HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
When a Victim
Becomes a Rights Defender
“When I’m gone, take care of our son,”
Josie Javier had always been told by her husband Armando. Death was a
possibility, he said, with soldiers hovering around him. But after Armando
was slain and soldiers of the 71st IB, who were suspected of
killing Armando, also began looking for her, she knew she had to do
something to fight the injustice done to their family and many others.
BY DEE AYROSO
Bulatlat
|
Couples
Armando Javier Jr. and Josie thought it would just be the usual quiet
Sunday night on Oct. 2, 2005. Josie was sitting on their bamboo papag,
watching her favorite weekend show, while Armando dozed off beside her.
Their child AJ, was sound asleep in the bedroom. A small gas lamp was the
only light in their small house.
At 8:45 p.m.,
gunshots were fired from an open window, with several bullets hitting
Armando on his side. The gunman poked the M16 muzzle through the window’s
loose bamboo slats, and spent a whole magazine on Armando. His body had 17
gunshot wounds.
Josie
crawled through their smoke-filled house, tore open their backdoor and ran
outside, hoping to catch up to the assassins. “Inang, buksan n’yong
ilaw!” (Mother, turn on the lights!) she shouted to her mother-in-law
next door. But the gunmen had fled.
|
Armando Javier, Jr. must now be at peace |
The Barangay
Tanod (village guards) at the nearby barangay hall had fled too, fearing
that the gunmen would turn on them.
Earlier that
night, Priscilla “Nanay Celia” Esteban was abducted by another group of
suspected soldiers in the next village of Lennec, Guimba town. Nanay Celia
was the village leader of Bayan Muna (people first) party-list group. Her
body was found two days later in Tarlac, her face wrapped, and hands and
feet bound in packing tape.
Josie was
grazed on her right shoulder by a bullet which first grazed Armando on the
stomach. As she waited during the autopsy at the morgue, Armando’s
relatives wanted to have her wound treated but she refused.
“Di ko
naramdaman ang sakit noon, kasi iba ang sakit ko e,” (My body didn’t
feel any pain, because I was feeling a deeper hurt.) said Josie, bringing
her hand to her chest.
Target: Armando
Armando, 35,
also known as Jun in the barrio, was an Anakpawis (Toiling Masses)
partylist coordinator in Sta. Clara village, Cuyapo town, Nueva Ecija
province. He was also a leader of the local peasant organization which
assisted the peasants in their struggle against a landlord in the hacienda
in the village.
In November
2004, soldiers of the 71st IB led by a 1st Lt.
Madrid set-up a detachment three houses away from Josie’s home. Since
then, soldiers hounded Jun, following him around, inviting him to drinking
sprees, and always asking questions. The soldiers kept asking Jun about
members of the New People’s Army.
“Hindi ko
na kaya ang panggigipit nila,” (I can’t take their pressures any
longer.) Jun once told Josie. Last year, Jun got a job as a carpenter in
Metro Manila and was away from Sta. Clara for several months. When he
went home for harvest season on Sept. 18, soldiers again hovered around
him.
She said
that Jun was always vulnerable to getting killed whenever he agreed to
drink with the soldiers, but she would always follow to bring him home.
“Tawag
nila sa asawa ko ‘Dizun’ - ‘de-sundo’ – kasi lagi akong nakabantay, di ko
talaga iniiwan,” (They teased my husband as ‘Dizun’, or a man who is
always fetched by his wife, because I was always coming for him, I rarely
leave him with the soldiers) Josie said.
Feeling
threatened by the constant presence of soldiers, Jun would always ask
Josie if she was prepared to take care of their son on her own.
“Nakahanda
na ako kung ano man ang mangyayari,”
(I was
prepared for any eventuality.)
she said.
On Oct. 1, a
soldier asked Jun if he was really going back to Manila the next day. Jun
said he was not sure, but he had to go back to his job eventually.
Earlier, the soldiers had been “texting” Jun on his cell phone, asking
when he would be Manila-bound. The next evening, Jun was dead.
