ITLOG AT PUTIK LAMANG IYAN, ESPERON
Alexander Martin Remollino

Student activists protesting political killings in the country pelted General Hermogenes Esperon Jr. with eggs and mud as the Armed Forces chief of staff stepped out of a forum at the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City on Friday.

-- Philippine Daily Inquirer, Sept. 22, 2006

Magpasalamat ka nga't itlog at putik lamang ang ibinato sa iyo. Lubha pang magagalang kung gayon ang mga estudyanteng iyon.

Mismong katawang sarili lamang ang ibinenta ni Magdalena. Subalit pinagpupukol siya ng mga bato, na marahil ay kanyang ikinamatay kung hindi inawat ni Kristo ang mga nagbabanal-banalan.

Pinagbabato si Magdalena dahil sa pagbibili ng sariling katawan at ikaw, na kasama sa mga tumanggap ng isang bilyong pisong lisensiya rin upang dahasing parang mga hayop ang mga mamamayan ng bansang ito, ay pinagpupukol ng itlog at putik lamang.

Kagila-gilalas na itlog at putik lamang ang ipinukol sa iyo. Kahit paano'y iginalang ka pa rin nang higit sa nararapat sa katulad mo.

Kaya magpasalamat ka, magpasalamat ka nang walang hanggan. Itlog at putik lamang iyan.

Hindi hamak na higit pa ang nararapat sa iyo.

‘WE FEEL IT... MARTIAL LAW IS BACK’
MARCOS VICTIMS 30 YEARS AGO, STILL MARCHING TODAY

If there is anyone who knows what Martial Law was like, it would be people like Carmencita Mendoza-Florentino and Rodolfo del Rosario, who were both victims of the Marcos dictatorship. Many people thought that after Marcos’ ouster in 1986 no dictatorship would ever happen again, but Florentino and Del Rosario believe otherwise.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat

Carmencita “Miling” Mendoza-Florentino and Rodolfo del Rosario both look old enough to not be expected to join protest marches through thick vehicular smoke and under full noon heat, as they did in Manila last Sept. 21, the 34th anniversary of the declaration of martial law.

But not only did they join the march of protesters under the banners of Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (Selda or Organization of Ex-Detainees Against Detention and for Amnesty) and other cause-oriented groups affiliated with the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) along España Avenue to the Liwasang Bonifacio (or Bonifacio freedom park): they were among the first to troop to UST for the assembly, stayed at Liwasang Bonifacio all afternoon though black clouds threatened to pour rain on the sweat-drenched ralliers (and send them all to the sickbed the next day), and were among the last to leave the rally park. And it was not only because they wished to relive that dark chapter of the country’s past: it is because the dark hours are here again, they grimly said.

“Noong i-declare ni Marcos ang martial law, winasak lahat niya ang mga oposisyon” (When Marcos declared martial law, he destroyed all opposition), Mang Rudy said. “Pati Kongreso, nilansag niya. Y’ong position ng vice president, nilansag din niya ‘yon. So siya na lang ang natira. ‘Pinakulong niya ang libu-libong taong tutol sa kanya.” (He abolished even Congress. He also abolished the vice presidency. So no one was left but himself. He ordered thousands opposed to him imprisoned).

“Ngayon, ibang klase”(Now it’s different), he added. “Hindi pa deklarado, marami nang nawawala, marami nang hinuhuli, maya’t maya may pinapatay at may nawawala. At ganoon din, y’ong mga oposisyon katulad ni Peewee Trinidad ng Pasay, pinasuspinde na, ngayon si Binay delikado na rin. Iniisa-isa na. At siguro, parang katapat ng martial law, kapag nagtagumpay y’ong charter change, nariyan na. Magiging prime minister si Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at baka i-declare na rin na siya y’ong president for life. ‘Yan ang nakikita ko ngayon. So ibang klase, pero doon din papunta.” (There’s no declaration yet but many people are missing, many are being arrested, there are many being killed and disappeared. Likewise, those in the opposition like Pasay City Mayor Peewee Trinidad, who has been ordered suspended, and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay, are also in trouble. They are being hunted one by one. And alongside martial law, if charter change succeeds then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo may become prime minister and she may declare herself president for life. So it’s different but it’s headed in the same direction Marcos took.)

‘We feel it’

“Alam mo, ngayon, damdam na damdam namin –- kasi naranasan namin ang martial law –- martial law na ngayon, e” (You know, we really feel it –- because we experienced martial law – we’re now under martial law), Aling Miling said. “Hindi nga lang ‘dineklara. Bawal kang magsalita ng katotohanan, pag nagsalita ka ikukulong ka. Dudukutin ka. Ganoon ang panakot ngayon kaya maraming dinudukot at pinapatay.” (There’s just no declaration. You’re barred from speaking the truth, if you speak you get arrested. You get abducted. That’s what they terrorize people with these days, that’s why many are being abducted and killed.)

Data from various human rights groups place the number of victims of extrajudicial killings under Marcos’ 20-year rule at 1,500. Data from Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) show 759 persons as having involuntarily disappeared during Martial Law. Military historian Alfred McCoy, in his book Closer than Brothers, said there were 35,000 torture victims all in all during the Marcos years.

Karapatan has recorded 755 victims of extra-judicial killings and 184 victims of enforced disappearances from 2001, when Arroyo was catapulted to power through a popular uprising, to September 2006.

When then President Ferdinand Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 1081, placing the Philippines under martial law, Aling Miling was the president of a women’s community association in Tatalon, Quezon City. There was a law then under which they were considered the legitimate occupants of the land where their dwellings stand, and yet their shanties were demolished, courtesy of the Araneta and Tuason families.

The women, she said, organized among themselves because the men then were being arrested. But, she would later learn, being a woman was no protection against arrest.

