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Pinoy Weekly

Hasik ng Lagim ni Gloria sa Pampanga

SAN FERNANDO, PAMPANGA – Nagising sa malakas na ugong ng rumaragasang trak ng Philippine Army ang mga mamamayan ng Barangay San Jose, San Fernando City Pampanga, umaga ng Hunyo 9.

Ikinagulat ito ng mga taga-San Jose. Di pamilyar na tanawin ang trak ng militar na pumapasok sa makipot na kalsada ng kanilang barangay. Walang giyera sa San Jose o sa anumang bahagi ng San Fernando na siyang kapital na lungsod ng probinsiya ng Pampanga.

Humimpil ang trak sa tapat ng barangay hall. Bumaba ang mga sundalo sa pamumuno ng isang Koronel Ricardo Bisaya, hepe ng 69th Infantry Battalion ng Army, na kumausap sa kapitan ng barangay, si Dario Manalastas, hinggil sa pagtatayo nila ng detatsment sa loob mismo ng San Jose.

Sa takot na maturingang kakampi ng mga “kalaban ng gobyerno”, di nakatanggi si Manalastas. Sa isang lumang gusali ng barangay, dumiskarga mula sa trak ang humigit-kumulang 15 armadong sundalo. Ang ilan naman sa mga kasamahan ng militar ay nakamotorsiklo.

Katabi ng naturang gusali ang eskuwelahang pang-elementarya, na punumpuno ng mga bata dahil pasukan. Sa gusaling ito nagtayo an mga sundalo ng bunker mula sa patumpatong na sandbag. Handa na ang detatsment.

Sa araw rin ng pagdating ng militar, nagsimula ang “census”: pagbahay-bahay ng mga sundalo sa barangay. Kuwestiyonable kung totoong census ang ginawa ng mga sundalo, ayon kay Milo (di tunay na pangalan), isang organisador sa naturang komunidad. Kung anu-ano ang tinatanong: sinu-sino ang mga nakatira sa bahay, ano ang kanilang mga trabaho, sinu-sino ang mga miyembro ng mga militanteng organisasyon, atbp. Ni wala silang dalang census form, ayon kay Milo.

Matapos nito, inisa-isa na ang mga organisador at lokal na lider-militante. Nagkataong nakatira sa San Jose si Frank Mangulabnan, tagapangulo ng Bayan (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan) sa Pampanga. Noong Hulyo 23, “binisita” na siya ng ng isang Pvt. 1st Class Alex delos Santos at S/Sgt. Fernando Patdu at pinagrereport sa detatsment.

Buti na lang at pinasabihan na ni Manalastas si Mangulabnan na huwag na munang umuwi dahil “pinaghahanap ng mga sundalo ang mga lider-militante.”

Militarisasyon sa Pampanga

Hindi lamang sa Barangay San Jose naganap ang naturang “militarisasyon”, na umigting nang ideklara ni Pangulong Arroyo ang paglaan ng P1-Bilyong pondo para sa all-out war laban sa NPA (New People’s Army). Sa 13 barangay ng Angeles City, pitong barangay ng San Fernando at siyam na barangay ng Mabalacat, naganap ang katulad na “militarisasyon” na naranasan ng mga mamamayan ng San Jose.

Ang buong “operasyong militar” ngayong sa Pampanga ay sa kumand ni Kol. Bisaya, na nakapailalim naman sa kumand ni Hen. Jovito Palparan, hepe ng 7th Infantry Division ng Army at may reputasyong pagiging “berdugo” ng mga sibilyang militante sa Central Luzon, at dati, sa Timog Katagalugan.

“Ang tingin nga namin, hindi matapang at hindi military genius itong si Palparan,” sabi pa ni Milo. Dati kasing ibinabandera ng gobyerno Arroyo ang mga tulad ni Palparan bilang mga “henyo” sa giyera kontra-insurhensiya. “Hanggang ngayon, magmula nang madestino siya (Palparan) dito sa Central Luzon, wala pa siyang malaking bilang ng NPA na natimbog. Puro sibilyang walang armas ang nilalabanan niya.”

Ayon kay Mangulabnan ng Bayan-Pampanga, pinupuntirya ni Palparan ang mga komunidad at barangay ng Pampanga kung saan masikhay ang pag-oorganisa ng mga legal na militanteng grupo.

