Data from the ASLPC showed the extent of damage to the ethnic community of Bacung village this province. Blaans Adelina Catin, 65 and Bonifacio Karan, 52 drowned during the flash flood. A total of 41 houses were totally-damaged while 74 houses were partially-damaged. Farm crops were also devastated while farm animals died leaving an undetermined cost of destruction on their livelihood.
By DANILDA L. FUSILERO
Davao Today
TULUNAN, Cotabato, Philippines — Blaan and Tboli ethnic families here who were victims of the October 25 flash floods and landslides are calling on government agencies for assistance.
“Hulaton pa ba nga mangamatay sa mi para ma-aksyonan among mga hangyo nga tabang? (Are we going to die first before they will act on our requests for help?),” said Minda Dalinan, Vice Chairperson of the lumad federation Apo Sandawa Lumadnong Panaghiusa sa Cotabato (ASLPC).
She pointed out, “Ang priority sa mga biktima mao ang tabang sa pabalay ug panginabuhian (The victims need help for housing relocation and source of livelihood).”
Data from the ASLPC showed the extent of damage to the ethnic community of Bacung village this province. Blaans Adelina Catin, 65 and Bonifacio Karan, 52 drowned during the flash flood. A total of 41 houses were totally-damaged while 74 houses were partially-damaged. Farm crops were also devastated while farm animals died leaving an undetermined cost of destruction on their livelihood.
Dalinan said after the incident, the 41 homeless families are still living with their neighbors, trying to survive with the limited relief goods extended by the municipal and provincial local government units.
Last October 25, the landslide of an estimated 400-hectare hilly top soil covered the farms of Bacung.
Bacung is an upland village surrounded by denuded hills. A major river system, the Banayal River, passed through the village. The victims came from three of the nine sub-villages located in the low-lying area of Bacung, near the Banayal River.
Loreto Calimpitan, also from the ASLPC, expressed fear of possible recurrence of landslide in the community. He said, a totally-denuded hill located few meters away from the community already manifested cracks and loosened rocks and soil formations — indications of an imminent landslide.
Bacung is a full ethnic barangay of more than 600 households of Blaans and Tbolis located in the peripheral boundary of Tulunan municipality and Davao del Sur province. The entire village is an ancestral domain claim of the indigenous peoples residing in the area.
Calimpitan expressed sympathy on the community’s situation, adding that the historical intrusion of the migrant settlers in the domains of the lumads in the past have forced these Blaans and Tboli to live even in dangerous locations. (Danilda L. Fusilero/davaotoday.com)