Traumatic first arrest

Her first arrest, which was in 1976, was particularly traumatic for her. She was brought to Camp Crame, then the Philippine Constabulary general headquarters in Quezon City, and was grilled by several officers, among them then Cols. Ramon Montaño and Rolando Abadilla. She thought she was going to be raped – and that probably would have happened, she said, if the torturers had not discovered she was from the Ilocos like many of them.

After her release two months later, she went back to community organizing and became involved in human rights advocacy through the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), which had taken up her case. She would be arrested and detained two more times during the Marcos years.

Mang Rudy was a founding member of the Kabataang Makabayan (KM or Patriotic Youth), which was formed in 1964, and participated in the First Quarter Storm of 1970. When the Liberal Party opposition rally in Plaza Miranda, Quiapo, Manila was bombed in 1971, Marcos suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus and he was among those arrested and detained as a result. He was still in prison when martial law was declared, but was released a year later.

At the Liwasang Bonifacio rally –- which later in the afternoon was joined by the Concerned Lawyers for Civil Liberties (CLCL), Laban ng Masa (The Masses’ Fight), the Union of Masses for Democracy and Justice (UMDJ), the United Opposition (UNO), the Black & White Movement, and the Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya (KME or Nationalist Economy Movement) –- observations and sentiments similar to theirs were being voiced out by the speakers and performers.

“Notice how Mrs. Arroyo is charting the same path of corruption and repression taken by both Marcos and Thaksin,” Bayan chairperson Dr. Carol Pagaduan-Araullo said, referring to former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, deposed a few days ago through a coup d’ etat.

“Though there is no martial law declaration, it is just like we are under martial law,” said Joel Cadiz, a leader of the CLCL and a former president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP). “More than 700 have been killed, among them lawyers and journalists. With these, it is like we are under a dictatorship.”

“My former boss appears as though she wants to be the next dictator,” said former social welfare secretary Dinky Soliman, one of the so-called “Hyatt 10” cabinet-level officials who resigned from office last year amid renewed allegations of fraud in the 2004 presidential election –- where Arroyo is supposed to have won a fresh mandate three years after assuming power through what is now known as the People Power II uprising. “The killings of critics, the filing of sundry charges -– all these Marcos did.”

Jess Santiago

All through the rally, the Jess Santiago composition “Martsa ng Bayan” (People’s March) kept playing: “Tayo na at magsama-sama/Sa pagdurog sa imperyalista/Tayo na at magkaisa/Lansagin ang pasistang diktadura/Nasa atin ang tunay na lakas/Tiyak na nasa atin ang bukas...” The song was composed in the 1980s and became an anti-dictatorship classic.

Santiago, still the reed-thin bespectacled man that he was two decades ago but now with his still-long hair graying, would himself stir the crowd –- numbering about 10,000 –- with a passionate rendition of his song “Halina,” composed 30 years ago and telling tales of a unionist and a peasant slain by state agents, and an urban poor family driven from their “home” near a garbage dump. “Y’ong sinasabi nitong kanta, nangyayari pa rin ngayon” (What the song tells us about is still happening), Santiago told the audience in a calm but emphatic voice.

The late strongman’s eldest daughter, Imee, ranked as 11th among more than 20 political figures in Pulse Asia’s July survey on senatorial preferences -– scoring even higher than noted anti-dictatorship fighters like Sen. Joker Arroyo and Bayan Muna (People First) Rep. Satur Ocampo.

Asked to comment on this, being victims of the Marcos regime, both Aling Miling and Mang Rudy said they didn’t think the particular survey was able to reflect the general pulse accurately enough. They don’t think people have forgotten, they said.

“Ewan ko kung talagang mananalo pa ‘yan” (I don’t know if she can really win), Mang Rudy said, referring to Imee who is said to be planning to run for senator next year.

“Habang buhay ang mga biktima, patuloy na isasambulat sa buong mundo: ‘eto ang ginawa sa amin” (While the victims are alive, we will continue to tell the world: this is what was done to us), said Aling Miling. Bulatlat

ANG MAMAMAHAYAG AT ANG PAGBABAGO
Alexander Martin Remollino

Batay sa isang pananalita ng may-akda sa Media Summit na isinagawa ng UP College of Mass Communication Student Council noong Setyembre 22, 2006

Yaong naghahatid sa atin ng balitang-"artista" sa isa sa mga pangunahing istasyon sa telebisyon ay nagtapos sa De La Salle University (DLSU), bagama't ilang taon bago iyon ay nakikita-kita ko siya sa pinanggalingan kong pamantasan, ang University of Santo Tomas (UST). Yaong katapat niya sa kabilang istasyon ay kilala ng karamihan sa atin bilang nagtapos sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (UP).

Sa pangyayaring ang kanilang mga segment ang itinuturing na pangunahing mga bahagi ng kani-kanilang programang pinagtatrabahuhan, natitiyak nating marami pa ang susunod sa kanilang mga yapak.

Isang napakalaking insulto ang pangyayaring sa isang bansa kung saan 14 lamang sa bawat bata ang tiyak na makapagtatapos ng kolehiyo, batay sa mga estadistikang nakalap ng Jubilee Action, ay marami ang nagbubuhos ng pera sa pamahal-nang-pamahal na matrikula sa ating mga dalubhasaan at pamantasan upang pagkatapos ng apat na taon o mahigit pa ay maghatid sa atin araw-araw ng "balita" tungkol sa kung ano ang huling pinag-awayan nina Ruffa Gutierrez at Yilmaz Bektas. Ni hindi kailangang makatuntong ka sa haiskul upang gumawa ng ganitong "trabaho," ay bakit kailangan pang ipagkolehiyo, at sa Pilipinas pa kung saan kayraming may talino't malaki sana ang maiaambag sa pag-unlad ng bansa na hindi makatapos ng kolehiyo dahil hanggang kung saan lamang sila kayang dalhin ng mga scholarship kung sila'y lubhang mahirap?

Sana'y inihagis na lamang nila kung saan ang kanilang ipinangmatrikula, at baka napulot at napakinabangan pa ng sandamukal na bata sa bansang ito na ni hindi makapasok sa mga pampublikong mababang paaralan dahil ni pambili ng papel ay wala sila.

