CULTURE

Tiklos: Remembering the Palo Massacre

The cultural group Sinagbayan-Metro Tacloban Chapter, the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR)-Eastern Visayas and the Tabang Palo (Help Palo) campaign convenors banded together to produce a stage play depicting the Palo massacre and the hardships being experienced by farmers.

BY JOHANN HEIN B. ARPON
Bulatlat

Tacloban City – The cultural group Sinagbayan-Metro Tacloban Chapter, the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR)-Eastern Visayas and the Tabang Palo (Help Palo) campaign convenors banded together to produce a stage play depicting the Palo massacre and the hardships being experienced by the farmers.

The “Palo Massacre” of Nov. 21, 2005 highlighted the year when Eastern Visayas was under siege after Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan Jr. was assigned as commanding officer of the 8^th Infantry Battalion and even after he was booted out after a long and arduous campaign not only from the region but even from the international community.

“The Palo massacre is one of the most infamous incidents in the region that shows the vulnerability of peasants fighting for their right to land,” said John Rey Rosales, Sinagbayan-Metro Tacloban president.

“Clearly, the tragedy that befell peasant-members of San Agustin Farmer Beneficiaries Cooperative and its support group is not an isolated incident. Almost the same is being experienced by other peasants. Their continued quest for land is tainted with blood and sacrifices – blood has soiled the land leaving broken dreams, widows and orphans. Worst of all, when they organize themselves, as mandated and protected by our Constitution, to effectively fight for their democratic rights, they are conveniently accused of being members or sympathizers of the New People’s Army (NPA).”

The stage play was titled Tiklos (communal farming).  Mr. Joel Arceo of Bayan Muna-Metro Tacloban Chapter, one of the sponsors of the stage play, shared: “One such traditional activity of peasants is that of the “tiklos” or communal farming wherein the community collectively cultivates the land. Such was the case of the peasants in Palo, who were about to do a ‘tiklos’ of the land under contention when they were attacked by soldiers from the 19^th Infantry Battalion.”

The massacre resulted in the death of nine peasants including the unborn child of a seven-month pregnant peasant woman. Numerous peasants were wounded and eight are still languishing in jail.

The production’s aim was to arouse consciousness and awareness among the people regarding the incident and also gather support for the victims’ elusive quest for justice.

Two play dates were scheduled for the show. The play dates were March 11 at the Palo Gymnasium, Palo, Leyte and March 15 at the Gonzaga Hall of the Holy Infant College.

The play was welcomed enthusiastically as manifested in the audience turn-out and the feedbacks received. “Indeed, we were able to attain our objective that people are made aware of the tragedy in Palo and to gather support for the long struggle for justice of the Palo massacre victims,” Rosales remarked.

“The success of the show is due to the dedication of the performers from different schools and communities,” Rosales added.

The sponsors of the play are the U.P. Tacloban-based cultural group Socrates, Municipality of Palo through Mayor Ted Sevilla, Ugop Waraynon (Help Warays), a support group of people from Samar and Leyte, Friends of Samar and Leyte (FSL), St. Scholastica’s College of Health and Sciences-Student Council, Bayan Muna (People First), Katungod-Karapatan, regional human rights alliance, Sagupa-Sinirangan Bisaya, a regional peasant alliance, DYDW-Radyo Diwa, Leyte-Samar Daily Express, Nature’s Spring, Community Extension Services-Religious Sisters of Mercy, Innovate Computer Café, and the Tres Niñas printing press. The organizers dedicated the play to the peasants of Brgy. San Agustin, Palo, Leyte. Bulatlat

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