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Volume 5, Issue 1, March 2022
Bringing aid to disaster-stricken communities is complex, especially in the Philippines where destructive typhoons are intensifying due to climate change. This paper illustrates the coordination for humanitarian aid from Philippine government instrumentalities, the military, uniformed personnel, and civilian sectors as well as from, multilateral organizations and non-government organizations, both local and international during state of national calamities like Typhoon Haiyan. Disaster response increases in complexity in conflict zones such as Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), where armed non-state actors have been active for many years. Encapsulated are the perceptions of 30 respondents coming from government agencies involved in disaster risk reduction and management, including the military and uniformed personnel including humanitarian and relief agencies, during both peacetime and conflict. This embodies challenges in civil-military engagement in balancing mandated tasks such as security, maintaining peace and order, preserving sovereignty, and preventing terrorism with adherence to humanitarian principles and frameworks even while striving to deliver basic humanitarian services in the nexus of climate change and conflict.