Target: Josie
Josie said
she felt such grief over Jun’s killing that she was crying without any
tear. During Jun’s wake she screamed out: “Putangina n’yo mga sundalo,
alam kong kayo pumatay sa asawa ko!” (Damn you soldiers, I know you
killed my husband.)
She would
pass out after screaming. She was in such condition that she was
unconscious and was not able to attend Jun’s burial.
After Jun
was buried on Oct. 7, Josie and her son left Sta. Clara. Josie found out
that after Jun’s death, the soldiers became more brazen in harassing other
villagers, particularly Jun’s relatives.
Karapatan
documented the case of a barangay tanod in Sta. Clara, whom a soldier hit
in the stomach with a ballpen, after which he was forced to list down the
names of villagers who join anti-government rallies.
Soldiers
also took a cousin of Jun and forced a .45 caliber handgun in his mouth.
The soldiers asked about Josie’s activities in the barrio.
“Pag
nakita raw ako, di na ako aarestuhin, babanatan na lang ako,” she
said, quoting a village official warned by the Army. (They said that
they’re not going to arrest me if they see me, but will just kill me.)
Fighter
Josie
recounted how she had asked Jun to make a written account of the soldiers’
constant harassment on him. She regrets that she didn’t prod him to do it
before he was killed.
Every night
after Jun was killed, Josie dreamt of him holding a paper to her, with his
signature at the bottom. In her dream, Jun said he would not rest in
peace until she joins a group which would seek justice for him. Josie
said it was uncanny how Jun’s sister also dreamt of him telling her to
take care of her nephew, AJ, because Josie was going away.
Two months
after Jun was killed, Josie talked to a leader of the human rights
alliance Karapatan (Alliance
for the Advancement of People’s Rights) in Nueva Ecija. She decided to
work as a fulltime human rights worker. As soon as she did, she stopped
dreaming of Jun.
Josie’s work
in Karapatan-Nueva Ecija entails going to the family of those who were
killed or abducted. It’s a work load that gets heavier by the day, as
political killings and enforced disappearances continue in Central Luzon,
with the main suspects being Philippine Army soldiers from the 7th
Infantry Division led by Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan.
Josie tries
to help victims’ families by giving a perspective on why the state targets
political dissenters, and the importance of asserting human rights,
especially amid the worsening political repression. Josie encourages
victims and their families to be strong and to fight back, citing her
personal experience as an example.
“Nagkakaroon
ng trauma ang pamilya ng mga biktima. Nagkaroon din ako, pero nilakasan
ko ang loob ko, hindi lang para sa akin at sa anak ko, kundi sana rin para
sa ibang biktima, para magkaroon din sila ng lakas at tatag,” she
said.
(A victim’s
family becomes traumatized. So was I, but I tried to be strong not just
for myself and my son, but to show other victims that we have to have
courage and strength.)
Josie also
speaks in mass demonstrations, calling for justice not only for her
husband but for the rest of the victims of political killings.
“Delikado
talaga pag lumalabas ako, hindi lang ako, anak ko, pati pamilya ko. Pero
gagawin ko pa rin para magsilbi akong halimbawa, para magbigay ng lakas sa
iba na humarap uli at manindigan sa nangyari sa kanila, sa atin.”
(Every time I speak out, I put myself and my family at risk. But I will
keep doing it, to serve as an example, to give strength to others, so they
will also make a stand against injustices committed against us.)
“Hindi ako natatakot. Mas nag-aalala pa ako sa mangyayari sa iba pang mga
pamilya na tahimik ang buhay, at posibleng maging target.
(I’m
not afraid. I’m more worried about other families who are leading quiet
lives and yet become possible targets of attacks.)
Josie
recalled the night Jun was killed and how it was like a scene in a movie,
when the wife witnesses her husband getting killed. But unlike in most
movies where the woman loses her mind after seeing her husband die, Josie
has become stronger after the tragedy.
Josie was a
victim’s wife but is now a defender of human rights and an inspiration to
those whose lives are changed forever by an injustice committed by those
who supposedly swore to protect democracy and the Filipino people.
Bulatlat
BACK TO
TOP ■
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION ■
COMMENT
© 2006 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications
Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided
its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
