Terror in Gawaan

In the early hours of March 5, 2023, the village of Barangay Gawaan in Balbalan, Kalinga was jolted awake by explosions. The night sky lit up with flashes as bombs fell on the mountains surrounding the community.

Eufemia "Kam-ay" Bog-as, a young indigenous organizer from the Salegseg tribe, was among those who witnessed the terrifying scene unfold. “We woke up to the sound of explosions,” Kam-ay recalled. “It felt like the earth was breaking apart. The house was shaking like it would collapse.” She and her family rushed outside, unsure of what was happening.

 As they stood under the dim, misty sky, they spotted something in the air, its cold light visible through the clouds. “We saw what looked like a drone, and then the bombs started dropping near the mountains,” she said. The mountains, with its forested pasture lands where farmers kept their livestock, became the apparent target of military airstrikes that shook the entire village. “In those mountains, farmers had their carabaos. They placed their carabaos there so they don’t have to tend to them every day.”

 Six blasts in total tore through the area, leaving residents terrified. Just hours before, they celebrated the last night of the Manchatchatong Festival, a peaceful and joyous occasion for the people of Balbalan.

 “It was confusing. We had visitors during our fiesta, and everything was calm,” Kam-ay wondered.

 In the aftermath, fear and uncertainty gripped the community. When the police arrived later that morning, they claimed the military had targeted the area due to "sightings" of armed rebels. But for many, including Kam-ay, the explanation felt hollow. “The Barangay Captain didn’t know anything, and then the police said it was because of rebels. But we live here—we know this land. There were no rebels that day.”

 The fear intensified when, at around 7 a.m., two farmers who had gone to check on their carabaos were detained by soldiers stationed in Sitio Uta. The men, who simply intended to tend to their livestock, were held without explanation. When other members of the barangay council and the men’s families arrived to intervene, they too were detained, bringing the number of detained individuals to nine. The farmers were released only in the afternoon after tensions began to rise.

 Reports surfaced the next day, March 6, about military positioning their artillery, including cannons and howitzers, in the barangay, aimed at Gawaan.

 Three days later, on March 9, military helicopters returned, this time dropping bombs near a local school, where 60 to 65 students were attending class. The school, normally a place of safety and learning, became a terrifying scene as residents estimated that six to nine bombs fell dangerously close to the students.

Lumad children struggle with PTSD, depression

“When a community is bombed, all Lumad schools and communities are affected.”

Rose Hayahay, who began her work as a Lumad volunteer teacher in 2018, recounted how the military began intensifying its attacks on the communities with Lumad schools after martial law was declared in Mindanao in May 2017.

"When martial law was declared in Mindanao, no less than 75 percent of the regular Armed Forces of the Philippines were deployed there," she recalls. Outside the Marawi siege, communities of Lumad indigenous people of Mindanao were openly targeted in President Duterte’s declarations.

Twelve schools shut down in Davao de Oro, and the community subjected to aerial bombings from 2017 to 2022. After the bombings, displacement followed, forcing families to evacuate to Haran evecuation center in Davao City, where they continued to experience military harassment.

Mawing Pangadas, who was in Grade 7 when the bombings began, remembered how his community was thrown into chaos."

We were scared, and there were students hanging around our school while the military was shooting on the other side. It felt like there was no enemy,” he said.

Describing one particular bombing incident in 2017, he recalled how students were playing outside when a helicopter suddenly dropped bombs near their school. "We ran back into the school and hid because we were scared of the bomb's loud noise."

The trauma inflicted on the children was immense. "One hundred percent of the children, have PTSD and depression," said Teacher Rose. Mawing added that the attacks made students lose hope in education. "It seemed they lost hope of continuing their education," he added.

Teacher Rose, who accompanied Lumad students from one evacuation to another, recalled that in Manila during a New Year’s Eve celebration, the kids would recoil in horror at the sound of exploding firecrackers.

“It was Christmas time, of course there were fireworks in Manila. They all cried and cannot sleep,” she recounted. “Even the sound of doors banging would trigger them.” 

These testimonies highlight not only the physical destruction caused by military operations but also the psychological toll it takes on the Lumad children.