Brief Description

Davao City. A land flowing with milk and honey. Home to the country’s monkey-eating eagle and the rare orchid, Waling-waling.  A despot of various tribes and indigenous people groups. A city bustling with economic enterprise. The queen city of Mindanao.

Yet despite of its upscale progress and rapid development, behind the idyllic seas and serene mountains, lurks an old sinister practice that still has the capacity to threaten and destroy upland communities.

Pangayaw/Pangayao. A term used for vengeance killing among the Ata tribe in Paquibato District, a mountainous terrain in the northern part of Davao City. It is somewhat equivalent to the Old Testament’s chronicle of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But in pangayao, it is more than just “eyes and teeth.” It is taking lives, and that can be lots of lives in a tribe just to justify one person’s appeasement of justice and thirst for blood.

What made us to explore such topic for Doon Po Sa Amin Quest? As children, we cannot imagine the impact of this tribal practice to young boys and girls in that community. We were curious to answer the questions like – Can children come to school when there’s a pangayao? What happen to kids who lost fathers and mothers because of pangayao? What actions have been taken to stop these merciless killings? Is pangayao still practiced in the mountains? What are the impacts of this practice to the community and to education?

We aim to help develop the rich culture of our local indigenous groups, particularly of that of the  Ata tribe of Davao City. We also want to raise the awareness of people to the pangayao practice so that remedies can be made. So that kids like us can go to school and enjoy a happy, peaceful life.

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