UCCP group remembers Rano massacre, calls for truth, justice, repentance

DIGOS CITY, Davao del Sur — A group of pastors and lay workers from the United Church of Christ in the Philippines has called for remembrance, repentance and justice for the Bagobo-Tagabawa victims of the Rano massacre, 37 years after one of the bloodiest attacks attributed to the New People’s Army in Southern Mindanao.

The group, called the UCCP Evangelical Fellowship, issued the statement “We Mourn in Solidarity with our Bagobo-Tagabawa Sisters and Brothers.” The statement was circulated through flyers across the Davao Region as local churches and communities marked the anniversary of the June 25 massacre in Sitio Rano, Barangay Binaton, Digos, Davao del Sur.

Thirty-nine people were killed in the attack, including 22 children, among them toddlers and a two-month-old baby.

Many of the victims were members of a local UCCP congregation composed largely of Bagobo-Tagabawa converts. According to the statement, worshippers had gathered for Sunday morning service when around 70 NPA cadres opened fire. The attackers, the group said, also strafed nearby homes where women and children had sought refuge.

The pastors and lay workers described the massacre as a wound that remains unresolved, not only for the victims’ families but also for the wider church community.

“Where they fall, we also fall; when they rise, we also rise,” the statement read, as the group prayed for healing, truth and justice for the Bagobo-Tagabawa community.

REMEMBER. Flyers circulated by the UCCP Evangelical Fellowship across the Davao Region called for solidarity with the Bagobo-Tagabawa community in commemorating the Rano massacre in Sitio Rano, Barangay Binaton, Digos, Davao del Sur. In it is Helen Enriquez, one of the eight survivors, along with photographs of some of the victims. Courtesy of UCCP Evangelical Fellowship

‘Soldiers of the poor’

The statement recalled testimonies from survivors who said their community’s relationship with the NPA had initially been friendly. The rebels reportedly introduced themselves as “sundalo sa kabus,” or soldiers of the poor.

But survivors later said the relationship deteriorated as the armed group allegedly became abusive, demanding more rice and money from the community. The statement said residents also rejected the communist view that religion was incompatible with revolution, including the belief that God was merely a “figment of the imagination.”

The community eventually refused to pay revolutionary tax and joined a local self-defense group called Ituman, while also seeking help from government. The statement said these decisions angered the NPA and triggered the attack.

For the UCCP Evangelical Fellowship, the contradiction remains painful: an armed movement claiming to fight for the poor carried out violence against poor Indigenous worshippers.

“If they were soldiers of the poor, why did they kill the poor?” the statement said, echoing the words of a survivor.

A painful church reckoning

The group also revisited the response of the UCCP national leadership after the massacre. It said the national office conducted a probe and acknowledged that the incident raised “grave doubts” about the NPA’s efforts toward social transformation based on justice.

But the pastors and lay workers criticized what they viewed as the absence of a forceful denunciation from the national leadership at the time.

“No denunciation from the national office for the murder of fellow UCCP members, only a lukewarm reprimand to the NPA for unprecedented brutality,” the statement said.

The group noted that the NPA later apologized for the massacre, as reported by the Associated Press shortly after the incident. But for the victims’ families, the deeper question of justice has remained largely unanswered.

Where is justice?

The statement also raised concern over the lack of prosecution of those involved in the massacre.

It said the commander who allegedly led the attack, identified in the statement as Commander Bensar, surrendered to the government in the late 1990s. He and other former rebels who sought amnesty were apparently not prosecuted, the group said.

“Where is justice for the 39 victims?” the statement asked.

The pastors and lay workers also said government had fallen short in addressing the needs of the affected Bagobo-Tagabawa community. They cited the remarks of an elder during the 2020 commemoration, who said that promises of roads and public transport had remained unfulfilled more than three decades after the massacre.

While livelihood assistance had reportedly been provided in later years, the group said much more needed to be done.

“An over-reliance on the Anti-Terror Act cannot substitute for comprehensive development programs among long-neglected indigenous peoples,” the statement said.

Warning against false prophets

The statement framed the Rano massacre as more than a historical atrocity. For the group, it is also a warning to churches and communities about groups that promise liberation while demanding obedience, silence and sacrifice from the vulnerable.

“The Rano massacre warns us to beware of false prophets,” the statement said.

The pastors and lay workers said any group that “glibly promises heaven on earth” should be viewed with skepticism. They linked this warning not only to armed revolution, but also to what they described as current internal struggles within the UCCP, including corporatism, ideological capture and the erosion of democratic church polity.

The group said violence does not only come through guns. It may also appear through intimidation, exclusion, institutional pressure and the silencing of dissenting pastors and local churches.

“To achieve enduring peace, we must follow the path of peace, no short-cuts,” the statement said.

Remembering Rano

IN MEMORIAM. The Rano Memorial marker at Rimpong Tribal Village in Barangay Binaton, Digos City honors the life, rebirth and transformation of the Bagobo-Tagabawa tribe.

Today, a Rano Memorial marker stands in Rimpong Tribal Village in Barangay Binaton. It forms part of the Hall of Peace, or Bale Kasunayan, which portrays the life, rebirth and transformation of the Bagobo-Tagabawa tribe.

During yearly commemorations, clan elders speak of peace and harmony, and of their desire to end violence that destroys communities and kills even children.

For the UCCP Evangelical Fellowship, the massacre remains a call to repentance for silence, for delayed empathy, and for failing to identify sooner with the suffering of Indigenous brothers and sisters.

“God Creator, Jesus Redeemer, Holy Spirit Sustainer, we say mea culpa,” the statement read.

The group said the local church in Davao that survived the massacre has not allowed bitterness to consume its faith. Instead, it has continued to believe in life, hope and healing despite decades of disappointment.

“Justice has largely eluded the massacre victims,” the statement said. “But through decades of despair and disappointment, they have kept hope alive.”

The statement ended with a prayer for the healing of the UCCP and for the triumph of love over hatred and violence.

“Help us draw from their wisdom and resilience, affirming that truth, justice and peace will ultimately prevail,” the group said. “Refresh our souls and heal our broken UCCP, for love — not hate, not violence — is the last word.”