Fire at camp of ‘lumad’ seen as arson

A YOUNG “lumad” woman carries her 2-year-old baby who suffered second degree burns in a fire that swept through a lumad evacuation site in a Protestant church compound in Davao City. GERMELINA LACORTE/INQUIRER MINDANAO

DAVAO CITY—A young “lumad” woman at the United Church of Christ in the Philippines’ (UCCP) Haran compound here was roused from sleep at dawn on Wednesday by pieces of burning tarpaulin dropping near where her 2-year-old baby slept.

Barely past her teens, Tata Manayap seized her son, Demon, and jumped out of the makeshift hut that, for the last several months, had served as her home after she and 700 other lumad fled militia atrocities in Davao del Norte and Bukidnon.

Demon suffered second degree burns. The baby is among five lumad wounded in the 2 a.m. fire that also destroyed two dormitories in the Haran compound that housed 20 college students and medical interns.

Investigators said the fire could be a case of arson.

Jong Monzon, secretary general of the lumad group Pasaka, said he awoke to the commotion and quickly called for police help, which came after 20 minutes.

He was narrating what he saw to policemen when the lights went out and shouts were heard about a fire at the other end of Haran.

“We’ve always been on alert because we have been receiving threats,” said Monzon.

Rainbe Bartolome, 17, a student at Davao Doctors College and resident of one of the burned dormitories, sifted through piles of debris looking for her belongings—a mobile phone, a laptop, a mobile Wi-Fi router.

Her search went for naught. “Now, you can’t do anything but cry,” she said.

She said dorm residents had been trained well on fire prevention, but this fire could not have been an accident.

SFO4 Orencio Grado, chief investigator of the Bureau of Fire Protection, said the odor of gasoline still filled the air six hours after the fire, an indication of arson.

More signs of arson had been found—the wire fence at the back of the dormitory ripped open and empty bottles with gasoline residue.

Evacuees said the perpetrators, which they suspect were members of the military-backed Alamara militia, doused the entire place with gasoline first.

In a text message, the human rights group Karapatan said the lumad evacuees have been complaining of harassment even after they had fled their communities.

The group blamed authorities, including North Cotabato Rep. Nancy Catamco, chair of the House indigenous people’s committee.

Catamco and several policemen went to Haran last year trying to convince the evacuees to return home.

A melee ensued when the evacuees refused to heed Catamco’s plea.

“First we thought it was raining because we heard the sound of rain,” said Annabelle, a lumad evacuee from Talaingod.

“Then someone saw a lit torch and soon there was fire,” she said.

“We were warned before that our camps will be torched to force us to move out and go home,” said Monzon. “Indeed, it happened,” he said.

Reacting to accusations that she is partly to blame, Catamco said she is just as outraged as the evacuees are over the fire.

“While I condemn this inhumane act, I nevertheless denounce the seemingly puerile and frivolous accusations implicating me,” said Catamco in a text message.

She declined further comment.

Arson investigator Ramil Gillado, of the Central Fire Station, said at least seven structures, including the evacuee shelters, were destroyed by the fire.

Hazel Navarra, of the UCCP, said witnesses reported seeing several suspects aboard a motorcycle.

Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said he has already ordered an investigation, reiterating support for the lumad evacuees. Germelina Lacorte and Dennis Santos, Inquirer Mindanao