Two months after the Arroyo government declared an intensification of the all-out war against the armed Left, there are no claims of big battles being won by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Truth is, it is the ordinary village folk, and the members and supporters of progressive party-lists and people’s organizations who are suffering the brunt of the war.
BY DABET CASTAÑEDA
Bulatlat.com
OBANDO, Bulacan – Old men and women, teenage girls and young boys took turns singing with a videoke machine. In one corner, a set of white-haired men were playing cards while some middle-aged women offered coffee to everyone who passed by.
The young and old in this town’s coastal village of Binuangan came to pay homage to a man they call Ka Orlan, or Orlando Rivera, a 50-year old fisherman who led this village in their fight against a nearby dump that polluted the river around this town.
At 1 a.m. on Aug. 15, an unidentified man wearing fatigue shorts and a raincoat shot and killed Ka Orlan at his doorstep. An eyewitness said three other men who rode a boat accompanied the gunman.
Ka Orlan now lies in a casket inside a house made of wood and scraps of galvanized iron along the shore.
The media arrived in a boat to interview Ka Orlan’s widow, Regina. Just before reporters asked the first question, the distraught woman started to wail. Their eldest daughter, Grace, and another relative tried to console Regina but ended up crying themselves. Children started to peep through the windows while some old folks looked somberly from a distance.
Nightmare
The murder of Ka Orlan was like a nightmare to the people of Binuangan, a fishing community where about 80 percent of the population depend on the sea for a living.
Bulatlat saw at least two houses marked with an “X,” those of Sonny de Armas and Ruben Valleriano.
De Armas’ wife, Jessica, said an army soldier the village folk only known by the moniker “Intsik” (Chinese) placed the “X” mark around 7:30 p.m. of Aug. 15, the same day Ka Orlan was killed. A relative of de Armas also said “Intsik” always passed by the alley where de Armas and Valleriano lived. “Parang kinakabisado itong eskinita,” the relative said. “Baka may binabalak nanaman sila.” (The soldier looked like he was memorizing the ins and outs of the alley. It seems like they are planning something again.)
This caused fear among the families living along the street. “Hindi namin maiwasang mag-isip at matakot,” Jessica said, “baka kami na ang sunod na itumba.” (We became suspicious and scared. We could be the next ones to be killed.)
Jessica said they have reason to be alarmed because her husband and Valleriano worked together with Ka Orlan in the fight against the dump.
More so, the two men whose houses were marked with an “X” have also been tagged as Left-leaning militants by soldiers who are stationed inside an old day-care center beside the Binuangan Barangay (village) Hall.
Reinforcing the CAFGU
In an interview, Barangay Captain William de Ocampo said soldiers belonging to the Army’s 56th Infantry Battalion were stationed here after New People’s Army (NPA) guerillas successfully raided a detachment of the Citizens’ Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) in the village on April 21 and confiscated 17 firearms.
The CAFGU, de Ocampo said, was stationed in the village to stifle dissent over the pollution wrought by the dump. In the last quarter of 2005, residents in this village initiated a campaign against the passage of a barge that transported garbage to the dumpsite.
Order of Battle
De Ocampo said there are residents in the village who are asked to report everyday to the military. He said these residents have been earlier tagged by soldiers as “Left-leaning,” or supporters or financiers of the NPA, or have been seen joining rallies.
These residents are made to sign a logbook everyday, de Ocampo said, to make sure that they do not leave the village. He further said that his constituents who are in the military’s list are subjected to tactical interrogation every time they report to the military detachment.
De Ocampo said the military holds a list of those who are in their “Order of Battle” (OB). He confirmed that Ka Orlan was in the list. The soldiers, he said, have been assigned in this village to fight “insurgency.”
