CALAPAN CITY—Twelve Mangyan natives have died from an unknown respiratory disease that swept across two highland villages in nearby Baco municipality over the weekend, a tribal leader said.
“Our brother Mangyans have already abandoned their homes and moved to safer grounds for fear that they may also be afflicted by the mysterious disease,” said Alejandro Pablo, 67, an Alangan Mangyan tribal leader.
Pablo said 12 natives, including three children, have died from the outbreak that started Friday.
He also expressed fears that more Mangyans in those mountain villages would die as “six more sick mountain dwellers were showing same symptoms.”
“I cannot give exact number of those sick and dying, but when I left Balangkawit and Kalamansian to seek immediate medical assistance from authorities, 12 had already died, including three Mangyan children,” Pablo said.
The two affected mountain sitios are located at the foothills of Mount Halcon that could be reached only by a whole-day hike.
Marlon Roldan, chairman of a religious non-government organization called Hands of Love Philippines, said the sickness may be broncho-pneumonia or diphtheria which is a serious bacterial infection that affects the mucous membranes of the throat and nose.
“Coupled with diarrhea, these diseases can be fatal to both children and older people,” he said.
Roldan said a massive landslide in Baco in December last year caused by Typhoon “Nona” could have affected the source of fresh drinking water of the natives.
“Almost the entire mountain villages of barangays Bayanan and Mayabig in Baco were submerged in rocks, sands and debris. These landslides and siltations may have compromised the source of drinking water for the Mangyan population,” Roldan said.