After days of continuous rains and floods, residents of Las Navas municipality, Northern NEWSLETTER Samar, receives timely food assistance. Isyuk/ICRC Anastasia ICRC - February 2011 A BUSY YEAR AHEAD WORKING IN CONFLICT-AFFECTED AREAS 2 Liberation Front. We welcome any steps that the ICRC helped renovate the Zamboanga may lead to the stabilization of the situation migration centre by improving access to VITAL HELP FOR 48,000 FLOOD in conflict-affected parts of the Philippines water and sanitation, and provided hygiene VICTIMS IN NORTHERN SAMAR 2 and allow people to lead normal lives. In the kits to its temporary residents. This should A BREATH OF COMFORT meantime, however, many communities complement the efforts of authorities in IN OVERCROWDED JAILS 3 still live in fear as internal clan disputes improving the situation of migrants. Many in Central Mindanao, often referred to as went abroad from Sulu archipelago due to YOUNG REPORTER FROM MEXICO ridos, persist in causing displacements and ongoing violence and difficult economic VISITS THE PHILIPPINES 4 loss of lives. Various situations of violence, conditions. destruction of property, and kidnappings for ransom are continuing, and pose serious The Call for Action (CFA) initiative, which Editorial by Jean-Daniel Tauxe security concerns. addresses causes and consequences of Head of Delegation overcrowding in jails and prisons, has Improving access to healthcare, water been gradually expanding. Following the and sanitation remains a priority for the example of Manila City Jail, the working The new year greeted the Philippines with ICRC in Central Mindanao, where it assist group on improvements in the criminal enduring rains and floods in parts of the the most vulnerable people. Rice and justice process was launched in Tacloban, country. Global weather pattern changes vegetable seeds, along with farm tools, Leyte. such as La Niña, associated with lower were distributed in 2010, allowing more sea surface temperatures, coupled with than 3,800 families to resume farming The new BJMP manual sets national manmade environmental degradation, and reduce their dependence on loans. standards for living conditions in jails. continue to affect the lives of many Reduced economic pressure gives people Overall, about 25,000 inmates so far have Filipinos. better chances for a fresh start. benefited from structural improvements in the framework of the CFA. Innovative Although the ICRC’s task consists mainly in While Sulu archipelago remains off-limits solutions, such as the use of solar panels for bringing aid to people adversely affected to the ICRC due to prevailing insecurity, heating water in jail facilities to help reduce by armed conflict and other situations of the organization responds to the needs maintenance costs and adverse effects on violence, we also work in partnership with of people through local partners. A good the environment. the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) to help example is the water project in Indanan, people in sensitive areas when calamities which is currently providing several The Philippines remains a key operation occur. Just this month, the ICRC provided a thousand people with safe drinking water, for ICRC in South-East Asia. Whatever half-month supply of food to around 48,000 implemented by local actors with the humanitarian challenges 2011 brings, the people in conflict- and flood-stricken areas support of the ICRC. ICRC will continue to face them in a neutral, of Northern Samar. impartial way. The ICRC has also begun focusing on This year also opened with the resumption the issue of migration, a growing global of peace talks between the Government of phenomenon that presents numerous the Philippines and the National Democratic humanitarian challenges. In its first Front, as well as with the Moro Islamic intervention for migrants in the Philippines, NEWSLETTER WORKING IN CONFLICT-AFFECTED AREAS In Central Mindanao, the ICRC assists the most Kabacan (Carmen) area, the ICRC provided physical rehabilitation and prosthetic support vulnerable families who were affected by food and basic items. through the Jubilee Center in Davao City, conflict to restore their livelihood. At the end where a gait training area was constructed. of 2010, over 3,800 families received rice or Water-network extension projects, which aim vegetable seeds and cuttings along with tools to bring drinking water to nine barangays In the Visayas region, where armed clashes to help them revive agricultural production. The hosting 11,000 people have started in Pikit, between the government forces and the ICRC, in collaboration with ARMM Department North Cotabato, and will continue in 2011. NPA result in people’s lack of access to basic of Social Welfare and Development and the This is the most ambitious water project the services, the ICRC reaches out to the affected Department of Agriculture, also provided ICRC has ever undertaken in the