The Awakening of Milbuk

An American missionary priest narrates his experiences of human tragedy and political deception, while serving as a parish priest in a logging community of 4,500 people, situated along the verdant, southwestern coastal plain of the Celebes Sea in Mindanao, Philippines. A previously peaceful and idyllic Christian town is abruptly torn apart with the senseless murders of its citizens by a group of armed Muslim rebels belonging to the MNLF (Mindanao National Liberation Front). This fact-based account describes the incidents that led up to the massacres and the continuing slaughter that spiraled out of control, when elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines came to the defense of the town and in the process retaliated against the neighboring Muslim communities. Hundreds of Muslim men were mindlessly slaughtered in retaliation. These events during the civil conflicts of 1974 exacted a heavy toll upon both communities.