“Sa mga lugar kung saan nakapag-organisa tayo dahil may mga matitinding isyu ang mga mamamayan – tulad ng laban sa mga panginoong maylupa, laban para sa kalikasan, at laban sa pabrika – doon din binuhusan ni Palparan ng sundalo,” ani Mangulabnan.

Tinukoy ni Mangulabnan ang mga barangay ng Angeles – Pulong Gulo, Lourdes Northwest, Sapa Libutan, Pulong Cucutud, Pampang, EPZA, Cutud, Sapang Bago, Margot, Aroras, Capaga, Tabun, at Cuayan – kung saan nagtayo ng mga detatsment ang mga sundalo sa mga barangay hall o maging sa mga eskuwelahang pang-elementarya at walang magawa ang mga lokal na lider.

Tinayuan din ng detatsment ang mga barangay sa San Fernando: San Pedro Cutud, Santa Lucia, San Jose, Quiebiawan, San Isidro, Alas-as at Del Rosario. Ganoon din sa mga barangay sa Mabalacat: Dolores, Sapang Bayabas, Atlobola, Duquit, Bical, Camachiles, Madapdap, Sta. Lucia at Mabiga.

Sa mga mismong lugar na ito, ayon kay Mangulabnan, malakas ang pag-oorganisa ng mga militanteng organisasyon tulad ng Piston (Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide), mga unyon, mga grupo ng vendors, kabataan, resettlers (na na-resettle ng pagsabog ng Mt. Pinatubo noong 1992) at maralitang tagalungsod.

May impromasyon sila, ayon kay Mangulabnan, na nanggaling sa tagapangulo ng ABC (Association of Barangay Captains) sa Pampanga na si Efren dela Cruz ang request ng pagdelpoy sa mga naturang barangay. Aniya, kilalang dating miltiar si Dela Cruz.

Militar, tatagal pa

“Matapos ang deployment ng militar, natakot nang hayagang makipag-ugnayan sa amin ang marami sa taumbayan,” kuwento ni Milo. Marami sa mga lokal na lider sa mga barangay na natukoy ng militar na dating nakikipag-ugnayan sa mga militante ay ni-require ng mga sundalo na regular na magreport sa detatsment. Ang iba pa ay pinapasama sa mga “operasyong militar” sa barangay.

Nagdeklara ang mga sundalo sa San Jose at iba pang barangay ng alas-10 ng gabi na curfew sa mga minor de edad. “Pinayuhan” din ng mga sundalo na huwag nang lumabas sa kani-kanilang mga bahay ang mga tao; kundi’y baka mapagkamalan silang nakikipag-ugnayan sa mga militante. Alas-dos nang madaling araw, nagsisimula na ang “operasyong militar”: pagronda ng mga sundalo sa barangay, naghahanap ng “kaaway” nitong NPA.

“Pero walang NPA sa San Fernando. Siyudad ito, at malayung malayo sa mga kinikilusang lugar ng NPA. ’Yun nga lang, maraming legal at di-armadong miyembro ng militanteng grupo,” sabi ng organisador.

Kinausap ng mga sundalo ang mga opisyal ng barangay, pati na ang mga unyon ng mga pabrika sa lugar, na huwag nang makipag-usap sa mga militante. Ni-require din nila ang mga ito na magbigay ng regular na ulat ukol sa kilos ng mga organisador at aktibista sa lugar.

Sa isang pagkakataon sa Barangay Quiebiawan, nagpalabas sa komunidad ang mga sundalo ng film footage ng mga rali at maging ang mga rali sa Hacienda Luisita sa Tarlac. Habang pinapalabas, inutusan nila ang mga taong ituro ang mga tao na nasa footage na pumupunta sa kanilang barangay.

Ang mga lider-militante na naabutan ng mga sundalo sa mga barangay ay pinipilit na lumagda sa mga affidavit na nagsasabing mga NPA sila na sumusuko na sa gobyerno. Ito ang nais sanang ipagawa diumano kay Mangulabnan.

Dahil sa sitwasyong ito, napilitang pansamantalang iatras ng mga militanteng grupo ang kanilang mga organisador at lokal na lider. Marami rin sa mga lokal na lider ang natakot na makipag-ugnayan sa ngayon sa mga militante.

