00:00 Breaking news this week,
00:04 the Deumanoy is a cult in Surigao del Norte
00:08 that some of the victims are children of Deumanoy
00:13 who are being raped, abused and forced to get married.
00:19 In 2019, the land was ravaged
00:22 and the believers of the supporters of Surigao del Norte were defeated.
00:27 The magnitude 5.9 earthquake hit some parts of Surigao del Norte earlier.
00:31 When the magnitude 5.9 earthquake hit them,
00:36 but in the middle of the chaos,
00:41 a Deumanoy, a famous savior, promised a new paradise.
00:48 He is the 17-year-old Jay Renz Killario,
00:55 who is better known in their area as Senor Aguila.
00:59 That's what we're thinking about, that he is really God.
01:04 Because there's an aftershock and a tsunami that will happen.
01:08 If we don't join, we'll all go to the empire.
01:11 More than 5,000 people from different places,
01:15 even professionals such as police, government employees, and teachers,
01:22 immediately resigned from their jobs
01:25 to comply with the invitation to join the so-called SBSI,
01:30 Socorro Bayanihan Services Incorporated.
01:33 We all made a mass resignation.
01:36 We climbed a mountain.
01:37 He promised us that we will go to heaven.
01:40 That's what our new Messiah told us.
01:42 They are believing.
01:43 If they die there, they will surely go to heaven.
01:45 But the promised paradise was closed.
01:50 It's a disaster.
01:52 I'm so sorry.
01:54 Why did I stay there for so long?
01:56 Some of them said that their life in the camp became hell.
02:01 They were forced to get married and join the SBSI members.
02:08 They told me that I can do it.
02:10 I can rape them because they are my wife.
02:13 They were forced to leave their families and forced to work.
02:18 The most troublesome thing here is that they did not leave.
02:21 They even abused the children.
02:24 I really know who caused the turbulence and who forced them to get married.
02:28 How true is it that they were forced to join the SBSI?
02:35 It's a cult.
02:36 One of the members of the group,
02:41 the one and only Gemma,
02:44 her real name is not her real name.
02:46 All of us, my parents, my siblings,
02:49 we did not expect that we would live there forever.
02:52 The members of the group,
02:54 the 353 hectares of land that was occupied by the Sitio Kapihan,
03:00 is located in the top of the mountain.
03:02 The Sitio Kapihan is said to be like a community of houses,
03:11 made of wood.
03:13 They have their own family and recording studio.
03:17 They even have their own radio station.
03:20 When a member of your family is sick, they help you.
03:24 They will help you to weld on house because there is a so-called "Bayanihan".
03:28 Gemma was placed there in different clusters or groups.
03:32 It's a cluster by age.
03:34 She can identify the people who she can use and who can be at home.
03:39 The schedule is tight.
03:42 Every 3 am, they are all awake for a help.
03:48 The rules are repeated every day so that you will not be exposed.
03:53 After that, they will do their volunteer work, like planting.
03:58 They are also used to military exercises.
04:03 As soon as you have a gun, as soon as you are authorized by the senior,
04:07 you can hold the children.
04:09 They are like having their own world.
04:12 But they have things to sacrifice.
04:19 The members are ordered by Senior Aguila to leave their lives down.
04:26 It is strictly prohibited that they have a connection outside,
04:30 even to their own children.
04:33 Something that Alias Beth experienced.
04:36 Senior told them that my family is a "Lazon".
04:40 They were not allowed to enter.
04:42 They are like prisoners.
04:44 You cannot go out of the house without a pass that was given by Senior.
04:50 There is a punishment if you find out that you have escaped.
04:53 Sometimes, you will be punished or you will be restricted in the police station.
04:57 You will be beaten there, you will be beaten on the head.
04:59 Because the work in the house is voluntary,
05:03 the members do not receive any salary.
05:06 They feed themselves.
05:09 It is also prohibited to have material things like money.
05:13 Senior told us that no one can go to heaven if you have money in your hands.
05:18 That's why they have to sell their possessions outside.
05:23 They told us that they cannot use it anymore because the entire Socorro will be submerged.
05:27 The 40% that we sold our house, Senior Aguila gave it to us.
