And, to be clear, there wasn't any kidnapping -- the author of the publication that @rodcul links to -- Robin Broad [0] -- has an article (from 1980), "Our Children Are Being Kidnapped" [1] which would appear to cover similar ground (the title is the same as that of the linked publication on Amazon). And it's clear from the article that the kidnapping thing is the rural equivalent of an urban legend:
The people of Bukidnon are talking. They whisper their stories to me--in jeepneys riding, in rivers bathing, in fields plowing. One story is repeated time and time again. it becomes their theme: "Our children are being kidnapped," they say.
"Each night during the full moon, some disappear".
Why? Supposedly because corporations building bridges have killed mermaids or perhaps because they've built buildings disturbing the tree spirits or Imelda Marcos angered the mermaids. The nature-gods demand sacrifices. Really -- Broad says she was told all of these things by different people.
"Is the tale true? On a literal level, perhaps not. But on a mythical level, undoubtedly so. The people of Bukidnon are wise. They see what is occurring around them. They see the destructions the corporations leave in their wake--the ecological and human damage. They see the tremendous costs associated with this form of development. They see the hard to their land, to their families, to their whole way of life.
The stories that follow, about land-theft and the like, are unpleasant, but are not about kidnapping children. And...they are from decades ago. Is there any reason to think these are still issues today? (From what I can tell, looking quickly, Google does not appear to think so).
[0] https://www.american.edu/sis/faculty/rbroad.cfm
[1] https://www.american.edu/sis/faculty/upload/our-children-are...
(A PDF of the entire issue of the journal with this article can be found here:
http://criticalasianstudies.org/assets/files/bcas/v12n03.pdf )
