Red tag keeps Manobo kids fearful of school

DAVAO CITY — An indigenous people’s (IP) group in Davao del Norte is staying away from its school for fear of soldiers that leaders of the group said had turned the school and homes into barracks, an accusation that the military flatly denied.

The Department of Education (DepEd) had given the school, which became controversial after the military accused it of being run by communist guerrillas, a permit to operate as an educational institution.

But the tribal folk who are supposed to be serviced by the school refuse to send their children back to their classes.

“They’re (soldiers) staying in our houses and schools, that’s why, we fled,” said Datu Doloman Dawsay, a Manobo leader and an official of the group Salugpongan Ta íTanu Igkanugon, which operates an IP’s school in Sitio Nalubas in Barangay Palma Gil in the town of Talaingod.

“The permit is not enough to protect our children against military attacks, we still urge (DepEd Davao Director Alberto) Escobarte to look into these schools under attack,” said Dawsay.

Salugpongan was among the groups that set up camp outside the DepEd regional office here last month, following threats by the government to close down several IP schools for lack of permits to operate.

After the release of some of the permits, protesters dismantled their camps but still refused to go home for fear of soldiers occupying civilian facilities in their communities. The military denied this.

Dawsay said the tribal folk would continue to take refuge in a church compound here until the government orders the soldiers to leave the tribal communities.

Dawsay said members of the Manobo tribe from Sitio Nalubas in Barangay Palma Gil and Sitio Tibucag in Barangay Dagohoy in Talaingod fled their homes and sought refuge in Davao City since the second week of May, allegedly because of harassment from the military, who have accused those operating the school of being members or supporters of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

Capt. Alberto Caber, spokesperson of the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command, however, denied reports that soldiers are encamped in houses and civilian facilities in Talaingod.

“That’s not true,” Caber said. Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao