The Fugitive of Talaingod

Pangayao vs Alsons’ IFMA

On Nov. 30, 1993, Datu Guibang gathered the tribal leaders at dusk to perform the rites of a pangayao (tribal war), where the datus made the sacred vow to unite and defend their land. They then formed the Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanugon (Unity in Defense of Ancestral Land).

The Salugpungan initiated dialogues with Libayao, demanding that they be distinguished from the Lumads who supported Alsons’s IFMA. They also delineated a boundary that would separate the land of those who opposed the IFMA from those who were in favor of it.

But Libayao and other pro IFMA tribal leaders rejected the Salugpungan’s move. Libayao insisted that Talaingod should stand as one municipality and told Salugpungan leaders that the group had no legal authority to bar Alsons’ IFMA.

Alsons started accusing Salugpungan leaders of instigating “anti-government activities.” Soon, attacks against Lumad communities in Talaingod began.

(Talaingod map courtesy of Wikipedia)

In February 1994, three truckloads of soldiers from the Philippine Army’s 64th Infantry Batttalion swooped down on anti-IFMA villages, purportedly to rid the area of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

Many Lumads fled their communities as troops burned down houses, looted harvests and slaughtered livestock. The military also set up a detachment in one of the Lumad villages.

(Read Bulatlat.com’s report, “Terror in Ancestral Lands,” on the militarization of Lumad lands.)

In August 1994, more than 500 Ata-Manobos fled to the town centers of Davao del Norte as a result of the military operations. They found temporary sanctuaries in church grounds and facilities, while Datu Guibang and the Salugpungan leaders remained in the hinterland to defend their ground.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte called a dialog between the Salugpungan leaders and the pro-IFMA leaders led by Libayao. As a result, the two conflicting parties signed a Memorandum of Agreement, where the two parties agreed to exclude the Salugpungan areas from IFMA operations. They also agreed to call for an appropriate government agency to survey and map the Salugpungan territory. They also agreed that Alsons and the military should pull out.

But a month after the signing of the agreement, Alsons, using its heavy equipment, continued encroaching into the area claimed by the Salugpungan. The soldiers were also back.

(To learn more about human rights abuses linked to “forest management,” read the 1996 report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch titled “The Philippines: Human Rights and Forest Management in the 1990s.” In the report, the case of Talaingod and Alsons is cited prominently.)

Outraged, Datu Guibang sent word that the Salugpungan datus would soon start their pangayao but the Alsons guards only laughed at them, making fun of their traditional weapons.

This angered the datus. After their third warning went unheed, they engaged Alsons’ guards in a battle near the border of their territory, using only their spears and arrows.

The encounter killed and wounded some of the Alsons guards. IFMA was abruptly aborted and a warrant of arrest was issued against Datu Guibang and 25 Salugpungan leaders.

As a result, Datu Guibang retreated deep into the forests of Talaingod. But this did not stop the Salugpungan communities from looking up to him as their leader.

Meanwhile, Mayor Jose Libayao increasingly enjoyed the backing of the military.