Forgotten grandmothers from a war gone by
PATIKUL, Sulu (MindaNews / 13 July) – From war zone to peace zone.
For approximately 30 years, this municipality had been the site of many armed encounters between the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Against the backdrop of Bud Dajo, the area became a nest for ASG terror operations, including kidnap-for-ransom and local recruitment. The ASG-AFP war led to the displacement of thousands of families with ten of its 30 barangays becoming “Ground Zero.” In the course of the war, its 20 other barangays became hosts to internally displaced persons (IDPs) and also suffered evacuations at a lesser degree.
After languishing in various evacuation sites for roughly five years, a total of 254 families or 1,270 individuals of Barangay Bungkaung bravely returned to their village in February 2020, after long negotiations and planning with the AFP and other agencies.
They became the pilot area for the Balik-Barangay Program (BBP), a comprehensive multi-agency initiative aimed at facilitating the return and reintegration of the displaced residents. The bravery of the IDPs from Bungkaung emboldened other evacuees from barangays Kabbontakas, Buhanginan, Maligay, Tugas, Latih, Bakung, Panglayahan, Pansul, ang Langhub to return to their villages.
By 2022, even at the height of the COVID19 pandemic, a total of 17,031 individuals or 3,234 households from these 10 barangays had joined the Balik-Barangay program and returned to their abandoned communities. The program implementers thought that the IDPs were less vulnerable to the pandemic in their villages as compared to the congested spaces in the evacuation sites.
Among the returning IDPs are senior citizens who were most severely affected by the war and now faces the challenge of rebuilding their lives. Their total numbers are unknown, but the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) places the proportion of the senior citizens at 8.8 percent of the total population. In the 10 Balik-Barangay areas, this would place the estimated number of elderly at 1,498. MindaNews went to Patikul, Sulu and investigated the conditions of this seemingly invisible segment of the population.
The BBQ Stick Maker
Apuh Jawlis Salialam, 84, lives in the mountains of Bungkaung, here, isolated from the larger community. She could no longer remember the last time she went down to the town. Age has caught up with her and she is unable to endure the one-hour trek along the mountain trails to the nearest highway. These days, she would only go down her house to gather coffee, which she will dry then roast and grind herself. “Di ako mag-inom kahawa bang bukon ako in nakasanglag” (I do not drink coffee that I did not roast myself),” she said.
Considering her age and vulnerability, Apuh Jawlis is still tenaciously independent. She earns a living by producing barbecue sticks from the bamboo that her late husband has planted. Her daughter, Idam Jajiron, 35, her only daily companion, helps by harvesting, cutting and drying bamboo splits. Using a thin knife, Apuh Jawlis would then refine and clean the sticks. She would bundle 30 pieces together. Her daughter would sell each bundle at P5 in the town market. The old woman produces as many as four bundles a day, giving her an income of P20.
The income is barely enough “…but it is able to tide me and my daughter over between the season of mangosteen and coconut harvesting,” Apuh Jawlis said in her native Tausug tongue.
“There are times when my sons would come and visit, especially during the time of coconut harvesting and copra production,” Apuh Jawlis said when asked if her four other children support her daily needs. “There are times when they bring some goods for us, but sometimes, they do not,” she added.
“I do not expect much from my children,” she said. “They have children of their own whom they need to take care of and support,” she added.
Apuh Jawlis and her daughter were on their own when they were forcibly evacuated at the height of the war between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). The entire area was declared a “No-man’s Land” sometime in 2017. The old woman and her daughter evacuated to the nearby evacuation center in Barangay Anuling, still in Patikul. Later, they moved out of the evacuation center and settled in a makeshift house along the provincial road for three years. In 2023, they returned to their land after the AFP and the municipal government implemented the Balik-Barangay Program in 2020.
With only a “tolda” (polyester canvass) secured from the Balik-Barangay Program, Idam build a new bamboo house for her mother, with a little help from her brother, but largely by herself. Lacking construction materials, Idam built a four square-meter bedroom, a three square-meter kitchen, and a workshop area using bamboo and nito for ropes, based on her innate skills. She did not use a single nail in the construction.