Pansamantalang isinara na rin maging ang mga rehiyonal at pamprobinsiyang opisina ng mga militanteng grupo na matatagpuan sa Bgy. Pulong Gulo, Angeles, tulad ng Kilusang Mayo Uno – Central Luzon, WAR3 (Workers’ Alliance in Region III), Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson, gayundin ang mga organisasyon ng mga tagariles, maralita at kabataan.

Ang ilan sa mga naiwang lider na nakabase sa mismong mga barangay ay nakatanggap naman ng malupit na pang-aabuso, ayon kay Mangulabnan. Tulad ni Boyet Pineda, lider ng mga traysikel drayber at Pino Roman, dating pangulo ng Marisol Pampang Association, sa Purok 5, Pulong Gulo.

Dinampot diumano sila alas-9 nang umaga noong Hunyo 14. Walang humpay ang interogasyon: tinanong tungkol sa pagkakasangkot nila sa mga progresibong organisasyon. Pinalaya sila matapos ang ilang oras, matapos piliting mangako na mag-uulat nang regular sa detatsment.

Mas malupit namang ang sinapit ng ilan pang militante sa Central Luzon. Noong Nobyembre 23, 2005, pinaslang si Errol “Ka Raymond” Sending, organisador ng Kadamay (Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap) sa Pampanga, matapos bisitahin ng mga ahente ng ISAFP (Intelligence Service, Armed Forces of the Philippines). Noong Oktubre 2005 naman, pinatay naman si Francisco “Tatay Kiko” Rivera, tagapag-ugnay ng Bayan Muna sa Angeles. Ganito rin ang sinapit ni Manuel Nardo, tagapag-ugnay ng Bayan Muna sa Barangay Quiebiawan, San Fernando, nito lamang Mayo 8.

Dahil dito, doble muna ang pag-iingat ng mga organisador at aktibista sa Pampanga. Kahit na tinatakot, patuloy pa rin ang suporta sa kanila ng taumbayan. “Parang gerilya na nga rin kami, wala nga lang baril. Bibig lang ang panlaban namin. Patuloy na malakas ang loob namin dahil may kumpiyansa sa amin ang taumbayan,” sabi ni Milo.

Para naman kay Mangulabnan, handa sana siyang makipagharap sa mga sundalo. “Kahit saan, gusto kong makipagdebate sa kanila. Pero ang problema, pikon silang kalaban, e. Mahirap silang kalabanin dahil pumapatay sila sa halip na nakikipagdebate,” aniya.

Pulitiko, takot

Samantala, marami sa mga lider-simbahan at lokal na pulitiko sa Pampanga ay tutol sa naturang deployment, tulad ng alkalde ng San Fernando na si Oscar Rodriguez. Ayon kay Mangulabnan, dating abogadong pangkarapatang pantao si Rodriguez at dati nang napabalitang napasama sa Order of Battle ni Palparan noong unang salta ng huli sa Pampanga noong dekada ’90. Ngunit maging si Rodriguez ngayon ay tila napipilitang manahimik sa takot sa militar.

“Takot ang mga pulitiko dahil militar ang kaharap nila,” paliwanag pa ni Mangulabnan. Aniya, nang kausapin ang mga lokal na lider, sinabi ni Kol. Bisaya na “galing sa itaas” ang order nila na magtayo ng detatsment.

Pakahulugan ng mga pulitiko, galing ang order sa mismong Malakanyang.

Posted by: kr.guda at 11:33 | link | comments

On 'Collateral Damage', and A Letter From A PMA Cadet

Oplan Bantay Laya. Operation Freedom Watch. It is easy to figure out where alleged president Gloria Arroyo's militarist hawks found inspiration. Anybody familiar with the US-led war on Iraq would agree that Arroyo's "master plan" for the annihilation of communist rebellion in the country has a "war against terrorism" ring to it. This, of course, is no coincidence. President Bush had called the Arroyo government its major non-NATO ally, giving US$4.6-Billion in military and economic package and $30-Million in its local war against terrorism.

In AFP policy papers, the Communist Party of the Philippines and its underground organizations are called CTM, short for "Communist Terrorist Movement", and its members "Communist Terrorists". The US government itself labels the CPP, the New People's Army and the party's alleged founding chairman Jose Maria Sison as "terrorists." For all intents and purposes, alleged president Arroyo's all-out war against the CPP-NPA is part of the US-led "war against terrorism." For all intents and purposes, the US is waging in the Philippines another of its "proxy wars."

