They would, however, learn from friends who visited the Tagaytay 5 a few days later that the materials never reached their intended recipients.

Two of them (whose names are being withheld upon their request, for security reasons) went back on July 16 to be able to talk to the Tagaytay 5, as well as to demand an explanation on the confiscation of the reading and viewing materials. As they were entering the detention center, they asked a policeman identified only by his surname Sangria whether the materials they had brought on July 12 had reached the detainees, to which Sangria replied in the affirmative. They were later informed by the Tagaytay 5 that as of that date, the materials still had not reached them.

The two then went to the office of the current Base Police commanding officer, Insp. Alex Pornes, to ask for an explanation on the confiscation of the materials. Pornes advised them to go to R2 (Intelligence Division), which is headed by P/Supt. Primitivo Tabojara.

This they did, only to find that Tabojara was not present. They were instead led into the office of another officer, who was later identified by R2 personnel only as Inspector Mendoza.

“The materials you brought are propaganda material,” Mendoza told the two visitors. “So we placed them under custody and they are now the subject of investigation.”

As one of the visitors was asking him to elaborate, Mendoza started asking for their names. They agreed to give their names, on the condition that the officer (who had not yet been identified at that moment) would give his first. Mendoza said it was the two visitors who should give their names first since they were the ones who entered his office. The two argued that it was he who should give his name first so they could be sure that if anything happened to them, someone would be held accountable.

The argument almost turned into a shouting match, but Mendoza eventually stopped asking for their names and sent them out of his office.

The two July 16 visitors brought five more books for the Tagaytay 5. These are: an anthology of flash fiction edited by Vicente Garcia Groyon; as well as poetry, essay, and fiction collections by E. San Juan, Jr., Jose F. Lacaba, Conrado de Quiros, and Jun Cruz Reyes. These were all confiscated. (Bulatlat.com)

(Photos courtesy of Artists’ ARREST)

 Save as PDF