 The statement came after reports that LGBT people are fleeing Marawi and a surge of reported derision and abuse at home and discrimination at school had steadily increased.Indigenous belief systems and religions in the country, collectively known as Anitism, regard homosexual acts as part of nature, and thus, acceptable, and to some extent, even sacred.Local men dressed up in women’s apparel and acting like women were called, among other things, "babaylan", "bayoguin", "bayok", "agi-ngin", "asog", "bido" and "binabae".