Higaonon student nurses carried books and supplies into a remote Iligan village

Higaonon college students carried books and school supplies into Sitio Limunsudan, a remote part of Barangay Rogongon in Iligan City, on October 24. The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported the visit on October 26, 2026, during Indigenous Peoples' Month.

Ahezel Timbangan, 21, a fourth-year nursing student at Adventist Medical Center College and president of the youth group HILIGANON, organized the day with classmates. Her family is from Rogongon. Muslim and Christian young people came too. The Iligan City Public Library donated the books. The volunteers also brought clothes, and the nursing students offered blood-pressure checks. Timbangan said the trip was a way to give back to the community that raised them, and that she wants to return as a nurse.

City librarian Evan Baylon tied the gifts to the anniversary of the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act and told the children he hoped they would read, and that the library would come back with more than one book each. Bae Sally Dimdim, a tribal leader in Limunsudan, said the distance had not stopped the visit, and that supplies matter when family money goes first to food. Grade 6 pupil Eunice Jane Bayaon said the college students inspired her by making the trip. Classmate Dysabel Salusad said the extra materials will sit alongside the books the school already has. Diodato Abungan, a chieftain in the sitio, said the day showed Indigenous youth doing the work. It was one visit, with a promise of another, not a new classroom.