Rano Memorial and Bale Kasunay Tribal Peace Hall inaugurated
IN commemoration of the 32nd anniversary of the Digos massacre, the Rano Memorial and Bale Kasunay Tribal Peace Hall was inaugurated at Barangay Biraton, Digos City in Davao del Sur last June 25.
The Rano Memorial stands as a symbol of the people’s strong condemnation of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) and the 1989 Digos massacre, which cost the lives of 39 Bagobo-Tagabawa-speaking indigenous people (IP), inside the UCCP Chapel in the small village of Sitio Rano.
On the morning of Sunday, June 25, 1989, these seven men, 10 women and 22 children stood and fought for faith, family, community, peace, democracy and truth.
The construction of the Rano Memorial and Bale Kasunay Tribal Peace Hall started in the first quarter of 2021, according to Richard Penson, chairman of the Ancestral Domain Management System Inc.
“It should stand as a monument to resist terrorist and criminal activities by organized groups,” Penson said.
The memorial and tribal hall were constructed through donations from private individuals and various government agencies, local government units and the Bagobo-Tagabawa IP community.
Artist Kublai Milan, who designed the memorial structure for the people, said the people should not forget the brutalities that happened in Rano and the call for justice and peace.
“We remember those who were massacred through the dead leaf that is bigger than all of us. It looms above all and invites us to walk under it and see the cross beneath [this] giant dead leaf. The names are there to be known and remembered by all, and the words of anger and grief are immortalized,” he added.
Present at the inauguration were National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Undersecretary and National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) spokesman Lorraine Badoy and other officials from the Philippine National Police, the Philippine Army and local officials of Digos City as well as chiefs of the Bagobo-Tagabawa IP.
Moreover, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and other government agencies, including the Digos City Police Station, distributed food packs and relief goods to the families of the victims of the massacre.
Aside from the memorial, Penson said they were developing employment and livelihood projects for the people of the community.
“We are developing a cassava plantation around Digos. There are about 20 hectares that we’re developing. And outside of Davao City, we are also developing another 10 hectares in cooperation with San Miguel Corp. because [the cor
poration] will be buying 10 to 20 tons of cassava chips from us for [its] feeds and other products, and that can be best be attained in those rural and ancestral communities,” he added.