share relevant information. NP also invited CHR representatives to
participate in the community level human rights programme.

NP team along with the local partners visited and continuously monitored the situation in
some of the critical areas which were affected by the fire fights. The team met the
communities displaced by the sporadic fire fights and maintained presence in easy access
areas which got affected by the fire fights. It is important to mention that there are a few
locations in Basilan which are very high risk areas and require thorough coordination
from all parties before moving inside.

NP Basilan team was joined by Umar Jaleel as International Civilian Peacekeeper who
earlier worked in NP Sri Lanka project as a Field Officer. The Basilan team was also
joined by three other local staff members in the positions of Field Associate, Translator
and Care Taker.

NP Basilan office was officially inaugurated in the month of October 08 and the
ceremony was attended by the local partners, community leaders, local residents and
representatives of all parties. Civil Society organizations and the local community
welcomed NP and assured full support to NP office in Lamitan, Basilan.

NP Cotabato Main Office (CMO)

NP Cotabato Main office remained occupied in consolidating working relationships with
the key parties, refining working strategies with the key partners at Mindanao level,
enhancing the image and scope of NP work in Philippines and kept on providing
coordination and on the ground support to NPP field teams and guided the teams in
devising new strategies and action plans as according to the ground realities and
foreseeable political and security situation.

NP CMO participated in various meetings of national and international organizations and
updated the participants about the ground situation in NP areas of work. NP main office
organized and facilitated meetings of the protection cluster in the premises of NP Main
Offices in Cotabato city. The protection cluster was launched to pay exclusive attention
to the protection needs of the IDPs and civilians in conflict affected areas of Mindanao.

On the request of the outgoing contingent of the International Monitoring Team of
Malaysia, NP CMO coordinated and facilitated their visit to the IDPs camps in the
critical areas of Datu Piang municipality. The Communication Coordinator maintained
regular contacts with the Joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities
(GRP & MILF) and armed commanders on the ground to coordinate overall NP
activities. The Communication Coordinator supported the teams in verifying the
information from different contacts and vice versa.

The Main office continuously engaged the higher military officials in the military
headquarters as well as in the Regional Command Centres. Similarly, the Main office
regularly met the key members of the Central Committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front and updated them about the work of NP and the precise operational locations of NP
field teams.

The Main office also met key higher level officials in the diplomatic community to keep
them abreast of the political and security situation in the ongoing fire fight areas.

NP Philippines project was visited by the Programme Director and NP Capacity Building
Director. NP Programme Director stayed for one month in the project, visited the field
offices in Maguindanao and Basilan and met key NPP partners, officials at Philippines,
Mindanao and grass roots level.

The senior management staff of NP Main Office and the visiting Programme Director
met the German Deputy Ambassador and visiting Desk officer for South East Asia from
German Foreign office in Berlin. The Team also met Belgian Ambassador to the
Philippines, senior diplomatic officials of the European Commission, French embassy
and officials in the Office of the Presidential Advisor on the Peace Process.

Both NPP Country Director and International Programme Director along with the visiting
CB Director finalised the list of successful candidates for the upcoming Mission
Preparation Training and inspected two potential training locations for the training to be
held in Feb/March 2009.

Interviews were also conducted for a number of new positions as the project gears up for
phase II expansion during the first part of 2009. So far two Field Associates, an Assistant
Field Coordinator and a Research/Grant Writer have been appointed. All four selected
candidates got the opportunity to meet the visiting Programme Director.