Bulatlat

Political detainee Elizabeth Principe shares her life as an unconventional mother and wife and a barefoot doctor who traveled the extra mile to help cure the nation’s illnesses.

BY DABET CASTAÑEDA
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 6, March 9-15, 2008

She may look frail and quite old in pictures used in posters and button pins in the campaign for her freedom. But political detainee Elizabeth Principe up close is far from being frail.

Beth, as she is called, emerged from her detention cell in jeans and an orange shirt with the slogan “Free All Political Prisoners” written in front and a “P” stamped at the back. She carried two plastic folding chairs with both hands offering one to this reporter. She returned to her cell and came back with a wooden folding table. Upon seeing that she had more than two visitors, she went back and forth to get more chairs, her water container and some plastic utensils.

Her daughter Lorena greeted her with nanay (Filipino term for mother) and a warm embrace.  Lorena then promptly gave her pasalubong (gift) - a plate of pancit luglug (a type of noodle dish) bought from a fast food chain.

Later, mother and daughter would engage in small talks about virgin coconut oil, red wine and hair dye, and exchange ideas about how the campaign for Beth’s release is doing so far.  

Detainee

Beth marks her 100th day in detention on March 7, a day before International Women’s Day. She was abducted by state intelligence forces on Nov. 28, 2007 in Cubao, Quezon City. She was presented to the media three days later on Dec. 1 as an “enemy of the state” and was linked to the Nov. 29 Manila Pen siege of rebel soldiers led by Sen. Antonio Trillanes and former Scout Rangers commanding officer Danilo Lim.

She said she was interrogated and held incommunicado for four days. She remembers telling her captors, “Huwag n'yo na akong takutin dahil handa na akong mamatay ngayon.” (Don’t bother trying to scare me because I am ready to die now.)

Prinsipe is facing rebellion, arson, kidnapping, murder and robbery charges in different courts in the Cagayan Valley region. Her lawyers from the Public Interest Law Center (PILC), however, argue that Beth was arrested without warrant and is therefore being detained illegally. Lorena has filed a Writ of Amparo at the Supreme Court for her mother. The case is now being heard at the 8th Division of the Court of Appeals in Manila.

Barefoot doctor

Beth founded the Progresibong Kilusang Medikal (PKM or Progresive Medical Movement) while she was a pre-med student at the University of the Philippines-Diliman. She helped organize medical students around the university belt in Manila.

As a student of medicine at UP-Manila, Beth said she was witness to how medical schools prepared their students to work abroad.  She also observed that Filipino women were made as guinea pigs to test the effects of imported birth control pills.

So in December 1971, she and three other medicine students decided to answer the demand for barefoot doctors and traveled to the province of Isabela to volunteer as community health workers. Beth said her drive to serve the poor was a trait she developed during her high school years with the St. Theresa sisters who brought her to as far as the Mt. Province in the North for medical and mercy missions.

In Isabela, Beth said she learned about and helped propagate to the communities the practice of alternative medicine. To treat rheumatism, a very common ailment, rural folk preferred acupuncture, which Beth learned from a Chinese doctor who also volunteered as a health worker in the same province.

Beth and her companions organized a mobile medical clinic, which made them see up close and learn about the basic health problems of the people of Isabela. Since the communities were often deprived of health services, the community health workers became popular with the common folk. Beth said families would go by batches and line up as soon as they arrived in the barrios. “Halos mabingi ako,” Beth said, after taking the blood pressure of the barrio folk for almost the whole day.

Beth’s long experience as a health practitioner in far-flung areas in the north has given her the chance to integrate with the common folk. This became her strength when she was appointed as consultant to the peace process by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

A different kind of mother and wife

Beth was in Isabela when Martial Law was declared in September 1972.

In 1973, Beth married a colleague. However, her husband was sent to Quezon province not knowing that Beth was pregnant. Beth gave birth in 1974 to Francis whom she fondly called “Dagit,” short for Ibong Mandaragit (Bird of prey in reference to a book by a famous Filipino author Carlos Bulosan who used the image of an eagle to portray how the U.S. is preying on the Filipino people)

There was heavy militarization in Isabela during Beth’s pregnancy and even after, and the baby Francis also became a victim of militarization. In one military operation, eight-month-old Francis was abducted by soldiers and detained for more than a year. A few days after Francis was taken by soldiers, the barrio folk said the child was brought to the hospital. Beth said she was worried by the news of her baby’s abduction.  But she knew that the soldiers were then only playing a “psychological war” to force her to surrender to government forces. “Mabuti nasa ospital s'ya kasi dito walang gamot,” (The good thing was that Francis was brought to the hospital where there are medicines not like in the mountains where we were hiding.) Beth said.

It was Beth’s parents who took Francis from detention after paying P10,000 ($244 at today’s exchange rate of $1=P40.85) for the child’s “board and lodging.”

Francis was already in fourth grade when he met his mother. The child never met his father who died in 1975.

Beth re-married to Leo Velasco and gave birth to Lorena in 1982. Velasco is also a consultant to the peace process of the NDFP.  He is currently missing after being abducted by state security forces in Cagayan de Oro city in February 2007.

With pride, Beth said the fathers of her children never obliged her to stay home and take care of the kids. “Naniniwala ako na para lumaya ang kababaihan, kailangan n'ya kumuha ng responsibilidad,” (I firmly believe that for women to be free they must take responsibilities.) said Beth adding that both the men in her life believed that women have the capability of attaining their freedom from feudal bondage.

“Hindi madali” (It’s not easy)

Lorena and Francis lived together with Beth’s family in Nueva Ecija. Beth said she only saw her children every two years. She said she is thankful that her family understood and supported her work, and that they had positive feelings about Beth and her children.

Countless exchange of letters provided the link between Beth and her children. “Hindi madali,” was how Beth described her feelings when she left her children behind to pursue her work as one of the longest-staying barefoot doctors in the north. “Isang drum ng luha ang tumulo sa akin dyan,” (I cried a bucket of tears.) she said, turning teary-eyed.  

“Masakit mag-iwan ng anak,” Beth continues, “kaya ang sinasabi ko sa mga anak ko, bago sila magka-anak, kumuha sila ng mahabang panahon sa masa, magkaugat muna sa mamamayan para may angkla sila na iwan ang anak nila.”  (It hurts to leave your children to the care of others. So I told my children that even before having children of their own they should spend a long time with the masses, building roots among the people so that they would have the strength to leave their children to the care of others.)

Beth may have been physically away from her children.  But this did not prevent her from imparting life’s values to her children. Francis is a volunteer lawyer at the Public Interest Law Center (PILC) and is actually handling his mother’s case at the Court of Appeals. Lorena is now a human rights worker with Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) and is spearheading the campaign for her mother’s freedom.

Before parting that day, mother and daughter talked about the possibilities of posting bail. “Huwag na tayo mag-bail,” Beth says, “kikita pa sila.”  (I am not in favor of posting bail.  Only the government would earn from it.)

“Lalaya ka naman,” Lorena replied, “yun naman ang priceless." (But it would secure your freedom. And that is priceless.) Bulatlat