MANILA, Philippines — A bill imposing heavy penalties against arbitrary internal displacement of any person has been approved by the House of Representatives in a bid to protect the rights of non-combatants caught in the crossfire of internal armed conflicts.

With 190 congressmen voting in the affirmative, the House approved on third and final reading House Bill 5627, otherwise known as the "Rights of Internally Displaced Persons Act of 2012.”

Principal authors of the bill included Reps. Rufus Rodriguez (PMP, Cagayan de Oro City); Maximo Rodriguez (Abante-Mindanao); JV Ejercito (PMP, San Juan); Lorenzo Tañada III (LP, Quezon); Ben Evardone (LP, Eastern Samar) and Bernadette Herrera-Dy (Bagong Henerasyon Party-list).

Authors of the measure said the bill seeks to protect persons or group of persons from being expelled or forced to evacuate from their homes as a result of the effects of armed conflicts, land conversion and development project and other man-made disasters.

Tañada and Herrera-Dy said the Philippines is among the more than two dozen countries in the world that have a huge number of internally displaced persons as a result of armed conflicts.

The two lawmakers noted that available statistics indicated that the number of IDPs affected by the on-going conflict between the AFP and the Muslim secessionist groups and the Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the communist New People’s Army reached 300,000 in 2007 alone.

The measure imposes stiff penalties for acts of arbitrary internal displacement that are committed by persons who carry out coercive acts or threats to eject the civilian population from the habitual residence.

Acts of arbitrary internal displacement include those committed based on policies of apartheid, "ethnic cleansing"; in armed conflicts or as a form of collective punishment.

The same acts are committed in cases of tribal/clan wars and during man-made disasters, unless safety and health of those affected require their evacuation.

Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said that displacement should not be carried out in a manner that violates the rights to life, liberty, dignity and security of those affected.