Reward for info on killers of Manobo tribeswoman up
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES NEWS • 08:00 AM Tue Aug 25, 2020
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By:
John M. Unson
NORTH COTABATO --- Gov. Nancy Catamco has offered a reward for the arrest of the suspects in the gory murder Sunday in Magpet town of a female Manobo tribal leader.
Catamco, also a member of North Cotabato’s indigenous community, is chairperson of the provincial peace and order council.
She announced Tuesday that she is ready to give out cash incentives to informants who can help the police identify the killers of tribeswoman Bae Merlin Ansabo Celis of Magpet town in North Cotabato.
Celis was killed with shotguns by unidentified assailants who slashed her throat with a machete and removed her eyes using knives.
The victim was active in promoting programs protecting Manobo ancestral lands from outsiders and capitalists.
“I condemn her death in the hands of savage culprits. We must not turn a blind eye on this kind of atrocity,” Catamco said.
Catamco, a first-termer North Cotabato provincial governor, said she has directed the provincial police to enlist the help of local officials and barangay leaders in Magpet, a hinterland town where there are Manobo ancestral lands, to help identify the killers of Celis.
“We want them prosecuted for having brutally killed a tribeswoman,” Catamco said.