Tumandok tribe in Iloilo, Capiz cry for help

ILOILO CITY—Children and other members of indigenous communities in Iloilo and Capiz provinces need psychosocial help for severe trauma suffered during the killing and arrest of tribal leaders in police operations last December, according to Church leaders.

“They need the help of doctors. Some need to take medicines. The trauma is so severe,” Msgr. Meliton Oso, executive director of the Jaro Archdiocese Social Action Center, said at a press conference of the Iloilo Council for Ecumenism.

Oso cited accounts of counselors during stress debriefing sessions, saying the “psychological wounds” of the Tumandok people from a “demonic experience” required urgent attention.

“Will you clap your hands after you see your father gunned down?” he said.

Relatives of those who were killed and barangay officials were also present in the press conference, as well as leaders of the Philippine Independent Church, Association of Consecrated Women of Iloilo, United Church of Christ in the Philippines and the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches.

Refuted claimsNine leaders of the Tumandok, or Panay Bukidnon tribe, were killed and 16 others were arrested while policemen served search warrants for firearms and explosives in Tapaz town in Capiz, and Calinog town in Iloilo on Dec. 30, 2020.

The police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, which led the mission, claimed that those killed were alleged communist rebels who fired first at policemen. Families of the victims have belied the police claim.

The chief of the police crime laboratory in Western Visayas, Police Col. Enrique Ancheta, earlier confirmed that seven of the nine who died tested negative for gunpowder residue. He was subsequently relieved and placed on floating status.

The influential Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has joined bishops from Western Visayas and Romblon in calling for an investigation into the killings. —NESTOR P. BURGOS JR. INQ