This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 6, March 13-19, 2005
The latest victim of enforced
disappearance It is
ironic that a veteran protest leader like Danilo Macapagal, who survived the
cruel martial law years, seems to have now fallen victim under the regime of his
own cousin, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. BY DEE
BATNAG-AYROSO
Danilo Macapagal, popularly
known as “DM” in Nueva Ecija (a province 115 km northeast of Manila), is always
ranting and raving against the powers-that-be, whether in a speech at a rally or
just a regular conversation. He regularly uses phrases like “mga putanginang
pasmadong utak” (literally, sons of bitches with spasmic brains) referring
to human rights violators from the ranks of the military, police and paramilitia.
DM served as secretary
general of the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan’s (Bayan or New Patriotic
Alliance) local chapter for 17 years. Yes, he is generous with putanginas
when he refers to the government. On the night of March 3,
DM, aged 50 and single, was abducted as he arrived at his home in Victoria
Mansion, bgy. Bitas, Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija. He is still missing as of
this writing, and could have very well fallen victim to the putanginang
pasmadong utaks. According to witnesses, DM
was about to unlock his gate when three men forced him inside an aluminum van,
while the fourth suspect, the van driver, waited. DM was heard to have said “Ano
bang kasalanan ang nagawa ko sa inyo?” (What have I done wrong?) as he
fought off his abductors. The Philippine National
Police (PNP) in Nueva Ecija formed Task Force Macapagal, supposedly to
investigate the abduction, after DM was reported in the media as a “cousin” of
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. However, less than a week into the
investigation, the PNP had insinuated in national TV that DM might have been
done in by “former comrades.” So much for an “investigation.” GMA’s cousin DM came from a middle class
family in Nueva Ecija, and is Macapagal-Arroyo’s distant cousin. Several years
ago, DM was invited to lunch at a provincial gathering by a cousin, former Rep.
Pacifico Fajardo at the National Food Authority (NFA) office in Cabanatuan City.
Governor Tomas Joson III and a whole array of high-ranking officials were also
there, and to DM’s surprise, “luncheon” was actually a welcome party for
President Arroyo. By DM’s own account to
fellow activists, the President told him: “Magkamag-anak naman pala tayo,
sana wala nang nagpoprotesta dito.” (So, we are relatives, then you
shouldn’t be protesting against me.) DM was quick to answer, “Wala namang
personalan dito, prinsipyo lang.” (Don’t take it personally, it’s a matter
of principle.) To DM, blood relations
take a backseat to his long-held principles. For more than 20 years, DM
has been a high-profile activist who survived the martial law years and the
succeeding regimes. He finished Law at the Araullo Lyceum (now Araullo
University) during martial law but never took the bar because he said he had
lost faith in the justice system. DM was one of the founding
leaders of the Alyansa ng Bayan sa Nueva Ecija (Alab-NE or People’s Alliance in
Nueva Ecija), the predecessor of the militant Bayan in the province. In the 1981 elections, he
was alongside prominent Novo Ecijanos who campaigned for boycott, alongside now
UN Judge ad litem Romeo Capulong, Fr. Rudy Abao, the late Fiscal Vidal Tombo,
1971 Constitutional Commission delegates Sedfrey Ordoñez, Rebeck Espiritu, the
late retired Gen. Carlos Oanes, and Tata Enchong Batisan. When Bayan-Nueva Ecija was
formed in 1985, DM was elected founding deputy secretary general. In 1987, he
was elected secretary general, a position he served until 2004, when he asked to
be relieved of his duties because of his poor health. Earlier, when the
progressive Bayan Muna (People first) party-list was formed in 2001, DM assumed
the position of provincial coordinator, a duty he held until his abduction. DM is a regular feature of
demonstrations, provincial, regional and national. He is always at the
frontline, leading the negotiating panel in facing the phalanx of anti-riot
policemen. He has had his share of violent dispersals, of harassment and
surveillance. He would be on top of a jeepney, or a makeshift stage on a truck,
giving fiery speeches and spewing out generous putanginas against
bureaucrat capitalism, feudalism and imperialism. Being a provincial mass
leader, DM was always present not only in multisectoral rallies, but also in
peasant mass actions, facing goons, private armies, the police and military. In
the feudal, warlord-dominated province of Nueva Ecija, DM was always alongside
the organized peasantry in their fight against landgrabbing, in their struggle
for genuine agrarian reform. DM had his share of violent
dispersals, of harassment and surveillance yet he remained undaunted. He was a
favorite subject of photo documentation by plainclothed intelligence men in
rallies. DM had a choice to live a comfortable, middle class life, but he had
chosen to take the side of the struggling masses. When he has the time and
means (to pay the phone bill), he would, on early mornings, call up radio
stations in Manila to give his say on current issues. When cellphones came to
fashion, he would “text” his opinion to his favorite radio programs, calling for
the downfall of the current government. DM is a lean, mean, propaganda machine.
