Home of Lumad leader in Agusan is 15 millionth house to be energized
SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur (MindaNews / 18 Aug) – The home of a leader of the Umayamnon tribe who was a former New People’s Army commander in the remote village of New Visayas here became the 15 millionth household to get electricity in the country.
Jimmy “Datu Sumusunod” Man-anohog, said to have three wives, has been waiting for 15 years since they settled in Purok 8 in New Visayas before electricity reached their tribal community of 30 households.
A ceremonial switch on for Man-anohog’s household was done jointly by National Electrification Administration (or NEA, represented by its head, Administrator Emmanuel Juaneza), San Francisco Mayor Grace Carmel Paredes-Bravo, and the Agusan del Sur Electric Cooperative (represented by its general manager, Engr. Emmanuel Galarse, and the board members of ASELCO) at the Purok 8 community stage on Wednesday.
The community, which is 15 kilometers from the national highway that can be reached only through the rugged unattended roads of a former oil palm plantation company, has been home of the Umayamnon tribe led by Man-anohog.
He has lived there since 2007 after his tribal rebel group belonging to NPAs’ Front Committee 34 surrendered to then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and later to former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The tribal leader’s electricity connection is considered by the state-run NEA as an important milestone in the government’s rural electrification drive through the Sitio Electrification Program (SEP) implemented by 121 electric cooperatives nationwide.
Speaking for more than half an hour, Man-anohog was grateful for ASELCO and NEA for their efforts in connecting their community with electricity after waiting a long time.
He spent most of his speech talking about their travails during their armed resistance against the government because of the human rights violations experienced by their forebears many decades back.
Hiding with their families in the mountains between Agusan del Sur and Bukidnon during his time with the NPA, 63 members of their clan died in the encounters with the military, Man-anohog recalled.
Even as they have been waiting for so long for electricity to reach their community, Man-anohog said he saw his neighbors expressing extra gladness when linemen installed electricity in their homes.
The tribal chieftain himself bought a brand new LED TV for the house of one of his wives. According to him, a tribal leader is allowed to marry at least seven wives based on their Umayamnon culture.
“Ang pag abot sa kuryente dinhi morag naibtan mi sa tunok sa kalisdanan (The arrival of electricity here seems to have removed the thorns of our hardships),” Man-anohog said in Cebuano.
Galarse said Purok 8 is among the eight puroks energized since last year. Describing what the Umayamnon community has experienced, he said: “It’s true that you have to go through difficult paths before you get the blessings.”
Mayor Paredes-Brave said that the electricity that finally reached the tribal community will have a big socio-economic impact on their lives.
She encouraged Datu Sumusunod to be a video blogger for social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and TikTok since he is a good story teller. “This is an avenue where you can share your culture to other people throughout the world,” the mayor said.
Juaneza vowed to continue pursuing the rural electrification program with a goal of totally covering all the villages and communities in the country.
He noted that the program already reached 87 percent of Mindanao. (Chris V. Panganiban / MindaNews)
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