At night, their house is lighted by a single rechargeable lamp. Recharging it, Idam would hike for 30 minutes to the nearest house downhill that has access to electricity. She pays P20 for battery charging. Thus, they will only use it for a few minutes at night in order to conserve its energy.
Idam decided not to get married. “Who will take care of my mother if I will have my own family?” she reasoned.
While at peace because she lives in her own land, Apuh Jawlis is most sad when she and her daughter do not have food on their table and when the house is not lit at night. A pious woman who can still read the Qur’an, and probably aided by memory recall, she prays “for Allah to give us peace, decent living condition, and a community of people that loves each one.”
Born To Survive
Apuh Nuratul Astali Sahari, 64, lived through two wars. When she was about nine years old, a ballistic missile launched by government troops against suspected lair of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) hit their house in Tubig Bato, a sitio of Kabbon Takas here. Her mother was dismembered and instantly killed. Apuh Nuratul survived because she was outside the house playing at a safe distance. The incident started their endless evacuations during the Martial Law years in the 1970s and up to the 1990s.
The armed conflict did not stop with the signing of the peace agreement between the Philippine Government and the Moro National Liberation Front on September 2, 1996 because by the turn of that decade the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), an armed group that emerged in the early 1990s, expanded in membership and Patikul became one of their bases. The presence of ASG here attracted incessant military armed operations. Thus, the displacement of Apuh Nuratul’s family continued in the 1990s up to 2020.
Apuh Nuratul recalled that throughout the reign of the ASG, fear was their constant companion. She said, “Mabuga kita mangusaha (We were afraid to venture into our farm to work.).” Because of this, the farming and livelihood of the residents were gravely disrupted.
In 2012, as life was becoming increasingly difficult and dangerous, her son Modasir decided to evacuate to Sabah, Malaysia. Together with his wife and two daughters, they brought along Apuh Nuratul. There, they were hosted by relatives and was able to earn a living. Their family grew with the birth of another girl. Unfortunately, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Modasir fell ill and died. Before his death, he instructed his mother and wife to go home to Patikul. It took them a couple of years to save money for their fare home. Finally, by 2021 Apuh Nuratul and Modasir’s surviving wife and children were to come home to Kabbon Takas.
Their return was timely. At that time, the AFP and the local government had gained back control of the hinterlands. Balik-Barangay Program was being implemented, ushering the return of internally displaced people of the municipality to their respective communities. Through bayanihan, Apuh Nuratal was able to build a temporary shelter.
But all was not well. Her daughter-in-law had found a new husband and left for Manila, leaving behind her three daughters. At her age, Apuh Natural labored to provide the needs of her three granddaughters: Juanita, Alnisa, and Aisa, ages 11, 12, and 15, respectively. All have resumed their elementary education in the barangay. She would hike more than three kilometers to her family’s farm in sitio Tubig Bato to tend to her small abaca and coffee farm. Income from farming and selling abaca hemp and fresh coffee beans was not enough. Often, she would resort to borrowing money from neighbors to buy food.
“Awon waktu magpakatug kami di magpapakaun (There are times when we go to sleep with hungry stomach.), she lamented.
The grandmother and her three grandchildren are not giving up. Alnisa and Juanita dream of becoming a nurse. Aisa wants to become a teacher.
Sisters’ Act
All in their senior years, the three sisters live by themselves in a temporary shelter made of bamboo, sawali, and trapal with one bedroom, a small receiving area, and a kitchen.
Edding Main Arabi, 87, is the oldest among the three grandmothers. While still ambulant, her sight is failing. She is unable to see clearly. She does not wear eyeglasses, as she does not have one. While she could still gingerly walk and climb up and down the three-plank bamboo ladder of their shelter, the old woman is already exempt from doing household chores. She passes the day by “maglingkud-lingkud biya ini” (sitting on the floor like this), Edding replied when asked what she does. Edding was married, but later divorced. She has a son who lives nearby with a family of his own.
Elling, 85, is the second sibling. Of the three, her role is to bring food to the table. She is a seamstress and earns a living by sewing clothes. Additionally, she farms, cultivating vegetables, coffee, and fruit trees. She was also married and had three children. Two of the children already passed away and only one remained.