05:32 Here's more, 40% of the benefits received by the members of the government,
05:38 like 4-piece and pension of senior citizens,
05:42 they do not have to donate for the expenses of SBSI.
05:48 The people there, even if they are poor,
05:50 all the income of the people is collected by them.
05:53 She said, "It's okay to ask because if you don't ask and if you are ashamed, you are a demon."
05:59 We became a demon. It's like you're lowering yourself.
06:02 Even if it's 5 pesos, we don't have any.
06:04 It's up to me to do something now.
06:07 At least, someday, Senior promised that we will go to heaven.
06:15 This is illegal, simple robbery.
06:18 The maximum penalty for this is 10 years imprisonment.
06:21 The law clearly states that money is needed
06:25 only for the beneficiaries of the law.
06:29 The members also worked hard, even the minors,
06:35 like what the children of Geman experienced.
06:38 They were forced to work in their barracks.
06:40 They were forced to work, they were forced to get sand and stones.
06:43 She told me, "Mom, is this how we really are?"
06:45 It's painful, mom, to see your child like that every day.
06:50 She wants to study.
06:51 But what they were most heartbroken about was the order to force some of their fellow members to get married.
07:00 We need to get married. We cannot go to heaven.
07:04 One of the first to get married to her fellow member,
07:09 was Alfred, who was 18 years old.
07:12 He didn't have a real name.
07:14 The women and the children, she was the only one who was married.
07:18 I risked it because she was 24 years old.
07:20 It was very difficult because we were the same, we didn't have a choice.
07:23 If you don't get the woman in three nights, we would call the adjustment.
07:27 We were called by Sen. Aguila.
07:29 He told me, "You can do it, rape her because she's your wife, she can't do anything."
07:35 I really couldn't do it because I didn't really intend to rape her.
07:39 Even the minors or children, even if their parents didn't have a say,
07:45 they were still forced to get married.
07:48 I really know who was the first to get married.
07:52 We have a minimum age requirement for marriage to be valid.
07:57 So those who were married below 18 years of age, marriage is not valid.
08:02 Child marriage, whoever is with a minor or an adolescent,
08:08 can also be sentenced to prison.
08:12 I think that is about 6 to 12 years and there is a fine of P50,000 or more.
08:19 If a family member does not return immediately after going out or going down the mountain,
08:27 the wife who was left behind will be forced to marry someone else,
08:31 just like what happened to Gemma's friend.
08:34 She went down the mountain for a month.
08:36 When she returned to Capian, her husband got married.
08:39 It was a forced marriage. If you are the man, if you are the one who lived there,
08:43 you can choose the woman you want to marry.
08:46 Marriage requires that the woman and the man are voluntarily involved.
08:52 If there is a forced marriage, the status of that marriage is valid until it is annulled.
08:59 Because of the bad conduct and behavior of the group,
09:04 some members decided to run away.
09:07 Until Beth was forced to disappear in 2021 and since then, she has not returned.
09:15 I left my family behind.
09:17 I kept thinking, "Why did I stay there for so long?"
09:24 I said, "This is not right. There is something wrong. I am so blind and deaf.
09:30 I believe that they are right, that God is really there."
09:34 Their stories reached the local government of Socorro once.
09:40 One of the survivors, Marie, her real name is not revealed, posted her story online
09:47 when she was forced to marry someone else, her husband who was left behind in the mountains.
09:53 He was forced to marry someone else.
09:55 We were together for 17 years. We have three children.
09:59 Because, ma'am, it hurts. I don't know what I will do then.
10:09 That is why the LGU or the Local Government Unit of Socorro created a special task force
10:17 to invite other witnesses who have gone there and investigate the truth of what is happening inside the SBSI.
10:25 We thought that only a few people would go there.
10:29 It is hard to enter that place because the gate is three layers.
10:33 The guards are fully armed and there are 48 guardhouses surrounding it.
10:38 The government is really powerless.
10:40 This hot issue in Mindanao reached the Senate when Senator Risa Ontiveros
10:49 gave her privileged speech on September 18.
10:55 More than 1,000 youths were in the hands of a cruel, cruel and abusive cult.
11:04 Mayor Risa Tim Kang reached out directly to them.
