Boy, 3, dies in Zamboanga City, 138th fatality in evacuation camp

Badjao child is 138th fatality in disease-stricken evacuation camps

ZAMBOANGA CITY—A 3-year-old boy became the latest casualty of malnutrition and illnesses that have been stalking evacuation centers here since the massive displacement of residents during a terror attack by followers of Moro leader Nur Misuari in September last year.

The death of Ferji Usman, a Badjao child, at the CawaCawa evacuation center from malnutrition on Saturday brought to 138 the number of deaths recorded among internally displaced persons here, Dr. Rodelin Agbulos, city health officer, said on Monday.

The boy had been dead for three days already when the INQUIRER saw his body placed in a small wooden box. It has been emitting a foul odor by then but the mother, Hadiya, said she could not have him buried.

“I have no money to bury him,” Hadiya told the INQUIRER.

Hadiya said that although she badly wanted to have her son buried early, she could not do it without money. She added that her family could not even afford to buy food.

Payana Mohammad, the boy’s grandmother, said they reported Ferji’s death to the camp manager as early as Saturday but no action was taken immediately and the family was told to just return on Monday.

On Monday, the INQUIRER learned that the boy’s family was finally given P3,000 in burial assistance.

When contacted anew, Payana said the family used the money to buy a white cloth to be used as a burial shroud, to pay for grave diggers and the burial ground and to give an imam, a Muslim priest, a token fee.

Agbulos said that while diseases, like pneumonia, and malnutrition continued to claim lives at the evacuation centers, “there has been a dramatic drop in the mortality rate since February this year.”

He said that in February, at least 22 people died while in March, there were 16 deaths.

In April, there were only two deaths and Agbulos credited this to a reduction in the number of evacuees in the shelters.

In Cawa-Cawa for example, there are now only 300 families remaining, down from 800 families a few months back.

In April, said Agbulos, many of the evacuees being housed in Cawa-Cawa were relocated to Masepla, a site picked by authorities, “and we see that relocation and decongestion are the solutions to reduce mortality in the evacuation centers.”

More than 100,000 persons were displaced in September last year when followers of Misuari went on a rampage here. Dozens of people, combatants and civilians alike, were killed in gun battles.