Assemble in Agusan Valley: World War-II in Mindanao - Hardcover

by Ray L. Burdeos (Author)

First, I want to begin by showing some of the sights of Agusan Valley and its beauty, wonders and dangers the place was known before as an "unexplored and inhospitable jungle." This was where the central theme of this story hap-pened. Looking at the map below, Agusan is surrounded by Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, Davao and Surigao provinces on the island of Mindanao.

The valley is in the province of Agusan on the island of Mindanao, the second biggest of the 7,010 islands which comprised the country of the Philippines. The early inhabi-tants of the valley were from different tribes: Manobo, Bagobo, Mamanwa, Banwaon and mainly of Malayan race. The largest area of Agusan province is the rainforest. It has deadly pre-dators such as the killer bees, crocodiles, pythons, scorpions, and leech. The leech is a blood-sucking worm that sticks its head into the exposed parts of the human body and injects a thinning solution; then slowly sucking the blood of a victim up to five times its size and sometimes more. In many cases, the victim is not even aware that it is happening during the attack.

Another annoying attack to humans is unleash by buffalo gnats (a two-winged insect which sometimes bites) swarm all around an exposed part of a human body, usually the head, where and when the gnats get into the eye, ear, or nose, a victim tend to panic and an awful consequence could happen.

The last, but not least, of the dangers is a suyak which is used as booby trap by natives for hunting wild animals for food using a razor-sharp bamboo poles positioned upright above the ground. And sometimes humans could be victims of this deadly animal trap.