Optical shop plus At the time of his
abduction, DM’s income came from selling insurance policies. Before that, his
income came from the two shops that he had been running for 20 years – the Cruz
Optical shop and, beside it, a barber shop both owned by his aunt. Although he
did not have the school training, DM acquired skills from practice, and from his
optometrist aunt. DM himself would check a customer’s vision, repair glasses,
refract a pair of eyeglass. To all Nueva Ecija
activists, a trip to Cabanatuan, let alone a walk through Burgos street would
not be complete without stopping by the Optical shop. DM’s optical and barber
shops along Burgos street was where they could read the newspapers, make a free
phone call, have coffee (or even snacks, if one’s in luck), leave a message for
other people, even ask for legal advice, and all the while listen to DM rant and
rave against the status quo. Of course, DM’s shops were
also where full-time organizers and mass leaders can avail of free eyeglasses,
and free haircuts. DM refused to charge a fee. After all, it was to DM where
fellow comrades run to to “borrow” (most don’t pay back) money for
transportation fare, tuition, dinner, cigarets, etc. If his mouth was quick to
spew out expletives, his hand was quick to extend whatever material or financial
support he could give. “Tuwing dadaan kayo dito, nalalagasan ako,”
(Whenever you drop by, I am left with less money) he would jokingly
complain to full-time activists who regularly borrow money. A fellow activist in
need may not be spared of his carping, but he never leaves the shop
empty-handed. DM was also known to openly
criticize and berate other activists, but one eventually learns it was his way
of showing affection. Not only activists
frequented DM’s place. His visitors included judges, professionals and even
police officials seeking help or advice from the national democratic movement.
For years, DM has been the face of the militant protest movement in Nueva Ecija. He sported a mustache and
beard, and playful comrades would tease that he looked like the Russian
revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin, especially because of his thinning hair.
His birthday, which falls on February 8, is marked by comrades because it comes
before the Feb. 10 Lupao massacre (an incident where 17 peasants including women
and children were killed by soldiers in Lupao, a town in Nueva Ecija)
commemoration, and he would usually prepare pancit and ice cream at the
shop before the regional rally. In 2003, DM co-hosted
Bayan-Nueva Ecija’s radio program “Tumindig Ka” (Stand up) in DZRH’s
Radyo Natin-Sta. Rosa. On air, he openly lambasted the Macapagal-Arroyo
government’s economic and political policies, his tirade not sparing the
provincial government. In 2004, DM gave up his
position in Bayan due to his failing health. This year, he failed to even attend
the rally for the 18th year commemoration of the Lupao Massacre. Emerging trend At 3 p.m. on March 4, day
after DM’s abduction in Nueva Ecija, another mass leader, Mer Dizon who is
secretary general of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (Alliance of
Peasants in Central Luzon) in Zambales province (120 km northwest of Manila),
was abducted by armed men from his house. He surfaced days after at the Iba
municipal jail. This emerging trend brings
to mind the abductions in 2002 when two Bayan Muna members, Johnny Orcino
and Honorio Ayroso, were abducted in Nueva Ecija on Feb. 9, a week after the
abduction of two others in Aurora province (around 144 kms from Manila) on Feb.
2. DM himself joined the search for the two missing men in Nueva Ecija and was
among those who criticized the enforced disappearances and worsening human
rights violations. Three years later, DM himself would be abducted. It is ironic that someone
like DM who survived the cruel martial law years seems to have now fallen victim
to pasmadong utaks, indeed, under the regime of his cousin Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo. Bulatlat © 2004 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Danilo Macapagal: GMA’s Cousin, Biggest Critic In Nueva
Ecija
Bulatlat