Personal encounters with the lumads of Mindanao

In my one year stay in Davao City and also one year stay in General Santos City, I have had personal encounters with several groups of Lumads in Mindanao.  

When I arrived in Davao City in 2011, GMA Network aired a television documentary special entitled “REPORT CARD: Ang Antas ng Edukasyon sa Pilipinas” (Report Card: The State of Education in the Philippines). In one of its segments, it featured a remote community in Surigao del Sur named Sitio Liangabon. The Manobo school children of Liangabon are so poor and their community is so remote that instead of pencils and paper, they use charcoal and big leaves for writing. I told myself that I will go to Liangabon to bring pencils and paper for the school children. I did not have any idea where the exact location of Liangabon is. With the help of donors and volunteers and by utilizing social media, we were able to gather enough school supplies for several schools of Manobo children in Surigao del Sur.

From Tandag City, the capital of Surigao Del Sur, we took a two hour jeepney ride on rough road to Sitio Carromata. From there, we then took a two hour boat ride upstream along Tago River and then two hours more of trekking up the mountain until we reached Liangabon. That was my first encounter with a group of Lumads in Mindanao, the Manobos of Sitio Liangabon.

My second encounter with the Lumads of Mindanao was in the mountain ranges of Sarangani. I was able to meet the B’laan tribes of Malapatan, particularly in Akbungkod and Ulofitam. From Daan Suyan in Malapatan, it was a one and a half hour ride on a four wheel drive off road vehicle crossing a river (without bridges) for about thirty times and about two hours of trek to reach Akbungkod. But Ulofitam is practically a whole day of trekking from Akbungkod. I went with a group of volunteers on a medical mission, who requested me to bless the health center that they have set up, in the mountains of Malapatan. Going back to our jump off point in Daan Suyan took us practically another whole day of trekking. We spent three nights in the mountains of Sarangani. The trek was so difficult that my legs ached and I cannot anymore bear the pain to continue the trek back home. I had to ride on a horse in order for me to make it back to our destination.

My third encounter with the Lumads was with the Ata tribe of Paquibato in Davao City. It was an outreach project of a group of Ata youth. We brought school supplies for about five hundred pupils of Damilag Elementary School in Barangay Mapula, Paquibato District, Davao City. From Panabo City in Davao del Norte, it was a two hour ride on a four wheel off road vehicle up to Sitio Damilag. We passed by three small bridges and several streams, and the off road vehicle had to hurdle slippery and muddy tracks on mountainous terrain. Up in the mountain of Sitio Damilag, the air is cold and fog covered the surroundings. We stayed overnight at the school where students, parents and teachers – practically the entire community of Ata, welcomed us with their priceless smiles the following morning.