This elderly Manobo couple look serious even with the good news that they will finally return home to Loreto, Agusan del Sur after an agreement was signed with Mayor Dario Otaza to pull out the troops from their village and rehabilitate their farms. Some 500 Manobos stayed in Bankerohan Gym for 18 days since August 7 in protest of military operations in their village. (davaotoday.com photo by Medel V. Hernani)
This cultural activist is all smiles as she sings for the Manobo evacuees in a solidarity activity Friday at the evacuation gym in Bankerohan Gym. Some 500 Manobos will finally return to their villages in Loreto, Agusan del Sur after their mayor Dario Otaza signed an agreement to stop military operations and help rehabilitations of their farms. (davaotoday.com photo by Medel V. Hernani)
This Agusanon Manobo family sleeps off their exhaustion in Bankeohan Gym after riding eight hours to Davao City to seek refuge. Some 500 Manobos fled their village in Loreto, Agusan del Sur from military troops 24, and were not welcomed by their governor when they sought his help. (davaotoday.com photo by MEDEL V. HERNANI)
“Unsaon namo pag-uli nga naa pa may gyera didto sa amoa?(How are we going home when there’s still a war going on there?)” said Jocely Andaliki “At least diri, safety among paminaw, di pareha didto sa amoa nga giabog mi mismo sa among gobernor, (Here, we feel safe, not like there where our governor drove us out).”
An Agusan Manobo child lets the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Eastern Mindanao Command in Panacan, Davao City know that military operations have affected the schooling of children in five barangays in Loreto, Agusan del Sur since the end of July. Around 1,000 Manobos including 300 children fled their villages for fear of hearing successive gunfire. (davaotoday.com photo by Ace R. Morandante)