Lalong nakaiinsulto ang pagkakaroon ng mga kagaya nila sa harap ng pangyayaring kayraming dapat ibalita sa bansang ito na halos hindi maibalita nang maayos dahil kulang ang ispasyo sa mga pahina man o sa himpapawid -- sapagkat ang ispasyo'y kinakain nang kinakain ng mga "balita" hinggil, halimbawa, sa pagkatiyak ni Kris Aquino na siya'y nabuntis na nga ni James Yap. Tinatawag na mga "mamamahayag" ang mga naghahatid sa atin ng mga "balitang" ito at hindi ko maunawaan kung bakit.

Kabilang sa mga dapat ibalita na halos hindi maibalita nang maayos ang talamak na paglabag sa karapatang pantao. Nariyan ang mga pandarahas sa mga kababayan nating nagtitipon at nagpapahayag sa lansangan alang-alang sa matwid na mga kahingian, nariyan ang panggigipit sa mga ahensiya ng midya.

Isang buhay na saksi, halimbawa, si Ed Lingao sa panggigipit sa mga ahensiya ng midya.

Isang dokumentaryong inihanda nila para sa palatuntunang Frontlines ng ABC 5 ang kamakaila'y binigyan ng "X" rating ng Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB). Ang naturang dokumentaryo'y tungkol sa isang baryong impluwensiyado ng New People's Army (NPA) sa Bicol.

Ayon sa mismong mga datos ng National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), ang Bicol ang ikaapat na pinakamahirap na rehiyon sa Pilipinas. Ito rin ay isa sa mga rehiyon kung saan pinakamalakas ang NPA, ayon mismo sa ating kagalang-galang na Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Sa isang rehiyon kung saan naging ugali na ng mga sundalo ang sa tuwing daraan sa mga baryo'y basta na lamang mananakit ng mga residente, dili kaya'y papasok sa kanilang mga dampa sa madaling-araw at ang mga wala na nga halos makain ay nanakawan pa ng pagkain, masisisi ba ang mga mamamayan kung sila'y magkaroon man ng simpatiya sa mga grupong kagaya ng NPA?

Ganito ang mga tanong na nais ihapag sa atin ng naturang dokumentaryo nina Ed, na binigyan ng MTRCB ng "X" rating. Ayon sa MTRCB, ang sinesensura nilang mga palabas ay yaong anila'y "malaswa." Hindi ko mawari kung ano ang malaswa sa isang dokumentaryong nagpapakita ng katotohanan tungkol sa isang bahagi ng ating lipunan.

At ito'y bahagi nga lamang ng pangkalahatang katotohanang kinakaharap ng ating bansa sa araw-araw.

Tayo'y nagdiwang daw ng sentenaryo ng ating kasarinlan noong 1998, ngunit ang ating patakarang panlabas ay iginaya lamang sa patakarang panlabas ng Estados Unidos, kaya sinumang makaaway nila ay dapat na kaaway rin natin kahit hindi natin kailangang makaaway; at ang ating patakarang pang-ekonomiya'y isinusunod sa mga patakaran ng International Monetary Fund at World Bank (IMF-WB), mga multilateral na institusyong pinamumunuan ng Estados Unidos. Mahigit sa 80 porsiyento ng ating mga kababayan ang nagbabaluktot ng gulugod nang maghapon-magdamag sa mga bukirin at pabrika, upang pagkatapos ay mag-uwi ng kitang barya-barya lamang. At nariyan nga ang laganap na kawalang-paggalang sa mga karapatang pantao.

Sa yugtong ito, makabubuti marahil na ipagunita sa ating lahat ang naging papel ng mga mamamahayag sa mga kilusan sa pagbabago sa ating kasaysayan.

Noong panahon ng mga Kastila, malaki ang naging papel ng diyaryong La Solidaridad –- kung saan ang lalong napabantog na mga manunulat ay sina Marcelo del Pilar, Jose Rizal, at Graciano Lopez Jaena –- sa Kilusang Repormista. Nang mabigo ang kampanya para sa mga reporma, nanguna naman sa pagpapalaganap ng panawagan para sa himagsikan ang pahayagan ng Katipunan, yaong Kalayaan, na pinamatnugutan ni Emilio Jacinto.

Sa panahon ng tuwirang pananakop ng mga Amerikano, nariyan ang mga pahayagang kagaya ng El Renacimiento at Muling Pagsilang; ang mga mamamahayag na katulad nina Fidel Reyes, Apolinario Mabini, Aurelio Tolentino at Jose Corazon de Jesus na naghasik ng mga kaisipang makabayan at tutol sa mga bagong mananakop na upang makapanakop ay nagpanggap na mga manunubos. Malaki ang naiambag nila sa kampanya ukol sa kasarinlan.

Noon namang panahon ng mga Hapones, sangkatutak ang mga lihim na pahayagang sumalungat sa aktibong propaganda ng Japanese Imperial Army. Nanguna sa mga ito ang Katubusan ng Bayan ng Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon (Hukbalahap) at Free Philippines ng Civil Liberties Union (CLU).

Noong huling hati ng dekada 1940 at unang hati ng dekada 1950, namayagpag ang mga editor at kolumnistang tulad nina Amado V. Hernandez, Renato Constantino, at Armando J. Malay na mapangahas na nagsulong ng nasyunalismo sa panahong ang salitang ito'y ginagawang katatakutan. Ang mga inihasik nila ay ambag sa pagyabong ng isang malaking kilusang protesta nang sumunod na dekada, na kinabilangan at ipinamandila rin ng mga mamamahayag na tulad nina Antonio Zumel, Satur Ocampo, Luis Teodoro, at Jose Lacaba.

