“They are here — the people whom we are running away from,” Allan thought.
Some soldiers tried to talk to their children who immediately ran to their mothers. Allan and other Lumads were terrified because some soldiers taunted them, asking them to go and identify the bodies of their friends, referring to the NPAs that they had killed.
On May 14, a day after they arrived at the Compostela gym, the Lumads trooped to the provincial hall, where the members the provincial board were having their regular session. They also aired their grievances to Compostella Valley governor Arturo “Chongkee” Uy.
After Lumad leaders narrated what happened to them under the hands of the military, the provincial officials promised to provide the Lumads not just with temporary shelter but also with food.
But the Lumads wanted more.
They wanted a stop to the military operations. To ensure this, they wanted a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between them and the soldiers.
Allan said he was a little “buoyed” when local officials set the date for the MOA signing with the military on either Friday the 16th or Monday the 19th.
His feeling was short lived. Minutes after they got back to the Compostela gym from the provincial hall, 50 military men in full battle gear arrived. The soldiers began to set up an LCD projector for the Lumads to watch a film that the soldiers had prepared.
Allan said he did not care what they were going to say or do but he didn’t want soldiers anywhere near his family.
It was downhill from there. On May 15, a day before the Provincial Peace and Order Council was supposed to be convened, Governor Uy arrived and tried to make the Lumads agree to go home to their village with an assurance that they will no longer be harassed by soldiers. On the 16th, the military arrived at the gym again. Allan said he was frightened because it seemed that they were taking over. He realized then that no MOA signing between the Lumads and the military for a stop of the military operations was going to happen.
Some of the Lumads thought of going to Davao City to tell more people about their plight. Allan thought Davao was a safer place to go for him and his family. Lumad leaders presented this idea to everybody in the gym. Five families opted to stay behind, asking the Compostela mayor to take them back home, while Allan and most of the Lumads opted to go to Davao. They’ve been staying inside the Bankerohan gym since May 16.
For a woman who survived the long journey shortly after giving birth, Jenalyn is still bleeding. But the medical personnel attending to her gave the assurance that all her vital signs point to a normal recovery. Around her, the four kids run and laugh freely. Only Vermon is truly unaware of what happened to them the last few weeks. He only knows the warmth of being wrapped in his mother’s arms as he suckles on her breast. (CJ Kuizon/davaotoday.com)
Indigenous Peoples
