The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Central Visayas on Thursday said it will provide counseling and stress debriefing to the 19 indigenous peoples (IP) children who were rescued from a university retreat house here before sending them back to Mindanao.

Rebecca Geamala, DSWD-7 regional director, said her office has prepared programs to address the needs of the young members of the Ata Manobo tribe, whose parents came to the city to claim them from their recruiters.

She said the social welfare’s office will also do parenting capability assessment report (PCAR) in coordination with the local government of Talaingod, Davao del Norte.

She said there should be proper interventions before allowing the children to go back to their respective residences in the mountain zone of Kamingawan in Palma Gil village.

Part of the PCAR, Geamala said, is to determine the basic necessities of the IP children who are still in this city like food, clothing and medical needs.

“We have enough facilities for them. We have five facilities that can house them. We have home for the girls. For the parents, tingnan natin (we will see) how we can help,” Geamala told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in an interview.

She added that her office will be closely working with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NICP) and other agencies that are working for the welfare of the children, in planning out the interventions as well as the “sending off plan” to Davao del Norte and Sultan Kudarat.

The Regional Subcommittee for the Welfare of the Children is set to meet on Feb. 23 to discuss the Feb. 15 rescue incident and allegations of kidnapping and serious illegal detention of the IP minors.

Meanwhile, Geamala said her office was informed of the plan to rescue the children but was no longer updated when the actual rescue was launched.

“We cannot just simply look and listen, that’s why the subcommittee will meet to determine the correct interventions for the (Ata) Manobo children and the parents,” she added.

A police report said of the 19 rescued IP students, 15 are minors — nine are from Talaingod, Davao del Norte, five from Sultan Kudarat, and one from Zamboanga. Their ages are said to be between 14 and 17 years.

The four others, of Talaingod, Davao del Norte are above 18 years old.

The children were reportedly taken away from their families by teachers of Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanogon without the parents’ consent.

Some 55 Salugpungan schools, an alternative learning hub reportedly run by communist groups, were ordered closed by the Department of Education 11 in 2019 due to several violations, including the relocation of students away from their homes without their parents’ consent.

DepEd 11 also found out that the teachers of Salugpungan schools do not have the professional license to teach, and operated within the ancestral domain of tribal communities without obtaining the mandatory Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) and certification from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples.

The parents said they were made to sign a paper when their children were taken from them but they did not even understand its content.

Read: Prove IP parents, kids’ video calls, NCIP exec dares USC priest

Lorua Sambeyang, one of the six parents who came to Cebu through the help of the Municipal Social Welfare Office of Talaingod, said no one from the police nor any government agency forced them to go to Cebu.

In a press conference on Feb. 15, she added that she and her companions from the tribe are afraid of boat rides, but they mustered courage in the hope of reuniting with their children who were taken away from them three years ago.

The police arrested seven persons, reportedly Salugpungan teachers, during the rescue operation inside the retreat house of University of San Carlos (USC) in Barangay Talamban.

The suspects will be facing charges of kidnapping and serious illegal detention in relation to Republic Act 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, violation of RA 9208 or the Anti-Human Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, as amended by RA 10364.

The USC maintained its stand that it was just helping the IP students by providing them with a safe house while the city was on strict community quarantine. (PNA)