POW Says Being with the NPA Made Him Understand the Revolution

Sgt. Ramiro Lawas said his perception of the NPA has completely changed. He now says that what the military had told soldiers about the guerrillas turned out to be not true at all. Most importantly, he now understands why there is a revolutionary movement in the first place.

BY ROLANDO PINSOY
Bulatlat.com

COMPOSTELA VALLEY – The New People’s Army guerrillas called their POW “Body,” which is the exact meaning of Sgt. Ramiro Lawas’s Visayan surname. It’s a moniker that best captured the camaraderie that developed between the POW and his captors.

Sgt. Lawas said he felt at ease with his captors. They would call him Body while he had grown  to call them kas, a contraction of the Tagalog word for comrade (kasama).  

Of his NPA captors, Lawas says "They are here to liberate the people from oppression."  

Photos by Rolando Pinsoy

The NPA’s detractors might consider Lawas’s fondness of the NPA as another case of Stockholm Syndrome, wherein a captive starts to like and even sympathizes with the causes of his captors, but to Lawas, this is all about the humane treatment he got while in captivity for more than a year.

Although the guerrillas, for security reasons, put Sgt. Lawas in an improvised stockade in his first three months of captivity, they would get him out of it in times of military operations. The guerrillas would also let him rest if he got tired walking.

After three months, the guerillas started treating him leniently. He was taken out of the stockade. His handcuffs were taken off when there are masses present and while they were on foot.

Small talk

Sgt. Lawas moved freely around their camp, shared small talk and his experiences with the cadres. He listened to the news with them. He was even allowed to keep three pet birds, which, unfortunately, died during the group’s 13-day walk to the release site.

When he complained that he was developing allergies from eating dried fish and sardines, the usual staple of the guerrillas, they started giving him corned beef and other suitable canned goods. Once in a while, they would have meat from deer and wild pig. He even had a regular supply of juice and Milo, sometimes an occasional bottle of Coke.

He showed this reporter his picture in his AFP identification card. The man in the picture looked gaunt and much older. The Sgt. Lawas who rejoined his family last June 9 had gained weight and much healthier. His skin actually glowed.

The food here, Sgt. Lawas said in jest, was a lot better than the ones he had while in the military, which he even had to pay for. “It is only here that I was able to experience the good life,” he said, beaming. “They did not treat me like a prisoner,” the sergeant said.

Sgt. Lawas’s custodial force is composed of a few personnel detached from their bigger NPA main unit; this was to keep him away from any possible danger during encounters with the military.

Once, his captors suggested to him that he could, if he wanted, go over to the military side during an encounter and go home. But Sgt. Lawas brushed off the idea. “Knowing them (the soldiers), they will kill me. Besides, they are convinced that I’m already dead,” he said.

Sgt. Lawas marveled at the differences between the military and the NPA, especially in terms of camaraderie and equality. He said that even he, a POW, can ask his captors for a rest during their long walks in the mountains.

CSC

He said he admired the process of CSC (criticism-self criticism) that is the hallmark of how the guerrillas relate toward each other and toward other people. “In the burgis military,” he said, using a term soldiers normally never used, “what you will get is a kick from your superior if you dared to correct him for his faults.”

He said his perception of the NPA has completely changed. He now says that what the military had told soldiers about the guerrillas turned out to be not true at all. Most importantly, he now understands why there is a revolutionary movement in the first place. Sgt. Lawas realized this during the sharing sessions with his captors and during educational discussions, which he was allowed to attend.  

“It was only here that I realized the reason behind the revolution, what it was the NPAs are fighting for. They are here to liberate the people from oppression,” Sgt. Lawas said. He also commented on the war in Mindanao, asking the Arroyo regime to “solve the root of the problems in Mindanao.”

When asked about his plans, Sgt. Lawas said that he would spend time with his family and follow up on his unreleased salary and allowances. The 43-year-old sergeant will retire in three years.

He said he would be willing to be on active duty again. What if the military asks his help against the NPA? “I would rather be discharged from military service,” Sgt. Lawas replied.

The man the guerrillas fondly called Body promised to someday find his former captors and thank them “in my own way.” With reports from Gilbert Pacificar / Bulatlat.com

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