DAVAO CITY, 11 March — Endless fighting in Mindanao is making poor communities poorer, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO).
Reporting on an initial survey it conducted in conflict-affected areas in Central Mindanao, the NSO said that average household incomes plunged to about one-half from an average of 3,000 pesos a month before the “all-out war” two years ago between government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front forces.
The low monthly incomes are way below Central Mindanao’s regional monthly poverty threshold of 7,564 pesos, said the report. The threshold refers to the minimum income an average household in the region should earn to meet the family’s basic needs every month.
Analysts said the further reduces income of people in the affected areas is a pity considering that the national poverty threshold income is 12,000 pesos a month, making Central Mindanao provinces one of the poorest nationwide.
The survey showed that when the fighting peaked, the average household incomes plummeted to about 1,300 pesos a month for “internally displaced persons (IDPs),” or those who were forced to leave and took refuge in evacuation centers or temporary shelters.
“For those who remained behind, referred to as non-IDPs, their average incomes also dipped to about 2,000 pesos a month,” said the NSO.
The survey covered 900 households in five barangays — Ilian and Natutungan in the town of Matalam, Pedtad and Molao in Kabacan, and Sundungan in President Roxas — al in North Cotabato. These are said to be the areas adversely affected by the intense fighting between government troops and MILF men in March 2000.
Many more villages were in the same situation in the neighboring provinces of Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Sultan Kudarat, and in Cotabato City.
Production loss in a total of 20,873 hectares of farmlands, mostly planted to corn (71 percent) and rice (25 percent), and the rest to vegetables and root crops, has been estimated to have reached 193.8 million pesos.
The war compounded the adverse effects of a series of calamities that struck the region, including heavy floodings and a severe drought that ravaged many farms in 1999.