Sa mga unang taon ng Batas Militar, nagkatusak ang mga lihim na pahayagang sumalungat sa mga kasinungalingang ipinakalat ng diktadurang Marcos. Nang makabawi ng lakas ang ligal na oposisyong sinupil ng rehimeng Marcos, lumitaw naman ang tinatawag na mosquito press, na pinangunahan ng Pahayagang Malaya at We Forum, at ng Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Sa mga taon pagkatapos ng pagpapabagsak sa diktadura, may mga mamamahayag na nagpatuloy at nagpapatuloy pa rin ng ganitong tradisyon ng isang bahagi ng pabatirang-madla sa ating bansa.

Sa dakong huli, mainam na mag-iwan ng isang tanong sa mga batang nagnanais o nag-iisip na maging mga mamamahayag pagdating ng panahon. Ibig ba nilang maging mga mamamahayag na, sa wika nga ni Jacinto, ay mga "kahoy na walang lilim" –- o nais ba nilang maging bahagi ng isang mahabang linya ng mga mamamahayag sa ating kasaysayan na nagsulong at nagsusulong pa rin ng pagbabago sa ating bansa?

IF WE FORGET THEM
Alexander Martin Remollino

If we forget the ones who were felled in the night,
we consent to our own demise.
They courted death that others may really live,
that others may really live.
Let us not consent to the slow and painful deaths
that are being offered to us.
Let not time erase their names printed,
printed on the pages of the mind.
For each one felled let us rise in our multitudes
and fight, fight till we cease to be
a nation breathing, but not living.

WITH RESURRECTION OF JUNKED ORDER:
'ARROYO MAY NEXT DECLARE MARTIAL LAW'

With the resurrection of one of a series of decrees denounced by civil libertarians as “repressive” and declared by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo may next declare martial law.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat

With the resurrection of one of a series of decrees denounced by civil libertarians as “repressive” and declared by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo may next declare martial law. This was the observation made by lawyer Neri Javier Colmenares, spokesperson of the broad-based Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL), in an interview with Bulatlat.

In late September last year, Arroyo issued Executive Order No. 464 requiring cabinet members, police and military generals, senior national security officials, and “such other national officers as may be determined by the (president)” to secure clearance from the Malacañang before testifying in any hearing conducted by the Senate or the House of Representatives.

EO 464 was one of the so-called “repressive” decrees issued by Malacañang amid a spate of challenges to the Arroyo administration, spurred mainly by the revival in mid-2005 of allegations that she cheated her way to victory in the 2004 election – in which she is supposed to have received a fresh mandate three years after being catapulted to power through a popular uprising. The other decrees are: the calibrated preemptive response (CPR) policy issued in mid-September last year, imposing a blanket prohibition on all protest actions against the government; and Presidential Proclamation No. 1017, issued February 2006, declaring a state of emergency throughout the country.

“CPR removed the maximum tolerance policy required even under Batas Pambansa Blg. 880,” Colmenares said. “It was a signal to all police and authorities to use force immediately (on protest actions).”

BP 880 was issued in 1985, amid major rallies against the Marcos dictatorship. Seeking to regulate the conduct of rallies, BP 880 requires groups to secure permits to rally before holding protest actions, but it also requires local government units to approve all applications for rally permits – unless there is evidence of what is called a “clear and present danger” to peace and order.

Colmenares said BP 880 should have been abolished considering the presence of a clear freedom of assembly, speech and expression clause in the 1987 Constitution, but it continues to be used especially under the Arroyo administration.

Art. III, Sec. 4 of the 1987 Constitution provides: “No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.”

“In fact Arroyo is the only president to use BP 880 actively since Marcos,” Colmenares said. “Now BP 880 is already repressive, but CPR heightened the repression.”

Meanwhile, Colmenares said, PP 1017 addressed the Arroyo government’s “need” for a situation where it could easily arrest people.

“One way of instituting that was by declaring a state of emergency, where there appeared to be a threat and therefore it would be acceptable if you arrest people,” the CODAL spokesperson said.

He added that PP 1017 produced a “chilling effect” on the people. “They didn’t arrest everyone, but they scared everyone,” he pointed out.

PP 1017 was definitely repressive, Colmenares said. “You don’t declare a state of emergency if there is no emergency,” he said. “You don’t arrest people unless they have committed a crime and there is a warrant of arrest against them – not because you feel that there is a threat against you.”

The imposition of PP 1017 led to the arrests of known activists and opposition figures like professor Randy David and Ronald Llamas, lawyer Argee Guevarra, Reps. Crispin Beltran and Joel Virador, labor leaders Dennis Maga and Marcial Dabela, and retired generals Ramon Montaño and Rex Piad. Beltran continues to languish in detention more than six months after his arrest.

Colmenares said the CPR policy, EO 464, and PP 1017 – put together – amounted to a martial-law legal framework.

“What is martial law?” Colmenares said. “Martial law is a situation where the military reigns supreme over civilian authority. (It is a situation where) the military has held sway over the rest of the government.”

Lawyers’ groups like CODAL and the Alternative Law Group (ALG) contested the CPR policy, EO 464 and PP 1017 before the Supreme Court.

On May 3, the Supreme Court struck down the CPR policy, EO 464, and portions of PP 1017 as unconstitutional. The Supreme Court particularly ruled against the warrantless arrests conducted under PP 1017.

Despite the Supreme Court ruling on the said decrees, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita issued, by authority from Malacañang, Memorandum Circular No. 108 – essentially a rehash of EO 464 – last July 26.

When asked whether he thought Arroyo would eventually resurrect the CPR policy and PP 1017 under different names, considering the issuance of MC 108, Colmenares said the next step may be an outright declaration of martial law.

“It can happen again,” he said. “Maybe they’ll next declare martial law.” Bulatlat

EVEN AS THE MARCOSES PREPARE FINAL RESTING PLACE FOR FM:
MARCOS KIN, ALLIES STILL WITHIN CORRIDORS OF POWER

Even as his relatives prepare to lay the remains of the deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos in their new-found final resting place for him in his hometown of Batac, Ilocos Norte, those who lorded it over during his 20-year rule are still within the corridors of power. Their former patron may be dead but their political careers are still very much alive.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat

As his relatives prepare to lay the remains of the deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos in their new-found final resting place for him in his hometown of Batac, Ilocos Norte, those who lorded it over during his 20-year rule are still within the corridors of power. Their former patron may be dead but their political careers are still very much alive.

