Social Impact of Typhoon Bopha on Indigenous Communities, Livelihoods, and Conflict in Mindanao

I arrived in Mindanao, following Typhoon Bopha, in December 2012 as coordinator of the Philippines’ Shelter Cluster. This is a coordination platform that served both the Philippines’ government and all national and international aid agencies to coordinate the immediate disaster response, focusing on emergency shelter. In this role, my first experience of the country’s indigenous people was not through the delivery of aid, but through a cockfight. Walking past Davao’s Galeria Matina, a large, octagonal cockfighting stadium made of wood, I heard a massive roar of noise: the round of betting before the next fight.