This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 3, February 19-25, 2006
A Village Girding for Attack
On January 27, 2006,
government troops occupied the upper floor of the Barangay [village] hall of
Malibong Matanda, Pandi, Bulacan. Since then, soldiers belonging to the 56th IB
have been conducting operations to flush-out suspected New People’s Army
insurgents. But for the villagers, it has become a long nightmare.
BY TYLL
LABUNG
Malolos City, Bulacan –
The Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) party-list
group, the Alyansa ng Mamamayan Para sa Pantaong Karapatan (ALMMA or People’s
Alliance for Human Rights)-Bulacan, and other people’s organizations have
recently conducted a joint fact-finding mission on the alleged harassment of
residents of Malibong Matanda and Malibong Bata villages in Pandi, Bulacan by
elements of the Philippine Army’s 56th Infantry Battalion Pandi Mayor Oliver M.
Andres said the Army detachment was already in place and the soldiers were
already deployed and in operation before he was informed of their presence. It was only two days after
the soldiers arrived that they made a courtesy visit to his office, Andres
added. PSInsp. Alfonso G. Cruz,
Pandi deputy chief of police, corroborated the mayor’s testimony. Cruz said the commander of
the detachment reasoned that the local authorities were not informed because it
was already late in the night when [the soldiers] arrived. At a loss He said the army commander
reiterated that there were reports of sightings in his locality of armed men the
soldiers suspect to be members of the New People’s Army (NPA). The army commander also
told the mayor that in their intelligence reports they had recovered firearms,
but as to where and how was not also made clear. Andres agreed to host a
dialogue between the people of Malibong Matanda and Malibong Bata villages, both
in Pandi town. He also promised that the municipal council will pass a
resolution should a request be submitted to his office. No identity Both by the mayor and the
deputy chief of police refused to divulge the identity of the supposed commander
of the army detachment, citing the supposed need for a formal request from the
fact-finding mission and procedural purposes. Barangay Captain Librado
Galvez of Malibong Matanda said the soldiers arrived on the evening of Jan. 27,
2006 and immediately at dawn the next day, made the rounds of the village Galves said that in his
talk with the Army team’s supposed commanding officer, the soldiers refused to
state their mission in the village. He also declined to reveal the name of the
Army commander. Go somewhere else The village head said that
he even suggested to the soldiers that they look for some other place to stay so
as not to disrupt the normal activities in the hall. He said he volunteered to
find a house the soldiers can rent or a place for the soldiers to pitch their
tents in order to ease the growing fear and discontent among the village
residents. Galvez told the
fact-finding team that the community is afraid of the presence of the military. “My constituents don’t want
anything to do with (the military),” Galvez said. “The people are not used to
seeing and living with armed men in their barangay. They just want their
peaceful life back.” In an interview with
village residents who requested not to be identified for fear of possible
retaliation, they said that ever since the military was deployed in their
community, the delivery of social services has been suffering. Village officials had to
make do with a makeshift office in their homes or elsewhere. Local folks are now afraid
to go out to their farm to work, lest they suffer the consequences of being
branded as NPA members. Galvez said the Army
detachment had not made known how long they intend to stay in the village. The soldiers are conducting
“house-to-house” operations in full battle gear and conducting interviews and
“interrogations,” residents said. They are also asked what
organizations there are in the barrio and who among them belong to what group,
they said. Most of the time, they added, the men who were visited are asked what
armed group they belonged to and what type of weapons they possess. Invariably, the soldiers
ask about the party list group Anakpawis and its municipal coordinator Petronilo
Jose, they said. The military claims that Anakpawis is connected with the
Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the NPA. Residents say the soldiers
always do the rounds of the villages late at night. Interrogation According to a 46-year-old
farmer and a member of the local chapter of Anakpawis, he was in his watermelon
farm the first time they visited his house. Upon seeing him, the
soldiers asked if there were any organizations present in their locality. He
told them there is one and that he is in fact a member of Anakpawis. He said the next time they
visited him, they repeatedly cajoled him into admitting that he was in
possession of guns. He said the soldiers repeatedly asked him, as well as his
children and workers, what type of firearms he had. The farmer said he managed
to muster enough courage to ask the soldiers what they were doing in a peaceful
village like theirs. He also told the soldiers
it was the first time he had seen armed men in his village. He also wondered why
it was the Anakpawis members, of all the people in the area, who were being
visited and questioned. Petronilo Jose, fondly
called Ka Nilo by the barrio folks, is the municipal coordinator of Anakpawis in
Pandi, and according to the people interviewed was the target of the deployed
Army team. Since the soldiers arrived,
according to the sister of Ka Nilo, they have been lurking around their house at
night. Once, when she was visited
by the soldiers, they asked her of the whereabouts and activities of her
brother, and asked for a copy of his picture. She said the soldiers
claimed it was part of their standard operating procedure. They visited the Jose
household three times. In one incident, she was
surprised to learn that soldiers were waiting on a road that was frequented by
Ka Nilo every time he fetched his kids from school. That was the cue that his
brother was on the military hit list, and target of a possible assassination
attempt, she said. According to her, his
brother is active in helping implement the socio-economic projects in the
community and there is no reason for him to be on the military hit list. However, she expressed
fears that Ka Nilo would be killed like what happened to the leaders in Hacienda
Luisita and more recently to the village officials in Parian, Mexico, Pampanga
who were murdered after being hounded by the military. Posters Posters pasted on the walls
and posts in the village testify to the fondness and admiration of the people of
the barangay to Ka Nilo. “OK KA!!! KA NILO…
IKAW ANG AMA NG PROYEKTO PARA SA MAHIHIRAP”
(You’re OK, Ka Nilo, you are the initiator of projects for the poor), read one
poster. Grace Utanes, 48, for whom
Ka Nilo has been working as a driver for years, also sees no reason for the
military to be after him. What she knows is that Petronilo was active in
organizing cooperatives and projects for out-of-school youth and other
productive undertakings. She added that the presence
of the military in the area was not needed, for in the eight years that she had
lived in the barangays, she had not witnessed anything wrong. By the end of the day, the
fact-finding mission concluded that one of the targets of the military
deployment was Petronilo Jose because since the soldiers arrived in the area, it
was he the soldiers were after though they did not know his full name nor have
they seen him in person. The mission also concluded
that the unexpected presence of the Army detachment had created fear and
discontent among the people. As an initial step a
dialogue is being arranged by the town mayor between the people and the
military. Gitnang Luson News Service/Posted by Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
GITNANG LUSON NEWS SERVICE
Posted by Bulatlat
Andres admitted that he too was at a loss on the real intention of the army
deployment. He said he was told by the detachment commander that the soldiers’
intention was community service, but of what type, it was not made clear.
Galvez said up to nine fully-armed soldiers had occupied the upper floor of the
village hall. Since the occupation of the village hall, he added, the local
council has not been able to conduct a single session. He said he was also not
informed of the soldiers’ arrival.
Ka Nilo