Her husband was killed during the Martial Law years. Elling recounted that her husband was harvesting coconut when the sound of nuts dropping from the tall tree called the attention of the military patrolling the area. They fired at him, he fell from the tree and died. Her relatives buried her husband on the spot where he lost his life. Elling and her kids fled to safer grounds.
Asdara,61, is the youngest of the three siblings. She was never married. Her frail health and physique exempted her from farming and other heavy work. She takes care of household chores, cooking, and laundry. She does the errands and marketing for the family.
The three women had a brother, the youngest in the family. At the height of the Martial Law years, he was caught in the crossfire, which crippled his left hand and disfigured his foot, causing a limp. He was asthmatic and frail. He easily caught the COVID-19 virus and consequently died in the evacuation site in Bangkal, here.
As Edding and Elling’s two surviving children already had a family of their own, they are left by themselves. This brought the three of them together in the temporary shelter constructed for them by the Balik-Barangay Program, which was implemented when the unwritten policy of “No-Man’s Land” in the hinterland of Patikul was lifted and enabled internally displaced persons.
For the three sisters, the war between the ASG and the government, was “the hardest experience” that they had to live through. In the 30 years of the ASG’s presence in Patikul, they had evacuated to various places over ten times. Their experience was far from peripheral, as Elling’s only grandson, Emi,14, joined the ASG.
“Isang araw, nakita na lang naming na meron na siyang dala-dalang baril” (One day, we just saw him carrying a gun), Elling said, explaining that they did not know how he was recruited and why he joined.
Emil got married to the daughter of Kumander Ahadon, who they said was an ASG Commander in the nearby barangay of Pansul. As the government forces were winning the war, Emil and his wife moved to Malaysia.
These days, the three siblings are living under a more peaceful environment, as their barangay and the entire municipality is declared ASG-free. However, they still have to contend with daily struggles for food and failing health. They make do by tending their farm lot in the hinterlands of Maligay cultivating vegetables, and harvesting produce of fruit and coconut trees planted ages ago.
Elling stopped sewing dresses as she recently sustained a sprained right wrist. She slipped and fell down while harvesting sayote in their farm. She went see a hilot (traditional healer) and hoped the wrist will return to its normal state. The three have not consulted a doctor in their entire lives and PhilHealth medical insurance is not heard of.
“I wish I can get a new sewing machine,” said Elling. The wooden casing of her old sewing machine that she acquired in the 1970s is already dilapidated and the machine itself is already rusting. She hopes to go back to sewing clothes once her sprained wrist is healed.
Tacked on the walls of their shared bedroom, old photographs protected with cellophane keep their memories of the life gone by alive. Elling fondly pointed to pictures, recalling each of the persons in the photographs and the happy events captured in them. It was a life of tough experiences that they have fully accepted now with no complaints nor regrets.
Quota and the Waiting List Based on the Death
Apuh Jawlis, Apuh Nuratul, and Apuh Asadara are registered senior citizens of their respective barangays, but none of them is receiving the monthly social pension accorded to indigent senior citizens under Republic Act 11916, an Act Increasing the Social Pension of Indigent Senior Citizens, amending RA 7432. Apuh Edding and Elling, fortunately, had been prioritized and are receiving P1,000 monthly pension from the Social Pension for Indigent Citizens program (SOCSC) implemented by the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO).
Imelda Kangiluhan, Provincial Social Welfare and Development Officer of Sulu, said their office is fully aware of the plight of the indigent senior citizens. She reported that as of June 30, 2025, a total of 21,010 seniors received monthly pension from the national government. In the municipality of Patikul, the number of seniors receiving pension as of June 30, 2025, was 1,641 individuals.
Under the RA11916, not all senior citizens can receive the monthly pension. Those qualified are seniors who are 60 years old and above, have no permanent source of income, no other pension from government or private institution, no regular support from family or relatives for basic needs, and the health is frail, sickly, or with disability.
The PSWDO does not have data on the total number of senior citizens in the province. In same manner they do not have information on the total number of qualified seniors to receive monthly pension. The provincial office relies on the list submitted by para-social workers deployed in all the barangays.
