SULADS STORIES

DATU DACAO OF BASAK

by Fred L. Webb

September 1996

Datu Dacao is the sitio captain of the village of Basak.  He is also the minister of the Baptist Church located in the pure Manobo village which is three hours drive and one hour walk from MVC.  When Levi Manzo and Bobby Llamera arrived in Basak, it was Datu Dacao who welcomed them to his village. 

After hearing of the goals of the student missionaries, Datu Dacao decided to invite them to stay.  He offered the use of the local Baptist Church as the school building during the week and the Sabbath Services on the Sabbath.  The Baptists still use the building on Sundays.  The leaders of the Baptist Church told Datu Dacao that he could not allow the church to be used as a school and church.  He replied, “The village built the church and therefore the village will decide how it will be used.  At this point it will be used by the student missionaries as a school and church.” 

Having lost this battle, the Baptist leaders took there problem to the Supreme Tribal Council charging that the SULADS had no legal papers to enter the territory and therefore were trespassing.  A representative of the SULADS Board of Trustees visited the Tribal Council along with Datu Dacao.  At this meeting, the entire tribe learned of the work of the SULADS.  The ruling was that the SULADS could continue their work but must obtain official legal standing with identification cards showing the Securities and Exchange Commission registration number.  This is being accomplished through the registration of SULADS through the auspices of the Mountain View College Corporation.

Now several of the datus of the Matigsulag Manobo tribe are calling for mission schools to be built in their villages.  Without further funding, the SULADS are unable to meet this challenge.

Datu Dacao was very pleased with the outcome.  When the student missionaries returned to Basak, he welcomed them with the words, “If you had not returned, the people would have left the village to travel to MVC so there children could attend your school.”

The datu’s own son had attended a government school for several years and could still not read.  After only three months at the mission school, the son has progressed remarkably and is now learning the letters and even reading some simple words. 

Datu Dacao accompanied his group to the recently held SULADS Jamboree at MVC.  He was very impressed with the large organization of the SULADS.  Somehow, he had thought that it was a private effort of the student volunteers who had come to his village.  He was amazed at the 186 campers along with their visitors and staff that converged on MVC for this week of camping among the bamboo.  He returned home early to prepare his village for the return of the students to the village.

Datu Dacao is proud of the work being done in his village by the SULADS.  He has visions of his villagers becoming educated in order to meet the challenges of the future in the Philippines.  He believes that the Seventh-day Adventists are meeting the needs of his people in a way that has never been done before.  We pray that very soon, he will accept the Gospel as we know it and join the Seventh-day Adventist Church.