Pinoy Weekly - 400 Manobos flee military operations

Posted: 06 Aug 2013 10:09 PM PDT

Manobo evacuees staying at Bangkerohan Gym, Davao City (Barry Ohaylan)

Around 400 Manobo civilians have evacuated and seek protection due to intense military operations since last month in Barangay Kauswagan, Loreto, Agusan del Sur.


The evacuees are currently in Davao City to seek help from Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.
Food blockades, harassment, arbitrary detention and other forms of human rights violations were experienced by residents of Barangay Kauswagan, and several other villages in the municipalities of Loreto, Patin-ay, and Prosperidad.


Hundreds of Manobos are still coming down from five barangays in Loreto as military operations are ongoing.


Earlier this week, Agusan del Sur Governor Adolph Edward Plaza ordered the violent dispersal of the evacuees who were staying in the provincial capitol.


The governor also denied immediate relief demanded by tribal and community leaders for their people, many of which are already sick and exhausted from their long trek.


The evacuees are demanding for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to withdraw from their communities. Plaza however said that he has no jurisdiction over the AFP’s operations.

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