In Barangay Bungkaung where Apuh Jawlis resides, of the 56 total senior citizens population, only 26 were listed for the social pension submitted to MSWDO in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) according to Purna Abduhari, 35, barangay secretary. Similarly, in Barangay Kabbon Takas, the place of residence of Apuh Nuratul, 27 seniors were listed for the social pension. There is no data on the total population of individuals ages 60 and above. In Barangay Maliggay where the three elderly sisters live, of the total 96 seniors, only 23 individuals receive monthly pension.
“By quota po ang pamamaraan, (The process utilizes quota system.),” Sherwina J. Juli, Maligay Barangay Secretary, said. She added that all the seniors applying for the monthly pension had to submit an OSCA identification card, whole body picture, birth certificate, and certificate of indigency issued by the barangay government.
“All of the 96 seniors in their barangay are indigent and needs assistance,” the barangay secretary said.
Among the challenges encountered by the seniors is the lack of birth certificates. “Roughly half of the Balik-Barangay population do not have birth certificates,” said Jalil Y. Hairaini, 39, Barangay Captain of Maligay. This was remedied by the assistance rendered by the Philippines Statistics Authority who rendered free birth registration for all the former IDPs who returned to their village.
The quota system in the awarding of the monthly social pension for indigent seniors is confirmed by the Provincial Director of the PSWDO. “It is the national DSWD office that approves the list of the SOCSC beneficiaries, which is largely prioritized based on age,” Kangiluhan said. She added that those in the waiting list are added to the roster of recipients every time someone in the list dies.
“Maghintay lang baka sa susunod makasama na ang iba (Just wait, as perhaps those is the waiting list will be included next.), was what officers from the MSSD told the barangay workers, Abdulhari said.
The PSWDO Provincial Officer attributed the inability of the government to provide social pension to all the indigent seniors to lack of budget. “There is a need to increase the budget for social pension for senior citizens,” Kangiluhan said.
The Invisible Population of a Post-Conflict Community
“The impact of evacuations and resettling down after the disaster is heaviest among the elderly population, especially those who are living by themselves,” said Jainab Alfad, Managing Director of the Bridging Leaders Associate (BLA).
Alfad noted that there is an inherent bias among relief agencies and international non-government organizations to look for children, youth, and women among victims of disasters, but missing out on the senior citizens. “The plight of the elderly is often overlooked,” she said. She attributed this to the senior citizens lack of awareness of the programs and services available for them and their tendency to be silent even amid hardships.
“Ang akala namin natutugunan na ng pamilya nila ang kanilang panganga-ilangan (We wrongly assumed that the families are taking care of their elderlies. elderly),” Juli, the barangay secretary said. She added that there are also elderly who are out of sight as their houses are located in the hinterlands, far from the barangay center.
In Maligay, the senior citizens are granted one percent (1%) of the barangay National Tax Allocation (NTA). “Nasa P2,000 bawat buwan po lang yan, (It is roughly equivalent to only P2,000 per month.),” said Hajiraini, the Barangay Captain. He added that the small fund is used to purchase medicines for elderly who are in dire need. Currently at the national level, there is an ongoing discussion on institutionalizing the 1% allocation for senior citizens’ welfare, but such has not yet been enacted into law.
In its scoping report, the BLA noted that all the barangays covered by the Balik-Barangay Program do not have development plan for the senior citizens and the barangay councils have no representation by this sector, nor a program in place.
“We are trying to address this concern in the on-going post-conflict barangay rehabilitation and reconstruction planning being facilitated in all ten barangays,” Alfad said. She explained that the Balik-Barangay community planning is an effort of the barangay governments of the affected areas to clearly identify what must be done in the next five years in terms of restoring basic social services, protection of vulnerable sectors, people’s livelihood, and reconstructing social infrastructure that were damaged by the war against the ASG. The initiative is undertaken under the PROSPER protect of the United Nations Development Program in the Philippines through the assistance from Australian Aid.
The community initiatives of the UNDP and the BLA support the ongoing implementation of the Balik-Barangay program by the Provincial Task Force to End Local Armed Conflict (PTF-ELAC), headed by the Sulu Provincial Governor Abdusakur Tan. In Patikul Municipality, Mayor Kabir Hayudini heads the Municipal Task Force to End Local Armed Conflict. (Jules L. Benitez, MindaNews)
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