DAVAO CITY ––The ‘bakwits’ of UCCP Haran Compound in Davao City began to return home after the government blocked all incoming funds and questioned the bank accounts of nongovernment organizations suspected of assisting left-leaning groups. The last batch arrived in Talaingod, Davao del Norte on August 9, 2021.
The most recent batch consisted of 97 persons from 25 couples, with the remainder being children. They are Davao del Norte’s indigenous people (IP), the Ata-Manobo.
In 2014, around 400 people from Talangod’s various settlements sought refuge inside the UCCP property, stating that paramilitary organizations were threatening their lives. The compound was quickly turned into an evacuation center, which they refer to as a peace sanctuary.
The massive evacuation of IPs was a result of a ‘false claim’ that the military would attack the Pantaron Mountain Range, which they once referred to as paradise.
If narration of the ‘bakwits’ will be taken hook line and sinker, they left their village under the darkness of the night and boarded the waiting trucks, they were just told they will go to a safer area to avoid being caught in the crossfire while the so-called paramilitary groups were witch-hunting IPs who allegedly placed allegiance of the communist movement.
Maui, used to study at Community Technical College of Southeastern Mindanao (CTCSM), a school ran by a non-government organization which the government described as a school operated by left-leaning groups, said his older brother whom he claimed to be a member of the New People’s Army asked him to join them in Haran after the school was closed.
“The decision came after we were warned that the military would bomb Pantaron Range, therefore they opted to find shelter at Haran,” he explained.
“We went at midnight, we boarded a truck, and we were brought to Haran, I got pregnant there, and my child was born within the compound, I spent five years until my husband and I chose to go home,” Maricel said of her decision to leave their village.
Maui and Maricel claimed that as the years passed, they recognized that their leaders’ allegation that the Pantaron range would be bombed was false, and food got short inside the facility, so they decided to leave.
The Pantaron Mountain Range, also known as the Central Cordillera of Mindanao, runs through the provinces of Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Davao del Norte, and Davao del Sur, and cuts through the mountains of Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, Agusan del Sur, Davao del Norte, and Davao del Sur.
Illiteracy and fear weaponized their organizers to cause the massive diaspora.
But after spending six years inside the UCCP Haran, they find their way home.
Inside Haran
The IPs were warmly welcomed, children were given education and women were given livelihood.
Ata-Manobo women, who are good weavers and bead makers produced the same and their products sold to visitors, some enterprising women were able to fend for themselves and saved.
While others were reportedly asked to join anti-government rallies.
Maricel, was 14 years old when she joined her parents in Haran and later found her husband inside the evacuation center where she also delivered her child.
Angelie, 13, whose relative is a member of the revolutionary group said the rebels frequented their house in Talaingod, “They always visit us and they told me many things that the government failed to do to us, they told us that in joining the rebel movement we can achieve the development we deserve.”
She met her spouse Ok-ok in the countryside, and their love bloomed, giving birth to Christian. When she was five months pregnant, the NPA’s leader advised her to relocate to UCCP Haran until she gave birth.
No one questioned Angelie where she was from when she arrived, but she was told that many pregnant women from the movement give birth inside the compound.
Christian was three months old on September 3, 2020, the day she left her son with her mother-in-law in Haran and returned to the hinterlands of Davao City’s Barangay Paquibato to continue working as a medic for the rebel organization, she said.
Going home
“Pirti na kalisod sa among kinabuhi sa bukid, sige og baktas walay kaon, mao to nagdesisyon mi nga mopauli adtong Mayo 3, 2021, nilayas mi, wala mi nananghid kay dili man mi togutan, adto dayon mi kay Datu Guibang (tribal leader) (Life in the mountain was so hard, we always walk without eating, so we decided to go home on May 3, we escaped because we know they will not allow us if we ask permission and visited Datu Guibang,” Ok-ok told Newsline.
According to Davao del Norte Governor Edwin I. Jubahib, the 11-month-old Christian is one of 97 people, 37 of them are adults and the rest are minors.
Over 400 IPs from Davao del Norte have gone home, according to Jubahib, but there are still those who are in Metro Manila with militant groups, which he hopes would return soon.
“We ultimately chose to go home since we don’t have food anymore,” Maui, a youth leader, told Newsline.ph, “and we want to go home because we found out that the reason we were evacuated is not real and we were deceived.”
According to Maricel, she will never come back to Haran, “Dili na ko mobalik didto (I will never go back there), she wants the government to provide the plants and other root crops for their livelihood and a house because they will start from scratch.
Government support
Governor Jubahib, for his part, stated that the provincial government will offer the returning IP with housing, as well as livelihood and agricultural training in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and TESDA, so that they may live in a decent home and support their family.
The soldiers will assist in the construction of the house and road openings so that residents can have easy access to the good center, according to Col. Consolito Yecla, Commander of the Philippine Army’s 56th Infantry Division.
Aside from that, Yecla stated he will beef up the military presence in the area (in consultation with tribal leaders) to ensure that the community is safe and will be away from any influences.
“The house materials, food supplies, and other basic necessities for the IPs were provided as they headed home,” Jubahib said as of Sunday.
According to Jubahib, it is critical that the government assist and strengthen the community as they rebuild their communities.
The Governor complimented UCCP Haran’s management for providing food to his people for the past six years.
In his speech on Saturday, August 14, Jubahid apologized to the Ata-Manobo “Mangayo ko sa inyo og pasaylo kay sa dugay nga panahon wala kamu nahatagan og insaktong suporta sa gobierno, karon, ani-a kami sa gobierno, wala kamu pasagdi, ug ang atong President Rodrigo Duterte kanunay andam mohatag kaninyo og suporta.”
The Governor met with Talaingod town officials, asking Mayor Jonnie Libayao to “palihug suportahi ang imong mga tawo, hatagi sila og pagtagad kay ato na silang responsibilidad” (please support your people, take care of them because it is our responsibility).
Libayao, for one, has stated that he will not abandon his people, whom he said he has missed for many years.
