Introduction

Internally displaced persons are defined according to the 1998 Guiding Principles as people or groups of people who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of armed conflict, or to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights, or natural or human-made disasters and who have not crossed an international border.

Such persons move into other places coercively or otherwise involuntary caused by phenomenons such as armed conflicts, violence, human rights violations and last but not the least disasters. These causes have in common that they give no choice to people but to leave their homes and deprive them of the most essential protection mechanisms, such as community networks, access to services, livelihoods. Displacement severely affects the physical, socioeconomic and legal safety of people and should be systematically regarded as an indicator of potential vulnerability.

The Philippines and its citizens has a long experience of IDPs. Let’s find out more about this topic through data.

The Philippines

The Philippines sits in East Asia’s typhoon belt and on the Pacific Ring of Fire, making it highly prone to storms and floods that displace millions of people every year, and regular earthquakes and volcanic activity trigger significant displacement as well. Conflict and violence also force people from their homes every year in the southern region of Mindanao, where thousands of people live in protracted displacement as a result.

Disasters

The Philippines also experiences significant rainfall during two monsoon seasons: the south-west, which runs from June to September, and the north-east between October and March. For example, almost 63 per cent the 478,000 flood displacements recorded for the country last year (2021) took place during the south-west monsoon season. The overall figure was nine times higher than in 2020. Around 700,000 people were still living in displacement as a result of disasters across the Philippines at the end of the year.

The map below shows the areas that are more prone to flood when heavy rains start to pour. The perennial problem of flooding in the Philippines as we have seen is partly attributed to its geographical characteristics. Annually, flood related disasters are becoming more disturbing as costs increase every time from damaged properties, infrastructures and crops. The casualties like injuries, loss of human lives and damages to agricultural and industrial business and disruption of operations bring a heavy cost not only the economic development and decrease on efficiency on government services but also to the ever increasing level of internally displaced persons.

Being part of the typhoon belt, the islands experience 15–20 typhoons annually from July to October, with around nineteen typhoons entering the Philippine area of responsibility in a typical year and eight or nine making landfall. Historically typhoons were sometimes referred to as “bagyo”. The Philippines is highly exposed to climate change and is among the world’s ten countries that are most vulnerable to climate change risks.

Conflicts

The conflict has been a longstanding feature of the Philippines, with two long-running insurgencies, and a number of other types of conflict and violence. In the current day, the main types of violence and conflict include violence by state actors against civilians; clan-related violence; political and armed conflicts by nationalist/separatist groups in Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago; a communist-inspired guerrilla campaign (mainly in western Mindanao); violent extremist and criminal groups; anti-drug vigilantes; other criminal violence; domestic and gender-based violence; protests; violence around elections; and local conflicts over resources and community rights.

Conclusion

Internal displacement always causes devastating impact on the families and communities, hitting hard the children, women and other disadvantaged sections of society. In countries such as the Philippines, it has become a usual phenomenon, displacement has perpetuated a climate of hostility which feed on the denial of justice and respect of human dignity.

Such problem should be seriously addressed by the State authorities and protect and promote the rights of the IDPs even more and finally eliminate the social conditions that make it happen. Although geographically speaking, the country is very vulnerable in terms of disasters. Stronger mechanisms for proactive state responses for emergencies should be implemented.