Google map of Arakan, North Cotabato
COTABATO CITY – Some 36 people who have been staying in the forest for almost a year have been rescued by the local government of Arakan, North Cotabato, officials said Wednesday.
Arakan Mayor Rene Rubino said about 50 people have long been living deep in the forest in Barangay Libertad and three have died.
Locals said they belonged to a cult whose leaders have been telling the members they would be saved by a certain “Niño”, the grandson of Leonardo Capillan, a 61-year-old farmer who convinced his followers to stay with him in the jungles.
Capillan died last January 31, while his son Bernardo, 32, also died the next day.
On February 1, a certain Ailyn Magali, an 18-year-old follower, also expired in the mountains.
On Tuesday, Rubino personally led the town’s health front-liners to rescue the villagers and recover the remains of the three fatalities who reportedly died of hunger.
Health workers, however, failed to retrieve the bodies because these were in an advanced state of decomposition.
Rubino somehow managed to convince 36 villagers to come out of the forest. They were being attended to by the local government of Arakan through the town's social welfare and health offices.
More than a dozen other members of the group refused to heed the call and remained in hiding deep in the forest.
Residents of Barangay Libertad told Rubino that the group went to the forest last year to avoid getting infected by the coronavirus disease 2019.
A relative of one of the fatalities discovered the area, where the alleged cult followers have been staying, while searching for his kin who went with the group.
“I am not losing hope. I will bring them down from the mountains,” he told reporters in an interview on Wednesday.
Rubino ordered the social welfare office to provide psychosocial intervention and the town health station to conduct medical examinations to determine the health status of the rescued group members.
“Whether the group belonged to a cult or not is yet to be fully determined,” he said.
Barangay Libertad Chairman Jimmy Bacag has vehemently denied a cult exists in his village.
“Those are allegations. The three fatalities have died due to sickness. There was no truth that a cult exists in our village,” Bacag told DXND radio station in Kidapawan City.
Rubino and tribal leaders are continuing efforts to convince the villagers to come to the town center for medication and other assistance from the government. (PNA)
