On October 27, 2015 at around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, Ryan Olimbayan and Jessa Himlayan of Sitio Balaudo, Barangay St. Peter, Malaybalay City, Bukidnon went with their grandfather, Mankombete Mariano to pick some Durian fruits in Dumaltong, Sitio Umayam, Canangaan, Cabanglasan, Bukidnon.

The group was happily talking while they tread the trail leading to the durian tree. Ryan and Jessa were behind Mankomete who was leading the pack. About five meters before they could reach the tree, burst of gunfires rang out. The gunfires came from the tree aimed towards them. The first two gunshots fatally hit Mankomete while Ryan was hit in his left leg by astray metal ‘shots’ from a shotgun. Ryan lost his balance and tumbled down the slope. He got hitched between abaca plants and instinctively hid behind. From his location he identified the perpetrators.

He saw Manlumakad Bocalas ran towards his grandfather who was lying on the ground. His Mankombete was hacked in the head, left shoulder and left thigh.

When Ryan saw that his companions were fleeing, he attempted to run too but was shot at again in his right leg. He bravely stood up, ignoring the wounds he sustained and ran and was fired upon again with a shotgun. His school backpack that contains his notebooks and 3 empty sacks fortunately save his life which he was carrying when he was fire upon. Some metallic ‘shots’ hit the bag on his back while other ‘shots’ hit his right back-shoulder and thigh, and his left arm and hip. He run deep into the forest with 5 other kin to save their lives. Ryan’s condition restrained him to keep at pace with others; he was left behind in the middle of the forest.

Before sunset Ryan went back to the place of the incident so he can keep watch over the dead body of his grandfather. He waited until people from their community would arrive.

Jessa arrived in Balaudo with other companions at around 7PM of September 15 while other arrived at 2AM of September 28. Nine of them came back to Balaudo after 12 hours while the other 5 stayed overnight in the forest without food and water. Upon her arrival, she noticed that her right leg is getting numb. She checked on her leg and found a wound. The leaders inspected her wound and found out that it was a caused by a gunshot.

The community leaders assessed the situation; it was still dangerous to look for the others in the forest. They decided to go to Dumaltong and look for the other missing individuals the next day.

Early morning of September 28, 2015, community leaders, parents and kin of Mankobete, Ryan and 4 others went to Dumaltong. They brought food and water intended for those they thought would have survived.

Near the durian tree they found the dead body of Mankombete and they also found Ryan a few meters behind the bushes lying, wounded and weak.

All these fascist  attacks happened as ManiLakbayan 2015 was ignored by a regime that is more concerned with how to show the heads of States and other foreign visitors coming for the APEC Summit that it is ‘more fun in the Philippines’, despite poverty, landlessness, and unabated human rights violations.

(ManiLakbayan is a Mindanao People’s Mobilization for Land, the Environment, and Human Rights that brings voices of concern on mining affected communities and the attacks on environment defenders. )

On October 27, 2015 at around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, Ryan Olimbayan and Jessa Himlayan of Sitio Balaudo, Barangay St. Peter, Malaybalay City, Bukidnon went with their grandfather, Mankombete Mariano to pick some Durian fruits in Dumaltong, Sitio Umayam, Canangaan, Cabanglasan, Bukidnon.

The group was happily talking while they tread the trail leading to the durian tree. Ryan and Jessa were behind Mankomete who was leading the pack. About five meters before they could reach the tree, burst of gunfires rang out. The gunfires came from the tree aimed towards them. The first two gunshots fatally hit Mankomete while Ryan was hit in his left leg by astray metal ‘shots’ from a shotgun. Ryan lost his balance and tumbled down the slope. He got hitched between abaca plants and instinctively hid behind. From his location he identified the perpetrators.

He saw Manlumakad Bocalas ran towards his grandfather who was lying on the ground. His Mankombete was hacked in the head, left shoulder and left thigh.

When Ryan saw that his companions were fleeing, he attempted to run too but was shot at again in his right leg. He bravely stood up, ignoring the wounds he sustained and ran and was fired upon again with a shotgun. His school backpack that contains his notebooks and 3 empty sacks fortunately save his life which he was carrying when he was fire upon. Some metallic ‘shots’ hit the bag on his back while other ‘shots’ hit his right back-shoulder and thigh, and his left arm and hip. He run deep into the forest with 5 other kin to save their lives. Ryan’s condition restrained him to keep at pace with others; he was left behind in the middle of the forest.

Before sunset Ryan went back to the place of the incident so he can keep watch over the dead body of his grandfather. He waited until people from their community would arrive.

Jessa arrived in Balaudo with other companions at around 7PM of September 15 while other arrived at 2AM of September 28. Nine of them came back to Balaudo after 12 hours while the other 5 stayed overnight in the forest without food and water. Upon her arrival, she noticed that her right leg is getting numb. She checked on her leg and found a wound. The leaders inspected her wound and found out that it was a caused by a gunshot.

The community leaders assessed the situation; it was still dangerous to look for the others in the forest. They decided to go to Dumaltong and look for the other missing individuals the next day.

Early morning of September 28, 2015, community leaders, parents and kin of Mankobete, Ryan and 4 others went to Dumaltong. They brought food and water intended for those they thought would have survived.

Near the durian tree they found the dead body of Mankombete and they also found Ryan a few meters behind the bushes lying, wounded and weak.

On October 27, 2015 at around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, Mankombete Mariano together with his grandchildren went to pick some Durian fruits in Dumaltong, Sitio Umayam, Canangaan, Cabanglasan, Bukidnon.

The group was happily talking while they tread the trail leading to the durian tree. About five meters before they could reach the tree, a burst of gunfire rang out. The first two gunshots fatally hit Mankombete while Ryan, his grandson, was hit in his left leg. Ryan lost his balance and tumbled down the slope. From his location he identified the perpetrators.

He saw Manlumakad Bocalas ran towards his grandfather who was lying on the ground and hacked Mankombete in the head, left shoulder and left thigh.

When Ryan saw that his companions were fleeing, he attempted to run too but was shot at again in his right leg. Ignoring the wounds he sustained, he ran and was fired upon again with a shotgun. His school backpack that contains his notebooks and 3 empty sacks fortunately save his life. Some metallic ‘shots’ hit the bag on his back while other ‘shots’ hit his right back-shoulder and thigh, and his left arm and hip. He run deep into the forest with 5 other kin to save their lives but Ryan’s condition restrained him to keep at pace with others; he was left behind in the middle of the forest.

Before sunset Ryan went back to the place of the incident so he can keep watch over the dead body of his grandfather. He waited until people from their community would arrive.

Early morning of September 28, 2015, community leaders, parents and kin of Mankobete, Ryan and 4 others went to Dumaltong. They brought food and water intended for those they thought would have survived.

Near the durian tree they found the dead body of Mankombete and they also found Ryan a few meters behind the bushes lying, wounded and weak.

All these fascist  attacks happened as ManiLakbayan 2015 was ignored by a regime that is more concerned with how to show the heads of States and other foreign visitors coming for the APEC Summit that it is ‘more fun in the Philippines’, despite poverty, landlessness, and unabated human rights violations.

(ManiLakbayan is a Mindanao People’s Mobilization for Land, the Environment, and Human Rights that brings voices of concern on mining affected communities and the attacks on environment defenders. )