Text by CHERYLL D. FIEL | Photos by BARRY OHAYLAN and JONALD MAHINAY | Davao Today
From the towns of Baganga, Cateel and Boston in Davao Oriental, more than 200 Mandaya farmers walked the five-kilometer distance from the downtown area of Mati, the province’s capital, to Barangay Dahikan, the seat of legislative power, on Tuesday, February 12.
Bearing placards that said, they wanted “land not bullets, rice not bombs,” the farmers took turns lambasting the military for the alleged human rights abuses in the course of military operations in their villages.
They said the military combat operations, supposedly directed against the insurgents, displaced them, instead.
All the protesting farmers wanted that day was to reach the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Office so they could tell the government officials of their plight.
Indigenous Peoples
