BEN SERRANO
Contributing editor
LA PAZ, AGUSAN DEL SUR—At least thirty one members of the Indigenous Manobo Communities in Barangays Kasapa, 41 and nearby villages of this town have reportedly fallen ill since last week due to cholera and other diseases, tribal leaders here reported.
Tribal supreme leader Bae Merlin Coguit-Hernandez, heir-successor of the late legendary Manobo tribal chieftain Tagleong Coguit of the Indigenous Manobo Communities of La Paz, Talacogon and Loreto towns said at least 21 Manobo tribesmen mostly elders some were children have been hospitalized last week at a local hospital in Butuan City.
“We are still checking others who have fallen ill due to same ailment”, Bae Merlin Coguit-Hernandez told this writer in an interview.
Bae Merlin Coguit-Hernandez claimed physicians at the Santos Hospital in Butuan City have diagnosed some to have cholera, fever, suspected typhoid fever and other illnesses.
The patients mostly elderly Manobo tribesmen and children suffered fever, vomiting, severe LBM and headache.
“But due to our limited funds as my husband and foreigner friends are providing personal money for the expensive hospitalizations, the ten others who have fallen ill were not confined but were only given medicines”, Bae Merlin continues
Earlier, Bae Merlin’s brother Datu Eddie Coguit verbally requested the Agusan del Sur Provincial Government for an immediate medical mission in the three barangays most inhabited by Manobo tribal folk in La Paz town.
It was not known what was the response of the Agusan del Sur Provincial Government.
Since he has no mobile phone, Datu Eddie Coguit through this writer had again reiterated his request to the provincial government through Agusan del Sur Governor’s Chief of Staff Christopher Lindo and former Agusan del Sur Governor Eddie Bong Plaza.
This writer in return immediately due to emergency situation informed Mr. Lindo and former Governor Eddie Bong Plaza through their respective contact mobile phone numbers
As of press time there is no reply yet of the text messages sent.
There are about 5,000 Manobo tribesmen under Manobo Tribal Supreme leader Bae Merlin Coguit-Hernandez watch living in ancestral lands under ancestral domain claims CADC No. 132.
Due to illness causing untimely deaths, the Manobo population has been dwindling over the years.