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September 17, 2015

Life in makeshift shelters for displaced people in Mindanao

They fled their villages in the hinterlands of Surigao del Sur province for fear of attacks by gunmen who claimed to be hunting communist rebels.

For almost 10 hours on Sept. 1, some 3,000 Manobo indigenous people walked amid heavy rain to seek refuge in lowland areas. The killing of the headmaster of a tribal school and two tribal leaders in one village on Sept. 1 prompted the exodus.

The indigenous people found shelter in a sports center in the provincial capital, where they built makeshift shelters. Many of the villagers have already shown signs of illness and a 4-year-old girl died from an unspecified illness.

The people say they are not going back to their homes unless the Philippine government disbands an anti-communist militia accused of sowing terror in indigenous communities.

Photos by Vincent Go

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