Ever since they were allowed to return to the Philippines from exile during the Ramos administration, the Marcoses had been lobbying for the remains of the deposed dictator to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery) – Marcos as they said being a former president who claimed to have a most-decorated war hero. The preserved body has been on display in a glass coffin in a mausoleum in Batac, 471 kms north of Manila, for several years.

They met stiff opposition particularly from victims of human rights violations during the martial law period and their relatives. The indignation has prevented all Philippine presidents since the 1990s from allowing Marcos’ remains to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

But now, his family appears to be satisfied with the final resting place they have found for him in his hometown.

“We identified the place because it’s not part of controversy,” former First Lady Imelda Marcos was quoted as saying in a recent interview with the Associated Press. “He deserves it. We don’t want to cause any more controversies.”

But if Marcos’ remains are soon to be laid to rest, his relatives and allies are far from going to their final resting place, politically. They still exercise considerable influence over the political scene.

Particularly noticeable in their present political influence, among the Marcos relatives and allies, are Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Ilocos Norte Rep. Imee Marcos, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and Panfilo Lacson, the Estrada family, and House Speaker Jose de Venecia.

Military man as “little president”

Ermita, a 1957 graduate of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), served with U.S. forces during the Vietnam War (1962-1975). He is said to have taken part in “covert operations” against Vietnamese national liberation fighters during his assignment in Vietnam, a claim he has neither confirmed nor denied.

He served as a senior military assistant at the Office of the Undersecretary, Department of National Defense (DND) from 1976 to 1985. From 1985 to 1986, he was commanding general of the military’s Civil Relations Service.

He became a defense undersecretary from 1988 to 1992, and from 1993 to 2001 was involved in various capacities in the peace negotiations with Moro and communist revolutionaries.

In 2003, he was appointed as defense secretary, and was named executive secretary after the 2004 presidential election.

Ermita is presently the most powerful among Marcos’ allies, as he is said to hold the reins of power as “little president” during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s absences.

The eldest daughter

Imee, who is associated with the opposition bloc in the House of Representatives, has time and again expressed intention of running for a Senate seat. There are signs that she could get her wish. In the July 2006 Pulse Asia survey on senatorial preferences, the late strongman’s eldest daughter came out as 11th out of more than 20 possible senatorial bets, including noted anti-dictatorship fighters like Sen. Joker Arroyo and Bayan Muna (People First) Rep. Satur Ocampo.

Because of this, it is worth recalling that four years ago Imee issued a number of statements to the media calling for a “thorough and objective study” of the martial law period, in which its flaws as well as its supposed merits would be taken into account.

Data from various human rights groups place the number of victims of extrajudicial killings under Marcos’ 20-year rule at 1,500. Data from Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) show 759 persons as having involuntarily disappeared during Martial Law. Military historian Alfred McCoy, in his book Closer than Brothers, said there were 35,000 torture victims all in all during the Marcos years.

The economy also plummeted during the Marcos period. In an article written for the Philippine Graphic last year, Rowena Carranza-Paraan showed that when Marcos assumed office in 1965 the country’s foreign debt stood only at less than $1 billion, but had already shot up to $28 billion when he was ousted in 1986.

This is the chapter of our history which, to Imee’s mind, needs a “thorough and objective study” that would take into account not only its flaws but also its supposed merits.

Martial law architect

Enrile is reported to have been recently chosen as the new chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights. This has drawn denunciation from human rights advocates, who remember him as one of the architects of martial law – having served as Marcos’ defense minister. “I am the author of martial law,” Enrile himself said in a TV interview in late 1991, a year before the election in which he had originally planned to run for president.

In February 1986, in a press conference with then Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Fidel V. Ramos in which they announced their defection to the opposition, Enrile admitted that he had faked his own ambush in 1972 to provide a scare scenario that would justify the declaration of martial law shortly after.

Enrile briefly served as defense secretary under the Corazon Aquino government until he was sacked for his alleged role in a coup plot. He won a Senate seat in 1988. In 1992, he ran for and won a seat in the House, representing his province of Cagayan. Three years later, he won in the senatorial elections.

When Imelda Marcos celebrated her birthday in 1998, Enrile was among the well-wishers present. He was caught on TV getting a pat on the back from the former first lady, who said: “This man is actually a Marcos boy.”

He ran again for senator in 2001 but lost, and would win another Senate term three years later.

The senator from Cagayan has boasted in several media interviews of having himself issued a number of arrest, search and seizure orders against opposition figures during Martial Law. He is one of the most vocal proponents of the Anti-Terrorism Bill, which human rights advocates have denounced as running counter to civil liberties.

Another vocal proponent of the Anti-Terrorism Bill is Lacson, who is reportedly planning to run for Manila mayor in 2007.

Lacson joined the Military Intelligence and Security Group (MISG) upon graduation from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in 1971. McCoy, in Closer than Brothers, said that Lacson, together with fellow MISG officers Roberto Ortega (father of former actress Michelle Ortega) and the late Rolando Abadilla “tortured together” for more than a decade.

A senator since 2001, he ran for president in 2004 but lost in what appeared to be a massively fraud-ridden poll. He joined some of the big anti-Arroyo rallies in 2005.

The Estradas and De Venecia

Estrada was mayor of San Juan for nearly two decades during the Marcos presidency. He was a senator from 1987 to 1992, and vice president from 1992 to 1998. He ran for president in 1998, and won.

He has never been abashed in his sympathy for the Marcoses, and to prove the point one of his first announcements after his proclamation as president-elect in 1998 was on his decision to have Marcos’ remains buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani – an announcement that drew fire from human rights activists and their allies. He had to take back his announcement in the wake of the massive public indignation that it generated.

