More Manobo villagers seek shelter in Davao

DAVAO CITY—More Manobo villagers fearing military presence in their communities in Kitaotao, Bukidnon province, have fled their homes to seek refuge at the Protestant-run Haran Compound here, according to a “lumad” (indigenous) group.

Jong Monzon, secretary general of Pasaka-Southern Mindanao, said 165 people belonging to the Pulangihan Manobo from Barangay White Culaman in Kitaotao arrived at the facility of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines on Monday to join 668 other lumad evacuees from Bukidnon and Kapalong, Davao del Norte province.

Ellen Manlibaas, chair of the farmers’ group Kahugpongan sa Mag-uuma sa Kitaotao (KMK), said the new arrivals left their homes following the arrest of 13 farmer leaders on Aug. 25 by Army soldiers of the 8th and the 23rd Infantry Battalions on suspicion of being communist rebels.

Most of those arrested, including Manlibaas, are leaders of KMK and Nagkahiusang Mag-uuma sa Barangay White Culaman.

Capt. Alberto Caber, spokesperson for the Eastern Mindanao Command, earlier said the arrests were part of a “legitimate law enforcement operation” and were made on the basis of 57 search warrants.

Manlibaas, however, said she and the other leaders were detained for four days before they were served their arrest orders. The cases filed against them were eventually dismissed, she said.

The 165 lumad took shelter at Arakan Parish on Aug. 25 and sought the help of Fr. Peter Geremia. It was only after the case against the farmers was dismissed that the evacuees decided to join other Kitaotao villagers in Haran.

Manlibaas said her group stopped asking for help from local government officials, pointing out that the many dialogues they had initiated in the past failed to yield results.

After their arrest, soldiers conducted illegal searches inside homes and forcibly recruited civilians as paramilitary auxiliaries, she said. They burned four houses in White Culaman on Oct. 3 and threatened to close the community school run by Mindanao Interfaith Service Foundation Inc. in Sitio Dao, she added.

Monzon said the arrival of the new batch of evacuees indicated the widespread attacks against the indigenous peoples who, he added, were against the entry of big foreign corporations into their lands.

“It’s happening not only in Davao del Norte, but in Bukidnon as well, and also in Surigao,” he said. “The lumad are being driven out of their own lands.” Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao