Reports reaching Manila on Sunday indicated that about a hundred lumad evacuees and their families are heading back to their home villages after negotiations with government officials to guarantee their safety and support for rehabilitation.
According to a dispatch from Kilab Multimedia, the lumads include 100 Manobos or 27 families from Gupitan, Kapalong, Davao del Norte; three families from Bukidnon and a few others from the Agusan provinces.
They are the last of the remaining UCCP Haran “bakwits” [coined from the word evacuate], who arrived one tribe after the other at the church compound in early 2015 to protect themselves and their teachers from attacks by soldiers and the paramilitary group ALAMARA.
An earlier group, the Talaingod Manobos, returned late September.
A solidarity night was held on Saturday night with UCCP leaders and support groups who bid the lumads well in their return.
“UCCP Haran wishes the bakwits to continue the struggle and call for your rights on your land. You are always welcome to come back when threats in your community arise,” Beryl Grace Avila of UCCP Haran Center Manager said.
UCCP Bishop Hamuel Tequis expressed his support: “Your presence here influenced the church to have hope and struggle for unity. You became our inspiration to value and love our land, our ancestral land.”
Gloria Arcenas of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT)-Save Our Schools and Bea Gonzaga of Stereo de Davao SAMAHAN Central Board came to express their continuous support on their struggle.
Datu Mintroso Malibato, leader of the Kapalong Manobos and their group Karadyawan expressed thanks to all who supported the lumad bakwits since day one.
Mintroso said they decided to return with the guarantee from the Department of Social Welfare to grant the PASAKA’s proposal of Cash for Work, Food for Work program and rehabilitation support programs for them for up to seven months as they strive to reintegrate their lives to their respective communities.
