B'laans in Davao Sur get school building

MANILA, Philippines - For his sitio about 45 kilometers from the nearest town, a B’laan chieftain said the donation of a two-classroom school building for their community by mining company Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) “is more than a structure of cement and stones but a dream coming true for my tribe.”

“This makes us very happy, we have been waiting for this high school building for a long time,” said B’laan chieftain Ernie Dianga of Kimlawis, Davao del Sur.

The two-classroom school building equipped with 100 school chairs and tables was turned over by SMI this month making it officially the Kimlawis High School under the responsibility of Kiblawan town.

“This school means we can learn more than basic reading and people can no longer take advantage of us,” Dianga said.

Kimlawis in part is an ancestral domain claimed by a B’laan tribe. The B’laans, numbering at least 13,000, have ancestral domain claims over parts of South Cotabato and Davao del Sur. In Kimlawis alone, there are about 500 households with about 40 percent belonging to the B’laan tribe.