Manuel Sampiano was of the Ata tribe, from Paquibato District in Davao City. His ancestry could be traced to legendary leaders of the tribe, especially his grandfather Laidan. His grandfather was also known as Papitog talinga (“seven ears”) because Laidan was reputed to be able to hear through “vibrations” about problems from the farthest Ata villages and then he would send his representatives to help settle the conflict or problems he had “sensed” from afar.
Coming from such remarkable lineage assured Manuel of the respect of the Ata tribe. He came to be called Buyog (local term for bee) because he was always humming and happy, according to his sister Umonan. Buyog was baptized Catholic. He learned to read and write, and reached up to third grade.
Like most Ata children, Buyog Sampiano had to walk many kilometers to get to the nearest school. But he persevered because he believed that education would change the lives of the Ata. By 1974, Buyog was one of the first Ata catechists working with the Apostolate for Cultural Communities (ACC) of the Prelature of Tagum. Buyog volunteered to work in adult literacy programs initiated by the church. Buyog and his team of volunteers dreamed that all Ata children would have basic education. They asked the Ata datus to build more schools so that children did not have to travel long distances to get to school.
“We all could learn to read and write,” Buyog would insist. He believed that once his generation was educated, they could teach the ones that followed, and ultimately all the Ata tribe would know how to read and write and do sums. This meant, to Buyog, the Ata could better defend their rights, deal more strongly with government agencies and civic groups and transact business with more confidence.
Buyog Sampiano grew up with Bisayâ classmates and neighbors so he was fluent in Cebuano. He often served as interpreter for the Ata supreme leader Datu Manyawron Pindio who only spoke the Ata language. Buyog once accompanied the datu at a conference of the Episcopal Commission on Tribal Filipinos (ECTF) in Baguio City, where Buyog interpreted for his leader during the discussions. In this conference, Buyog learned about the struggles of Macliing Dulag and the Butbut tribe against the Chico river dam project of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
From trips like these, Buyog became more informed about the struggles of other indigenous peoples, recalls Jeanette Birondo-Goddard, former executive secretary of the Citizens Council for Justice and Peace (CCJP) of Davao. As he became more knowledgeable and articulate, Buyog became a spokesperson for indigenous peoples (lumad) concerns during meetings and other conferences he was asked to attend. Buyog represented the Ata in inter-tribal meetings or in conferences organized by the Mindanao Sulu Conference on Justice and Development (MSCJD), then headed by the Bukidnon Bishop Francisco Claver, SJ.
Buyog Sampiano also became his tribe’s historian. “He knew the old ways,” recalled Buyog’s nephew, Jose Amban, also addressed as Kunolan Joe (Kunolan is now being reclaimed by the Ata as the authentic title of their leaders). “When he spoke, I didn’t get sleepy. He made me curious about our past. He wove interesting stories of our ancestors and our traditions,” Kunolan Joe said. “When he came back from trips, he would gather us and tell us things he learned in his trip. One of those things he learned was that we had a right to own the land where our ancestors were born, raised and buried. He learned that we should treasure our culture and tradition,” recalled Kunolan Joe. He says his uncle was his inspiration for taking his studies seriously.
The home of the Ata is in Davao City’s largest district, Paquibato. Soldiers started coming in droves to Paquibato in the early 1970s. They said the Ata supported rebel groups and that they should instead join the Integrated Civilian Home Defense Force (ICHDF), a paramilitary organization. “If we did not join or support the ICHDF, they accused us of being members or supporters of the NPA (New People’s Army),” recalls Buyog’s sister Umonan. But the Ata, she said, gave food to anyone who asked, whether government or rebel troops.
At the height of Paquibato’s militarization in 1982, writer and magazine editor Jo-Ann Maglipon joined a fact-finding trip to the area where she saw firsthand what went on in these remote mountain villages that until then had been almost inaccessible to lowlanders.
In her account published first in Panorama magazine, Maglipon wrote of how one day, soldiers swooped down on Buyog’s village of Kiman-anao, claiming to be looking for Ata rebels. But all they did was to go around with kerosene and matches. They burned all the villagers’ huts, leaving only one untouched which they intended to use. Then they dug foxholes, patrolled the surroundings and shot at anything that moved. They stayed for weeks. The people hid in the forest for four months, wrote Maglipon, and children and old people got sick and died. The same dire things happened in other Ata villages, Maglipon wrote.
Buyog Sampiano, tagged now as one of the wanted rebels, gathered together a few villagers and crossed mountains and rivers to report the attacks to church and human rights groups in the city. Buyog served as leader and interpreter. The group also asked for donations of food and medicine to take back to the sick and hungry people they left behind.
In those days, the Atas were also threatened by expansion plans of powerful agribusiness corporations operating in Paquibato, notably the Tagum Agricultural Development Company (TADECO), owned by Antonio Floirendo Sr., a Marcos crony. Soldiers set up checkpoints near or around TADECO banana plantations, and harassed any Ata passing by these checkpoints even if they were within their own ancestral land.
In 1983, several Ata leaders and datus, including their supreme leader, Datu Manyawron, were ordered taken with no explanations by the Presidential Assistant for National Minorities (Panamin), a government agency created by President Marcos. The leaders were flown to Manila, where they underwent grueling interrogation. The Atas were in an uproar and were on the point of declaring war against the government because of this. Once again, Buyog took to the lowlands to speak of his people’s anger at their treatment. The bishops of Tagum and Davao responded, as well as several lawyers and members of the mass media in Davao. As a result of the huge pressure created, Panamin released the arrested leaders to then Mayor Elias Lopez of Davao City, himself was of the Bagobo tribe. The bishops and many interested groups, including Buyog himself, were witnesses to this event.
Buyog Sampiano started receiving threats to his life. One day in October 1984, Buyog told his family he was leaving to report to the Tagum prelature, but he expected to be back in a few days. He failed to return.
Birondo-Goddard says she received the report from Buyog’s brother on October 15, 1984. By then Buyog had been missing for over a week. She remembers organizing a search for him in military camps, morgues and funeral parlors, in vain. A witness said someone who looked like Buyog was seen talking to a former soldier. Another reported hearing that someone had been found killed in another area. It was the height of militarization in Davao, and information was near impossible to get. This happened 39 years ago, and Buyog remains missing today.
The Ata in Paquibato remember and honor Buyog Sampiano for his drive to learn and to teach his fellow Ata, for helping keep the peace for his tribe, and for inspiring the new Ata generation to be proud of their culture and to fight for their own right to self-determination. While heroes are usually remembered as those loudest at the frontline, Buyog worked in the fringes, forging paths towards justice, peace and development for his people.
