Manobos flee homes in Surigao for fear of militarization

UCCP Bishop Modesto Villasanta says military operations are being conducted in upland areas of Lianga, San Miguel and San Agustin towns

Some 2,000 Manobo lumads from nine hinterland communities of Lianga town in Surigao del Sur fled their homes anew, fearing an imminent military operation and stricter checkpoints by government forces.

Residents started evacuating Thursday, July 6, after noticing the presence of military helicopters and a bomber plane hovering around their villages a day before, said Bishop Modesto Villasanta of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, chairman of the human rights group Karapatan in Surigao del Sur.

The displaced residents are now taking refuge at Simowao Tribal Community School in the neighboring sub-village of Emerald, about nine kilometers away from the national highway.

Bishop Villasanta said the lumad evacuees are looking at transferring to a safer and bigger evacuation area later in the week.

The same tribal communities fled the area and stayed for a year at the provincial sports complex in Tandag City after the killing of two tribal leaders gripped the upland villages.

Father Raymond Ambray, a Catholic priest in the area, said the evacuation has disrupted classes at six tribal school, affecting some 800 students and their 43 volunteer teachers.

Villasanta said Karapatan and another non-government organization in the area—the Friends of Lumad in Caraga—will ask Gov. Vicente Pimentel to allow the use of the provincial sports complex in Tandag as temporary shelter for the lumad evacuees.

Villasanta and Ambray ex- pressed dismay with yet another displacement for the lumads, pointing out that the villagers have just started rebuilding their farms, homes and schools after they fled the area following the killing of tribal leader Dionel Campos and Emerito Samarca, a tribal school director, in September 1, 2015.

Citing reports relayed by the lumad evacuees to Karapatan, Villasanta said government forces belonging to at least three Army battalions have been conducting military operations in the hinterland communities in Lianga, as well as in neighboring San Miguel and San Agustin towns, beginning Monday, July 3 .

Since then, residents have complained of harassments at military checkpoints, alleging that they were required to show proofs of identification and made to write their names on a logbook.

However, Col. Franco Nemesio Gacal, commanding officer of the Army’s 402nd Army Brigade based in Tandag City, explained that the military planes were passing by the sub-village of Han-ayan in this town and were not hovering around as the residents claimed.

Col. Gacal also described the presence of Army’s 75th Infantry Battalion, 36th Infantry Battalion and 6th Special Forces Battalion in the area as routine, and the presence of military choppers and planes in the area is normal as it is part of their route.

Mindanao has been under martial law since May 23 because of the Marawi crisis, where fighting continues between government troops and Maute terrorists.