But throughout his presidency he was always on a collision course with public opinion because of his government’s alleged corruption and anti-people policies. He was ousted in 2001 in what has since become known as the People Power II uprising.

Nevertheless, he continues to wield power through his wife Loi Estrada, who managed to get a Senate seat in the May 2001 elections, and two of his sons. His son with businesswoman Guia Gomez, JV (Jose Victor), became mayor of San Juan in 2001 and is now on his second term, and he emerged as 10th in the July 2006 Pulse Asia survey on senatorial preferences. Meanwhile, his son with Loi, Jinggoy, is now also a senator – accompanying his mother who has managed to win a second term.

Like Lacson, the Estradas are also active in rallies against the Arroyo administration. They are able to send large contingents to these rallies.

De Venecia was not on the political limelight during the Marcos years, then being a businessman. But he saw his fortunes grow during that time, his Landoil Resources being a beneficiary of behest loans together with the many companies owned by notorious tax evader Lucio Tan.

He has managed to stick to his position as Speaker of the House of Representatives, which he first attained in 1995 – the only interruption being in 1998-2001. He had run for president in 1998 but lost.

He is the most vocal proponent of charter change and the proposed shift in the form of government from presidential to parliamentary. It is now common knowledge that he intends to become prime minister under a parliamentary system.

Still much work

Marcos has been dead for 17 years and, if plans push through, is about to be buried. But his relatives and allies are still very much active in the political scene. That they continue to wield influence 20 years after the ouster of their patron and 17 years after his death proves that there is still much work to be done. Bulatlat

KUNG ANO ANG KATUTURAN NG KAGITINGAN
Alexander Martin Remollino

Dati nang nasabitan ng Medalya ng Kagitingan
si Jovito Palparan, Jr.
Hindi raw magiging heneral si Palparan
kung hindi isang "tunay na lalaki,"
ayon sa dating heneral na si Eduardo Ermita --
na ang pagpapakahulugan sa pagiging isang "tunay na lalaki"
ay pagiging isang huwaran ng katapangan.

Ano ang katuturan ng kagitingan?

Itanong natin sa mga paslit na Tausug
na pinagpapatay ng mga sundalo sa Sulu
upang, diumano,
huwag nang makasapi pa sa "rebeldeng" mga Moro.
Itanong natin kay Marcelo Fakila,
ulama sa isang baryo sa Sagada --
dinukot at pinahirapan ng mga sundalo.
Itanong natin sa lilimahing taong gulang na batang
pinaslang sa Laguna;
at kay Niña Angela Apolinar,
walong taong gulang,
na ginapos sa mga kamay
bago kinitlan ng buhay sa Oriental Mindoro.
Itanong natin kay Marvin Montabon,
binaril at sinilaban isang madaling-araw
sa sariling tahanan.
Itanong natin kina Karen Empeño at Sherlyn Cadapan:
sinugod sa dampang tinuluyan habang natutulog,
binati sa paggising ng nakatutok na mga baril,
piniringan -- at sariling kamisetang hinubad kay Karen
ang ipinampiring sa kanya --
binitbit at hindi ilitaw ng mga sundalo.

Itanong natin sa mga Expedito at Manuela Albarillo,
sa mga Choy Napoles, Eden Marcellana, Eddie Gumanoy,
Felidito Dacut, Edison Lapuz, at Orlando Rivera --
mga walang sandata, pawang pinagbabaril hanggang mamatay.

Sila ang makapagsasabi
kung kagitingan nga bang maituturing
ang manakit ng mga di-makalaban,
ang pumatay ng mga di-makapagtanggol ng sariling buhay
laban sa mga baril.

PALPARAN'S PATH: TRAIL OF BLOOD, CHILD VICTIMS

When he exits the military service this Sept. 11, Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, Jr. leaves behind a long list of victims of human rights violations in the areas where he was assigned. Based on his declarations in various media interviews, he will perhaps even give a hearty laugh should his record be described as a trail of blood. But his record speaks for itself.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat

Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, Jr., commanding officer of the Philippine Army's 7th Infantry Division based in Ft. Ramon Magsaysay, Laur, Nueva Ecija, turns 56 this Sept. 11 –- reaching the mandatory age of retirement from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

But Palparan, tagged as “butcher” by activist groups and rights watchdogs for unsolved extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances perpetrated in his many areas of assignment, was immediately appointed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the National Security Council (NSC), as deputy for anti-insurgency operations. At the NSC, Palparan joins its head, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales who, together with Macapagal-Arroyo, has defended the general's anti-insurgency operations.

Directly attached to the office of the president, the NSC provides intelligence and national security policy recommendation to the chief executive. Gonzales is believed to be part of the militarist clique in the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security (COC-IS) which endorsed the armed forces’ internal security operations plan against the underground armed Left and legal activists and organizations.

With Palparan’s continuing active role in counter-insurgency this time directly under Macapagal-Arroyo, it is now fitting to take stock of his career as a military officer.

Based on a news item from the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) and research by Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights), Palparan joined the AFP in 1974, a year after finishing BS Business Administration at the University of the East (UE).

He would go into graduate studies while in the military, taking up Master in Management at the Philippine Christian University (PCU) and Master in National Security Administration at the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP).

In 1977 he underwent schooling at the Philippine Army's Infantry Basic Training Command. Twelve years later, he took an Infantry Advanced Course at the U.S. Army Infantry School. In 1994 he took the Command and General Staff Course at the AFP Command and Staff College, and two years later he took a Joint Service Staff Course in Australia.

Long list of victims

When he exits the military service this Sept. 11 –- which is also the fifth commemoration of the 9/11 bombings in the U.S. –- he leaves behind a long list of alleged victims of human rights violations in the areas where he was assigned. Based on his declarations in various media interviews, he will perhaps even give a hearty laugh should his record be described as a trail of blood. But his record speaks for itself.

