This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VII, No. 11, April 22-28, 2007
The farmers of Negros took their future in their hands. They worked so hard to
acquire a land of their own, to eke out a better life for their families. Then,
soldiers entered their village. Their future now hangs in the balance.
“Walang pera kasi kami,“
(It’s because we do not have any money.)
said the girl. She is young. She
ought to be in school at this time of the day. But she was not. Elementary
education is free. But people here are so poor that even free education is out
of reach. They cannot afford the fare for the tricycle, to buy snacks, school
uniform, and shoes, and to pay for projects. Public schools request parents for
project contributions: for fixing leaking toilets or the school’s roof and for
so many things needing repair. These constitute the “hidden” tuition fees.
Walang pera kasi kami.”
She is so young and yet she has already learned the hard lessons of life: what
little money could and could not do.
Her family is living a few meters off the
highway. Before, her grandparents were engaged in homestead farming just a
little up the mountain. Life was hard and simple. They managed to make a
living though ... until the military moved in. A rebel-infested area this is,
so they were told. And that the president declared a total war on the communist
rebels. “To get rid of them once and for all,” they said. Upland areas were
turned no man’s land, free fire zones. Her grandparents were driven downhill.
They built their first make-shift house a little off the highway.
Helicopters strafed the uplands. Ground
troops searched and destroyed. Rainy season came. Sanitation and hygiene were
poor. The weakest died a sorry death in the course of the “Total War.”
Eventually her grandparents were hired in a
hacienda; doing odd jobs on lands of the mayor’s clan. For three days a week
they toiled, living a ragged life way below poverty line. This they did year in,
year out.
The people in the neighborhood learnt about
CARP, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. The land was petitioned for
CARP inclusion. The mayor’s family resisted but lost. It was a great victory
for the people. AMMACAN was formed – a people’s organization first which later
developed cooperative structures. The land was collectively titled in its
name.
The Kabankalan-based Paghidaet sa Kauswagan
Development Group (PDG) accompanied the farmers throughout the whole process.
Concentrating on Central and Southern Negros Occidental, this non-government
organization assisted farmers in getting organized. It is a difficult task.
But PDG’s staff is very committed. Farmers are motivated time and again.
The PDG has been training and coaching
farmers for twenty years now. The group also works with AMMACAN. “We really
observe a lot of passion, commitment and dynamics especially with this group,”
said Atty. Ben Ramos Jr., PDG’s executive director.
It was January. We were sitting in a poor
man’s house. Actually, it was not much of a house. It was more of a shelter;
there were no windows or doors; just holes in the walls. They described a room
without flooring, a small bamboo construction adjacent with enough space for a
sleeping mat, and with galvanized iron as roofing.
My companion called the owner
“Tatay”
– father. The younger ones addressed him in this respectful manner. He did have
the looks of an old man. He was barely in his fifties. Too much work emaciated
his body.
A teenage girl came in. She nodded at us
and went to the man. They whispered then called my companion and they whispered
again.
We were told to leave immediately.
The future hanging in the balance
The military was moving around by truck
loads. Nobody knew what they were up to; supposedly, for no good – based on
experience.
The soldiers returned often since that day
in January. They paid their visits to other communities as well.
Intruding village life, soldiers lingered
around and lodged themselves in private houses. Villagers were interrogated on
the whereabouts of PDG staff. Denouncing text messages were sent. The military
rounded up the population and branded PDG and party list groups like Bayan Muna
or Gabriela as NPA fronts. AMMACAN members were coerced to join a Civilian
Volunteer Organization (CVO) – definitely a misnomer. In the Philippine
context, CVO actually stands for a martial, paramilitary structure. From
government internal documents we learned that CVOs are strategically embedded in
counterinsurgency campaigns.
Under the CVO structure, AMMACAN members were
coerced to work with people who were armed and had minimal military training.
These people are very dangerous.
Everything is a dirty scheme. The
cooperative was young and internal structures needed time to develop. Village
folks were forced to join a supposedly counter-insurgent umbrella. Nonsense!
There was no NPA active in the area. The CVO scheme put the cooperative
directly under the joint control of the military and city hall.
And the mayor ... Good, you remember!
