English - Balay Mindanaw

Part 2 - Four Datus: Stories of the Higaunon LifeAt the height of military operations in the hinterlands,Tatay Malindahay and Jabbar met in another incident wherehe requested the latter to spare their fellow Higaunons.“When Jabbar and I met, he asked me, ‘What now, Uncle?Should I surrender?’ I said, ‘No! I did not come here to facilitateyour surrender. My only request is for you to spare our fellowHigaunons in the killings.’ We had a good agreement. He toldme, ‘Okay, Uncle. When the Higaunons would have theiroperation, let them wear black or red headband so when wesee them coming, we would back out. We won’t shoot themanymore.’ Jabbar then asked what detachments I wantedhim to spare. I said the detachments in Kalipay, Eureka,Kamanikan and Tama.”Jabbar promised that he would comply with thisagreement and he would also instruct his comrades should hebe killed. But even after his death in 1992, military bombingson Higaunon settlements continued. According to Paredes(1997:198), the “the military has been bombing Higaunon andManobo areas all over Agusan del Sur and Surigao provinces”for the purpose of clearing the area for the coming in of largescale development projects, but they simply capitalized onthe presence of the NPA to justify these assaults.This was confirmed by Tatay Malindahay because henoted that Kalasayon in the municipality of Nasipit, Agusandel Norte was bombed. The adjacent areas of Malahuni,Hinandayan and Mimbahandi were also affected. Militaryaggression was greatly felt in the interior areas of Agusan delSur in their campaign to rid the countryside of NPAs.Because of this, Datu Kalasi sought the help of TatayMalindahay to put a stop to military operations in the abovementionedareas. There and then, Tatay Malindahay went tothe regional office of the National Commission on IndigenousPeoples (NCIP) in Butuan City. The NCIP staff then facilitated81