INQUIRER Global Nation

MANILA, Philippines?The ongoing civil war between Sri Lanka forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has not affected any of the estimated 800 Filipinos there, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday.

In response to a query by INQUIRER.net, DFA spokesman Eduardo Malaya said in a text message the Philippine embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which covers Sri Lanka, is also closely monitoring the situation.

On Sunday, the rebel group Tamil Tigers admitted defeat in their decades-old battle for an independent ethnic homeland. In what could mark the end of Asia's longest running civil war?one that left more than 70,000 dead in pitched battles, suicide attacks, bomb strikes, and assassinations, the rebels announced they were laying down their weapons.

Only two years ago, the Tamil Tigers controlled nearly a third of the island nation and operated an effectively autonomous Tamil state with courts, schools, and a civil service.

But the military's push has come at the cost of thousands of innocent lives, according to the United Nations, and the government has faced international condemnation for its conduct of the war in recent months.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, the only neutral organization working in the war zone, described the situation as "an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe." The UN has called for a war crimes probe.

But Sri Lanka's officials said the army had managed to rescue all civilians held hostage by the Tigers. They said the number of civilians who fled the war zone since January is nearly 250,000.

But the displaced are being moved in to state-run "welfare villages"?camps ringed by barbed wire that are also a source of international alarm. Rights workers, aid groups, and journalists are also being denied free access to the areas in conflict.