Instead, Arman’s family decided to let the girl live with them while she finishes high school. The relationship, however, didn’t last. Arman left the NPA to find a paying job, and the girl went back to her family.
In 1985, Lila had graduated from college. She was recruited to the Party and had joined a regional Party staff collective involved in propaganda work in Central Luzon . Arman decided to return to the struggle, this time, joining the NPA in Northern Luzon, as a staff for communication in 1986.
Lila recalled seeing her brother in rare occasions when they both come home for the holidays.
“Dumadalaw siya, me dalang (hand-held radio) transceiver, pero wala akong alam sa kanya. Alam ko lang nasa komunikasyon, (He would visit, carrying a radio transceiver, but I didn’t know about his work. All I know was that he was in communications work.)” Lila said.
Arrest
In 1987, Lila, then age 24, asked to be transferred to her home province, to work for an urban-based provincial Party staff collective. Before long, on May 24, Lila vividly recalled how she was led to be “arrested”.
A female staff asked to be accompanied to check out the venue for an educational discussion. They were to meet another person in a certain village.
“Hapon na, wala pa, kaya uuwi na sana kami. Pero pinigilan kami ng masa. Ibinyahe kami, malayo. Noong gabi, dumating ang mga kasama.” (It was late in the afternoon yet no one came. We were about to leave, but the peasant stopped us. They took us on a long ride to another place. In the evening, the comrades came.)
It was the NPA unit in the area that came. Lila was separated from her co-staff as she was to sleep in another house, accompanied by three male comrades.
“Nakita ko nung gabi na umiiyak yung kasama kong girl. Naisama ko na kasi siya sa bahay, pamilya na.” (That night I saw my female companion crying. She had known my family, and to me, she was also like family.) It was only later that Lila would realize that the girl knew about her arrest and was crying for her.
Lila slept in a hut with the three men, with one positioned by a window, and another by the door. The third, who was to sleep beside her in bed, put a gun between them.
“Ayan. Damputin mo pag ginawan kita ng masama (There. Use that if I make any wrong moves),” Lila recalled he said.
It was only the next day that she found out that they were her arresting team.
“Alam mo ba ba’t andito ka? Sa araw at oras na ito ay inaaresto ka at lahat ng karapatan mo bilang kasapi ng Partido ay inaalis sa iyo (On this day and this moment, you are under arrest and you no longer have any right as a Party member),” Lila quoted the arresting officer.
Lila recalled feeling pressure in her ears. She felt anger at the regional staff collective that she recently left, thinking that they must have made a case against her for forcibly and hastily leaving them. She was required to jot down the names of all those she knew and recruited to the movement and all relatives connected with the military and government agencies.
The arresting officer told Lila not to tell anyone that she was a “prisoner” and that she was being investigated. It was for her own security, she was told.
In the next two weeks, Lila went with the NPA unit from house, traveling on foot, still clueless on the charges against her.
“Nasabak talaga ako sa paglakad…hindi ako handa, nakasandals ako nang maganda (I wasn’t prepared to walk long distances)” Lila recalled the lengthy walks from one village to another, wearing her city clothes and dressy sandals.
Investigation
After two weeks and upon Lilay’s request, the custodial unit arranged for her transfer to another guerilla unit in the mountains.
“Nag-arrange sila sa taas. Nag-ayos sila lahat ng gamit ko: me panty, me malaking bote ng shampoo, sabon, me conditioner pa nga (They arranged for me to go to another unit in the mountain area. They prepared everything I would need: panties, a big bottle of shampoo, bath soap, they even gave me hair conditioner),” Lila amusingly recalled.
