TALAINGOD, DAVAO DEL NORTE — On Monday, August 9, 2021, 95 individuals, mostly children from the Ata-Manobo indigenous peoples, left the UCCP Haran Compound in Davao City after spending six years there.
Of the 95, 37 are adults and the huge number are children, says Davao del Norte Governor Edwin I. Jubahib.
In 2014, over six hundred individuals from the different communities of Talangod sought shelter inside the UCCP compound claiming their lives are threatened by the paramilitary groups. The compound became an instant evacuation center and they call it a peace sanctuary.
Maui, a youth leader told Newsline.ph, “We finally decided to go home because we do not have food anymore and we want to go home because we found out that the reason we were evacuated is not true and we were deceived,” he said in vernacular.
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, but 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 to evacuate was a collective decision, according to him, “The decision arrived after we were told that the military will bomb Pantaron Range, so they decided to find shelter at Haran.”
Fear of getting killed in the crossfire, was the reason Maricel, in leaving their village “We left at midnight, we boarded a truck and we were brought to Haran, I got pregnant there and my child was born inside the compound, I spent five years until my husband and I decided to go home.”
Maui and Maricel said, as years went by, they noticed that there was no truth to the report by their leaders that Pantaron range will be bombed and food became scarce inside the compound so they decided to come home.
Pantaron Mountain Range is also known as the Central Cordillera of Mindanao, as it cuts across the mountains in the provinces of Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Davao del Norte, and Davao del Sur.
The two admitted they were among those who joined the anti-government rallies because they were told.
“Mag-uban-uban lang sa ila kay giingnan mi nga mouban sa rally (we joined them in the rally because we were told.” Maricel added, and they were not in a position to defy orders.
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.
Governor Jubahib for his part said the provincial government will provide the returning IP home and livelihood so they can live a decent house and earn for their families.