11:08 They were the ones who were able to save the eight children who escaped last July.
11:13 The next step was given by the Senate Committee on Public Safety and secondarily by the Senate Committee on Women and Children on September 28.
11:25 We invited all stakeholders, the children and their parents, including Sen. Aguila.
11:33 To get the attention of Sen. Aguila.
11:39 This Friday, our team climbed up Sitio Capihan.
11:43 But what caught their attention was a cultural show.
11:56 (Chanting)
12:15 The female members were noticed to have short hair.
12:19 This is our identity. Even if we are different, we can identify that we are truly the Capihan person.
12:26 Attention in the area. The bodies in Capihan are different.
12:31 Their location was also shown to our team.
12:35 This is the Quadrangle. This is where we trained for our participation in cultural shows.
12:42 What you see up there is called the foxhole.
12:45 According to them, for us, that's called "lagkaw". In English, it's called "guardhouse".
12:50 That purpose is because we are in the middle of the land.
12:54 If the heat is too high, like now, that's what they'll see.
12:57 And there was the leader of the organization, J. Renz or Sen. Aguila, who held a presentation.
13:06 He lied about his malicious plans.
13:10 As long as you have a gun, as long as you are authorized by the Sen. you can hold the children.
13:15 We were shooting while we were doing military training.
13:18 Because of our shooting, we were doing video making. It was just props.
13:22 The women and children were just being compared.
13:26 I really know who the Lagkaw of Turbulence is and who he married there.
13:30 There was no ceremony that happened. It's not a child marriage because I wasn't married. I'm not a priest.
13:36 I'm a believer of God. I'm a God.
13:40 There's a punishment if you find out that you ran away.
13:43 Sometimes, you're punished or you're restricted in the foxhole.
13:46 And you're even beaten there. You get a headshot.
13:49 Our community is like a subdivision.
13:52 It's not prohibited, it's regulated.
13:54 Because we live here peacefully.
13:57 We don't want to be involved with bad people because it's for our safety purposes.
14:01 The people there, they're even robbers.
14:03 Do you know that all the money that people earn is collected by them?
14:06 That's not true, ma'am. It's all from the robbers.
14:09 Our funds are for helping each other.
14:13 We're from the community.
14:15 It's not true that people are getting the benefits from the SDD.
14:20 Even if they investigate this, nothing like this has happened.
14:23 All the allegations, we vehemently deny.
14:26 Because it's not true. It's fabricated.
14:28 More than 1,000 youths are in the hands of a corrupt, cruel, and abusive cult.
14:38 Mr. Aguila can deny that they're a cult.
14:43 We're hurt because the allegations are heavy.
14:46 What we call a cult is discrimination.
14:49 Our life here is very happy.
14:51 We live simply.
14:53 You can see our faces here.
14:55 Our family is very happy to live here, even if we're in the mountains.
15:03 Why are they denying?
15:04 Why are we the ones who are saying that we're just creating falsehoods?
15:09 We know that they're the ones who are wrong.
15:12 The Mayor decided to take custody of our municipal social welfare development officers.
15:18 They're in a safe house now.
15:20 If someone wants to reintegrate into the society, the LGU is willing to help.
15:27 Many people are susceptible to a cult because, first and foremost,
15:32 they have techniques to be part of a community.
15:37 They always attack people who have financial, emotional, social, or spiritual needs.
15:45 The people who live in the area lack resources.
15:47 They're under social pressure.
15:50 It means that it's hard for them to move.
15:53 I hope that they can all be human.
15:58 I want to take their lives so that they can return to their homes.
16:06 Don't judge them yet.
16:08 To see what's happening here, just visit Kapihan.
16:12 You'll be able to trust them.
16:14 Interview the people.
16:16 If you're curious about this, come to us.
16:19 I assure you that this place is safe because we don't hide anything.
16:23 We want to correct all our mistakes.
16:25 Maybe it's time to give justice to what we've experienced.
16:29 In correcting tragedies, people's trust and resistance will be tested.
16:37 Those who are desperate can easily be persuaded by promises, but they can't avoid being abused.
16:45 In the investigation about SBSI, I hope the truth will be revealed.
16:54 Thank you so much, Kapuso.
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17:11 [Music]
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