Philippines. and remote communities. In Samar, it helped to 46 tiller machines (kuliglig) to farmers’ improve access to safe water and sanitation for associations for community use. This program In order to improve access to healthcare, the over 6,400 residents through the construction may be expanded further in 2011. ICRC continues to provide medicines and of two new gravity-fed water supply systems. surgical items to 14 hospitals throughout The ICRC also distributed seeds and gardening Responding to the needs of 600 families who Mindanao, and finance individual treatments in tools to vulnerable communities in Northern were displaced due to the local dispute in particularly vulnerable cases. It also facilitates Samar already affected by armed conflict. VITAL HELP FOR 48,000 FLOOD VICTIMS IN NORTHERN SAMAR Anastasia Isyuk/ICRC Anastasia After weeks of heavy rains, the roads in Las Navas municipality are difficult to pass. One of the Red Cross jeepneys loaded with rice bags got stuck in the mud. Thanks to joint efforts of the drivers, it was quickly pulled out and reached the distribution point. Anastasia Isyuk/ICRC Anastasia Some villagers have to go a long way to receive rice, sardines, oil and other items. The distribution point is set in an area accessible by boat, motorcycle or on foot. It takes a boat ride and a jungle walk to reach some remote barangays. SUPPORTING THE Isyuk/ICRC Anastasia As distributions carry on, rain gives way to PHILIPPINE RED CROSS blazing heat. More than 1,000 people are waiting to receive assistance while local In February, ICRC transferred food and basic items to the Philippine Red Cross to allow authorities help organize the process. Senior them respond to the needs of flood-stricken communities. Around 15,000 people in villagers and other vulnerable people are Surigao del Sur have been given a half-month supply of food. Each family was given 25 given a priority. PRC and local community kilograms of rice, six litres of oil, 12 tins of sardines and other items. At the same time, volunteers assist then to pass through the line about 7,000 people in Surigao del Norte were provided with a set of basic items. and carry heavy items. Improvements in Teresa District Jail bring relief to inmates, who now enjoy more air and light inside their cells. Annalisa Crivellari/ICRC Annalisa “Moreover, because adequate funding will be required to meet the standards, the A BREATH OF COMFORT manual will enable the BJMP to present a more accurate picture of the jail situation and argue to facilitate the requirement for further IN OVERCROWDED JAILS resources,” he added. Fresh air from the mountains Like food and water, air and light are just as valuable In another Rizal town, detainees in Teresa for those detained inside overcrowded facilities. In this District Jail enjoy the fresh breeze of mountain air. Some walls were demolished to give way story, Oliver Ortega tells how seemingly small changes to windows and iron bars in the small three- to ventilation brought sighs of relief to inmates in two story facility. “A few months ago, it was very dark in here,” Rizal jails. said Mark (not his real name.) “That’s the only window we had,” he said, pointing to an almost square-foot hole in the wall across the row of bunk beds but wherein hardly any light At the courtyard of the San Mateo Municipal Introducing new national standards comes in. Jail where inmates receive visiting relatives, Tony (not his real name) enjoys the brief In November 2010, the BJMP published its first Through its jail improvement activities, the comfort of moving air outside his cell amidst 68-page manual on habitat, water, sanitation, ICRC in coordination with Supt. Amado the midday heat. Above him, the sky is cloudy, and kitchen in jails. The manual stipulates the Concepcion Jr., warden of Teresa District Jail, with signs of heavy rain approaching. national standards for the living conditions of helped remove one of the interior walls in detainees in the Philippines. It provides, for Mark’s cell and replaced it with iron bars. The “Afternoons like this used to be more difficult example, that in all places where detainees ICRC also supported the construction of a new to take before they widened the windows,” are required to live or work, “the windows window overlooking the mountains in the said Tony, referring to the 1.5 ft-high window shall be large enough to enable the detainees municipality of Teresa. which replaced the mere horizontal slit high to read or work by natural light, and shall be above their cell’s wall. constructed to allow the entrance of fresh air “We began widening the cells and even placed whether or not there is artificial ventilation.” marble floor tiles, which supported the local The windows lined with iron bars were tile industry here in the town of Teresa, to help constructed with the support of the ICRC, The manual is a product of the BJMP- alleviate the intolerable conditions of inmates.