And where is the "war against terrorism" now?

Operation Enduring Freedom, it was called in Iraq. Freedom, however never endured in Iraq, if it ever came to the country in the first place. They were right about the word "enduring", however, because the Iraqi people had been enduring horribly brutal attacks by US forces since day one of the occupation. In Haditha, Iraq last 19 November 2005, US soldiers killed as many as two dozen unarmed civilians as a reprisal for the killing of an American soldier in an ambush by Iraqi rebels. This was revealed only recently, by a congressman. By all indications, the massacre was hardly an isolated incident.

With Haditha, one cannot help but raise parallels to massacres in this country reportedy perpetrated by the Philippine military. Conventional armies often feel frustration over difficulty in fighting guerrillas, and often vent their frustration to unarmed civilians. Thus the reason for the US' heavy use of the term "collateral damage," more than in any other war US participated in (and there were lots of them). Incidentally, only recently we heard alleged human Raul Gonzalez use the term. "You can’t avoid collateral damage … Sometimes there are bombings and civilians might get hurt,” Gonzalez told the Inquirer.

With Gonzalez's statement, "collateral damage" has now become "government policy."

Posted by: kr.guda at 16:39 | link | comments (1)

Trial of US Servicemen Accused of Rape: Litmus Test for Philippines-US Anti-Terror Treaty*

MAKATI CITY, PHILIPPINES -- Facing her supposed tormentors for the first time in court, 22-year-old “Nicole” (not her real name) was inconsolable. She was sobbing intermittently as two witnesses took the stand and recounted the night of November 1st, 2005, when five US servicemen allegedly raped and dumped her “like a pig” in a deserted street in Subic Bay Freeport, Olongapo City, approximately 127 kilometers north of the capital city of Manila.

“She was afraid, but she knew she had to endure it,” said Evalyn Ursua, private lawyer to the victim, of the presence of “Nicole” in during the first day of trial. Apparently traumatized by the ordeal, “Nicole” had previously sat out of the pre-trial hearings which were heavily covered by local and international media.

Dr. June Pagaduan-Lopez, the victim’s therapist who sat with her and comforted her throughout the hearing, said during trial recess that she had previously prepared “Nicole” for the eventuality of having to face the Americans.

Seven months after the supposed ordeal, Nicole was compelled to sit through the four-hour examination by public prosecutors and defense lawyers after Makati City Judge Benjamin Pozon required her presence for the witnesses’ identification.

Just across the courtroom from where “Nicole” sat were the five Americans – Lance Corporals Daniel Smith, Keith Silkwood and Dominic Duplantis and Staff Sgt. Chad Carpentier – who wore long-sleeved shirts and were flanked by Filipino and American lawyers, US Embassy staff and their security personal.

The accused were in the country as part of the US contingent to an anti-terrorism training exercise last November.

Tomas Corpuz Jr., a security guard for Neptune Club in Subic, related seeing “Nicole” with Smith, one of the accused, dancing on the night of November 1st. The victim, testified Corpuz, appeared to be “drunk” and “could not walk straight.”

Another security guard in the club, Gerald Muyot, testified seeing Smith leave the club with “Nicole” on his back unconscious. “She’s with me, we’re gonna go now,” Muyot quoted Smith as saying as he boarded the victim in a green Starex van.

During cross-examination, the defense lawyers lost no time trying to demolish the witnesses’ testimony and the victim’s credibility. Carpentier’s Filipino lawyer, Francisco Rodrigo, for one, asked “what this innocent woman [was] doing” in a “naughty” place like Neptune.

The five US servicemen, through their affidavits submitted before Philippine investigators, had previously denied the accusation. In his affidavit, Smith admitted to have met the victim on the November 1st but claims he had consensual sex with “Nicole.”

Ursua, however, said that the two witnesses’ testimony only bolstered the victim’s claim that Smith, with the four other accused cheering him on, forced himself upon “Nicole.” “It only proves that she couldn’t have consented to sex because she was very drunk,” she explained.

Meanwhile, Ursua will continue pushing for the Philippine government’s custody of the US servicemen. In Philippine laws, a rape, being a heinous crime, is non-bailable. In fact, the Philippine Justice Department last January already issued a warrant of arrest on the five accused.