The great majority of AMMACAN members were
not convinced about the benefits of joining the CVO. But they were scared to
death. They just gave in to military pressure and joined this organization, such
an intriguing game.
AMMACAN members took their future in their
own hands. They worked so hard for it. And now everything seemed to be hanging.
They were asked to go to city hall to get their
CVO IDs,
AMMACAN members and non-member alike. They found themselves in a rally against
communism, terrorism, against left-leaning party list groups. They were asked
to rally against themselves; Kabankalan was a Bayan Muna (People First)
stronghold during the last elections; and Bayan Muna is their party list.
All of these events are but part of a
cold‑blooded master plan. Internal military documents reveal that this is part
of an Internal Security Operation Plan being implemented by the Armed Forces of
the Philippines together with the Philippine National Police and Local
Government Units. They do it step by step. And there are more.
Since President Gloria Arroyo took power in
2001, KARAPATAN counted some 832 victims of extrajudicial killings, numerous
disappearances, harassments, intimidations, etc.
Definitely, this plan has no place in a
civilized world!
De facto martial law
“The country is a state of de facto
dictatorship,” said Vicente M. Navarra, Bishop of Bacolod, and other
distinguished co-signatories in a petition against the Human Security Act of
2007, the Philippine version of the Anti-Terrorism law.
During the last months, national and
international bodies and authorities expressed their concern about the seemingly
widespread contempt for human rights by the government. The Melo Commission
clearly linked now retired Major General Jovito Palparan to the killings of
left-wing oppositionists. In an open hearing before the U.S. Senate on
extrajudicial killings, Senator Barbara Boxer treated AFP and PNP personnel as
rouge regime representatives. Fearing that witnesses would be intimidated, she
expelled military and police officials from the hearing.
Earlier this year UN special rapporteur on
Extra Judicial killings Philip Alston visited the Philippines. His report
described accurately what is going on in this country: vilification and labeling
of legitimate organizations as “front organizations,” perceived as enemies of
the state. Legal personalities are considered as legitimate targets.
Extrajudicial killings of political, social, religious activists or plain group
members are encouraged or facilitated by the government’s counter-insurgency
strategy.
“Alston describes exactly what we are going
through – individuals and organizations who are labeled and vilified become
targets for disappearances and extrajudicial killings,” says Fred Caña from
Karapatan Negros. “The pattern was clear to us before. It’s just a good
description of our reality. Actually, Alston could not have arrived at a
different set of conclusions. Now, does this make his delegation a kangaroo
court?,” he asked.
Alston reported about orders of battle
“adopted systematically by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and in practice
often by the Philippines National Police.” Such a document was leaked to him.
It is a military listing of ‘illegitimate’ groups and individuals. Said Alston,
“ when a significant number of individuals killed in incidents implicating the
armed forces or police are also listed in an order of battle, it raises serious
questions about the appropriateness of this practice.”
Quite some amount of diplomatic expertise is
required to avoid the term commonly applied to such lists: death lists. This is
the implication of Alston’s statement, nothing more, nothing less.
A few weeks after the UN delegation left the
country, the The-Hague-based Permanent People Tribunal (PPT) held a session on
political killings in the Philippines. The PPT also found the Arroyo
administration responsible for grave human rights violations. Robert Vornis,
Dutch ambassador to the Philippines, obviously felt provoked and labeled the PPT
a kangaroo court.
Kangaroo court, this is a favorite term used by
apologists of state terrorism in the Philippines. Yes, the PPT is a political
body – nobody claims the opposite. Yes, the PPT was not likely to come up with
a different verdict. Sometimes patterns are strong and simply very clear.
There are parallelisms in the blatant political
killings in the Philippines with the massacre of Screbrenica: Those who do not
want to turn their eyes away, could see. Incidents become clear even before it
finds its long route through the judicial system.
There was absolutely no need for the Dutch
ambassador to taunt the victims of state terror. Rather than collaborating with
the Philippine government, he simply could have adopted the practice of other
European envoys to the Philippines. They furnished interested persons with the
Alston statement. Quietly. This is way better than the collaboration of Vornis.
Contributed to Bulatlat © 2007 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Living at the Edges in Negros
Counter-democracy and
government fronts
BY RANDY LIM
Contributed to
Bulatlat