The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 13 (Caraga) on Tuesday handed over a PHP3.5-million tribal center to another Indigenous People (IP) community in Bayugan City, Agusan del Sur.

The center was funded through the DSWD’s Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services Payapa at Masaganang Pamayaan IP Community-Driven Development Program.

“This multi-function tribal center was once a dream of the IPs in Barangay Mt. Ararat. It will benefit the entire Manobo tribe in the village,” the DSWD-13 said in a statement Wednesday.

Datu Marlon Sagdon, the village tribal chieftain, described the center as the second home of the Manobos in the area.

“We are thankful to the government for this new center,” Sagdon said of the facility established in Mt. Ararat, which will serve as a venue for gatherings and special occasions.

Sagdon said the Mt. Ararat center, to benefit 111 Manobo families in the village, is the second newly-completed infrastructure turned over by the DSWD-13 to the IP communities in the province.

Last week, the agency also handed over a PHP3.4-million multi-function center to an IP community in Barangay Claro Cortez in the same city. (PNA)