This warrant has, however, been subsequently revoked by the Philippine Justice Department after the US Embassy refused to surrender the accused to the Philippine government. In a statement in January, the US Embassy cited Article 5 of the Philippine-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) which states: “The custody over any United States personnel over whom the Philippines is to exercise jurisdiction shall immediately reside with United States military authorities, if they so request, from the commission of the offense until completion of all judicial proceedings.”

This came as no surprise to Ursua and the various women’s organizations lending their support to “Nicole.” In fact, Gabriela, the largest women’s organization in the country in the thick of the awareness campaign for “Nicole”’s case, had been campaigning for VFA’s abrogation since the day it was ratified by Senate seven years ago.

“It was seven years of crimes and abuse against the Filipino people, the most recent of which is the Subic rape case. And because of the privileges granted to US military forces such as the VFA provision on criminal jurisdiction, the US authorities have refused to yield custody of the suspects,” said Lana Linaban, Gabriela’s deputy secretary-general.

The Philippine government, meanwhile, maintains that the case is an isolated one. “This is an isolated incident and while the case may indeed be a test on some provisions of the VFA, it should not be a test of our time-honored friendship with the United States,” said Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye.

The US and its former Asian colony maintain strong political and military relations for the past century.

*An article on the Subic rape case I submitted last week to an Italian news agency I am stringing for...

Posted by: kr.guda at 09:15 | link | comments (3)

Grief, Then Anger

If not for a picture posted in, of all places, Friendster, by the people of Southern Tagalog Exposure, I would not have realized that the Noli Capulong who was felled by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Laguna last week was the Ka Noli whom I met briefly in, of all places, Hong Kong. It was all too brief meeting. Close to a hundred activists allied to Bayan were there last December to participate in protests against the World Trade Organization meeting. I was among those to covered, and participated in, the protests. As far as I knew, Ka Noli was one of a three-person contingent sent by Bayan-Southern Tagalog to represent its organization in the multinational anti-globalization demonstrations there.

I met Ka Noli in what could liberally called a “hotel room” I was supposed to be staying in – we were both billeted in the same room as with another demonstrator from Cordillera. Ka Noli was understandably upset about our situation, as there were three of us in a room of two beds at a time when Hong Kong winter was at a punishing 12 degrees. To break the impasse – and since I was the youngest in the room and therefore had the most energy left to carry around luggage after a gruelling day of protesting – I volunteered to move out, and squat in a friend’s “hotel room.”

I remember seeing him and Kiri Dalena during the following days in Hong Kong. Kiri was busy preparing their exhibit on the extrajudicial killings in Mindoro and Southern Tagalog. Placed adjacent to the ILPS (International League of Peoples’ Struggle) Tent in Victoria Park, the exhibit drew brief attention from passersby. Though globalist exploitation was the main targets of protests, it was easy for protesters to find the connection between human rights violations and economic exploitation through globalization. Often, after all, the two go together.

Recalling that time made me think about how little I had been thinking – I mean, really thinking – about the recent spate of extrajudicial killings of activists in the country. Sure I have been writing about it in our paper all the time.Recalling, though, my brief encounter with someone who recently was brutally murdered, in all likelihood by the government death squad, awoke in me a sorrow that I had not felt in a while. Just last December, in a foreign land, Ka Noli was alive, protesting with the multitude against the inequities of our time. He was among us, he fought with us, for us. And last week he was gone, his life snuffed out of him by bullets we the people paid for with our taxes. He was killed, brutally and mercilessly killed.

I hardly knew Ka Noli, but it did not matter. Just as I hardly knew Beng Hernandez, whom I was with in a CEGP Congress. Or Erika Salang, whom I saw as among the uniformed troop of pimpled high schoolers joining us in rallies in Diliman. Or Teroy Llamas, whose jokes about “imperyalismo” and “Imperial-ismo” (the Imperials being a ruling political family in Albay) I laughed at in a forum in UP. I grieve for people I would have known. I hardly knew them, but felt the same grief that I felt with the coldblooded murder of a close friend (I have to say her name, to declare that she was once alive: Maria Graziella Miranda) by government soldiers.

I remember the fleeting encounters with those lives, their warmth, their selflessness and devotion, their friendships. Then I remember the brutality of their deaths. Then I get angry.

Posted by: kr.guda at 13:55 | link | comments (1)