A close scrutiny of his record shows that many of the more prominent victims of human rights violations in the areas where he was assigned are aging men, women, children, and youths barely out of adolescence. Palparan would partially acknowledge this, as he did in an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Fe Zamora, published last July 2, where he was quoted as saying that women and children become natural victims in armed conflicts “because they don't know where to run, how to hide.”

His first assignment was as a second lieutenant with the 24th Infantry Battalion stationed in Indanan, Sulu, at the height of the revolutionary armed struggle waged by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). He claims to have achieved victory against the MNLF at least in Patikul, Sulu.

He himself however admits that children from the Tausug tribe –- whence hail most of the MNLF fighters –- were among the victims of his men while he was stationed in Sulu. There, he said, soldiers saw Tausug children as “future enemies, so the thinking was to finish them off while they were still young” –- a mode of thinking reminiscent of an American general, Gen. Jacob Smith, during the Philippine-American War who ordered the killing of everyone capable of bearing arms –- including 10-year-old boys –- in Samar.

In the early 1980s, the 24th Infantry Battalion was transferred to Central Luzon, this time to fight communist revolutionaries. By 1989 he would assume the post of battalion commander, which he held until 1991.

A fact sheet released by Karapatan in 2004 shows Sta. Cruz, Zambales to have particularly suffered the brunt of operations by the 24th Infantry Battalion in 1991. In September that year, while soldiers were stationed by a chapel there, about 100 townsfolk were arrested, interrogated, and forced to sign “affidavits of surrender.” From Oct. 13-18, 10 families were forced to evacuate as a result of shelling operations. Three days later, more than 1,000 residents of the same town were forced to attend a “peace rally,” in which Palparan claimed that they were “rebel surrenderees.”

Torture of tribal elder

Karapatan's tally lists at least seven extra-judicial killings, one incident each of massacre and assault, two grenade bombings, five harassment cases, and five cases of illegal arrest and detention in Central Luzon during Palparan’s first assignment there. He was also implicated in the abduction and torture of peasant organizers and other activists during his first stint there, Karapatan records show.

After Central Luzon, Palparan was assigned to the Cordillera region. One of the most prominent cases of human rights violations in the said region during his stint there was the torture of Marcelo Fakila, a leader of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) in Mountain Province and a village elder in Sagada.

Based on combined data from the CPA and Karapatan, in 1992 alone there were six cases of illegal arrest, five harassment cases, one case of disappearance, one summary execution, one case of wounding, and two cases of evacuations -– all in Mountain Province during Palparan’s assignment in the region.

After his Cordillera stint, Palparan was given a quick succession of assignments, including the command of Task Force Banahaw – which holds jurisdiction over Rizal and Laguna provinces south of Manila. One of the most prominent victims of human rights violations during Palparan's stint in Task Force Banahaw was a five-year-old child killed in Laguna in 2001. Karapatan-Laguna listed seven killings of civilians in the province in 2001 alone.

Shocking cases

In May 2001, Palparan was deployed to head the 204th Infantry Battalion, which holds jurisdiction over Oriental Mindoro. It is in Oriental Mindoro, under Palparan’s command, that some of the most shocking cases of human rights violations under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration were perpetrated.

On April 8, 2002, Expedito Albarillo, 48, a Bayan Muna (People First) coordinator in San Teodoro was dragged by some 10 soldiers from his hut, with his hands tied behind his back. Clinging to him and begging the soldiers for mercy was wife Manuela, 45, also a Bayan Muna coordinator in the same town. Shots rang out some 200 meters away, and relatives who rushed to the scene found the couple lying on their faces, bathed in their own blood. Expedito’s left eye was drooping from its socket.

On May 20 that same year, the Apolinar family –- Ruben, 54, a retired policeman; his wife, Rodriga, 54, a teacher; and their adopted child Niña Angela, 8 –- were gunned down also by soldiers. Ruben and Rodriga were Bayan Muna leaders in San Teodoro.

Eight days after, it was the turn of activist Edilberto Napoles, Jr., 26, to be killed. He was gunned down near the Bayan Muna office in Calapan City.

The cases of the Albarillo couple, the Apolinar family, and Napoles were among those that prompted a fact-finding mission into human rights violations in Oriental Mindoro in April 2003.

Among the leaders of the said mission were Eden Marcellana, secretary-general of Karapatan-Southern Tagalog; and peasant leader Eddie Gumanoy. They themselves would end up losing their lives in the hands of soldiers from the 204th Infantry Battalion. The photos of the two that were used for Terror in Mindoro –- a book on the Mindoro killings published by Justice for Eden and Eddie, Justice for All in cooperation with the Ecumenical Consortium for a Just Peace –- showed their bodies bearing marks of torture.

The killings of Marcellana and Gumanoy stirred public outrage enough to get Palparan relieved from the 204th Infantry Battalion and transferred to Rizal. His Oriental Mindoro record, based on Karapatan data, totaled 326 human rights violations involving 1,219 individual victims.

In the very week of Palparan's transfer to Rizal, based on an article by Bulatlat’s Aubrey Makilan, the chief of a barangay (village) security force in Antipolo City was killed. Before that he was repeatedly questioned by the military on his alleged connections with the New People's Army (NPA).

Iraq mission

In February 2004, Palparan was assigned to head an AFP contingent sent on a “humanitarian” mission to Iraq. He returned seven months later, was given a Medal of Valor, and appointed chief of staff of the Philippine Army.

In February 2005 he was called back into the field as commanding officer of the 8th Infantry Division, which covers Eastern Visayas. The most prominent victims of human rights violations in the region during Palparan’s stint there are lawyer Felidito Dacut, youth organizer Marvin Montabon, and Rev. Edison Lapuz.

Dacut, 51, a leader of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and Bayan Muna in Eastern Visayas, was on his way home aboard a jeepney when killed March 14, 2005. As the jeepney cruised along Arellano Street in Tacloban City, Leyte, two men aboard a motorcycle drove near the victim, and one fired a shot behind him. The bullet pierced through his heart and instantly killed him.

