He believes the army is pulverising empty villages. Deeply distrustful of the military, others maintain suspect communities are being punished. You're not hitting a foxhole with a 750-pound bomb. Revealingly, it seems villages associated with the secular Moro National Liberation Front, which signed an autonomy agreement with Manila in 1996, have largely been spared. The half a million displaced are now crowded into evacuation centres described by one local UN official as deplorable.
Sanitation is poor, malnutrition widespread and medical supplies grossly inadequate.
As of last week, the death toll from treatable conditions, such as diarrhoea, had climbed to 92 in three of the worst affected districts. Last month, in an Orwellian twist, President Joseph Estrada declared 20 abandoned towns zones of peace. Yet residents are refusing to go home, not least due to the lack of a ceasefire. Manila's relentless policy towards the Islamic Front, which it accuses of terrorism, is proving popular with the predominantly Christian public. An Internet poll by a leading television station reveals 76 per cent support for military pressure.