Earlier that day, soldiers had gone to Montabon’s home in Tarangnan, Samar and shot him before burning the house. The young man was burned inside the house.

Lapuz, Eastern Visayas conference minister of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and chairman of Katungod-Sinirangang Bisayas, the Eastern Visayas chapter of Karapatan, had just come from the burial of his father when he was killed May 12, 2005. He was then busy organizing a mining conference for church people in the region.

Palparan's record in Eastern Visayas shows a total of 570 human rights violations involving 7,561 individuals, 1,773 families, 110 communities and ten organizations all in a span of six months –- based on Karapatan data.

In September last year, Palparan was assigned to head the 7th Infantry Division –- thus bringing him back to Central Luzon more than 20 years after he was first deployed there.

Aging men, women, children, and youths as victims

Among the more prominent victims of human rights violations in Central Luzon under Palparan’s command are Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan, both students of the University of the Philippines (UP); and peasant organizer Manuel Merino –- who were abducted by soldiers on June 26 in Hagonoy, Bulacan and are still missing.

Empeño, a graduating BA Sociology student, was in Hagonoy doing research on a peasant community for her thesis.

It was dawn and she and Cadapan, a youth organizer in the same town, were asleep when soldiers barged into the hut they were staying in. The fact that Cadapan was then five months pregnant did not protect her from a punch in the stomach. Both were blindfolded; in Empeño’s case, her eyes were covered with a shirt that had been forcibly removed from her.

The soldiers then proceeded to Merino’s hut a few steps away and took him as well.

A Sept. 3 report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer cited Karapatan data pointing to 136 cases of human rights violations in Central Luzon under Palparan's command from September 2005 to August 2006. Of these, there were 71 summary executions, five massacres, 14 frustrated killings, and 46 enforced disappearances.

From the various interviews that Palparan has given to the media all these years, he has come across as one who is wont to boast of his accomplishments. He claimed victory against the Moro “rebels” in Patikul, Sulu and he has been claiming victory after victory against the communist “rebels” after that.

Whenever he exits from an assignment, however, he leaves behind a list of victims of human rights violations –- civilians at that, and many of the more prominent ones being aging men, women, children, and youths barely out of adolescence.

Thus is the trail that Palparan leaves behind when he retires this Sept. 11. He exits from the military in the very good graces of the Arroyo administration, which conferred awards on him –- first the Medal of Valor in 2004 and then the Distinguished Service Star Award earlier this year –- and heaps lavish praises on him, as Macapagal-Arroyo did during her State of the Nation Address (SoNA) last July, and has now even given him a new job. Bulatlat

MAGPAKATAPANG, MAGPAKALALAKI
Alexander Martin Remollino

Ito pala ang katuturan
Ng katapangan at pagiging isang tunay na lalaki:
Ang kitlin ang "rebelyon"
Sa pamamagitan ng pagpapakitil sa mga buhay
Ng mga walang sandata --

Mga may-kagulangan nang lalaki
Mga babae
Mga baguntao
Mga paslit

(Kaya pala sinabitan ng Medalya ng Kagitingan
At naproklamang isang "tunay na lalaki"
Si Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, Jr.)

Mga kalalakihan:
Magpakatapang! Magpakalalaki!
Tularan si Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, Jr.

DARKNESS BEFORE NIGHT
Alexander Martin Remollino

They did not rage against the dying of the light:
The darkness seized them before the birth of the night.

LAKAD NA WALANG USAD
Alexander Martin Remollino

Ang hindi lumingon sa pinanggalingan,
Di makararating sa paroroonan.
-- Salawikaing Tagalog

Ako'y hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan
Kaya walang mararating, walang paroroonan...
--Dong Abay, "Aba Aba"

Doon po sa aming bayang sinilangan,
Di uso'ng paglingon sa pinanggalingan.
Lagi naming haka'y ang paroroonan
Ay mararating na sa ilang hakbang lang.
Sa haba ng lakad, katapus-tapusan --
Kami'y di umalis sa pinagsimulan.

EX-PMA CADET ON ADDITIONAL 'COUNTER-INSURGENCY' FUND:
‘IT MIGHT ONLY BE USED FOR POLITICAL KILLINGS’

“The budget for counter-insurgency should not be increased, because we are not sure whether the money would indeed be used for counter-insurgency. It might only be used for political killings.” Striking words these – from a young man who had braced himself for a military officer’s career all his life.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat

“The budget for counter-insurgency should not be increased, because we are not sure whether the money would indeed be used for counter-insurgency. It might only be used for political killings.”

Striking words these – from a young man who had braced himself for a military officer’s career all his life.

Ronald Gian Carlo Cardema, 21, had dreamed of becoming a military officer for as long as he can remember. “I never imagined myself in any career other than that of a military officer,” he told Bulatlat in an interview. He knew about the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) even as a little boy, and prepared for a military officer’s career early on – taking the Cadet Officer Candidate Course (COCC) in high school and eventually becoming corps commander of his Citizens’ Army Training (CAT) batch. He did the same at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna (UPLB) and became an officer of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC).

A consistent honor student from grade school, he was a scholar taking up BS Biology – though he had no plans of becoming a doctor – when he took the PMA entrance examinations. “The success of an officer is not only measured by the stars on his uniform, rather it is in harnessing all the means to use his position and authority to serve his countrymen well, to inspire his men with good deeds. That’s success,” he wrote as his motto in one of his forms. He got in, was consistently among the top five of his class, and should have been in his third year there by now.

Last May, his uncle Noel “Noli” Capulong – a leader of the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR), the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance), Southern Tagalog Environmental Action Movement (STEAM), and the Movement of Concerned Citizens for Civil Liberties (MCCCL) – was gunned down by bonnet-wearing men riding motorcycles near his home in Calamba City, Laguna.

Ronald was then on a rest period from the PMA, having been taken ill a few months back. He asked permission to extend his leave and was allowed to do so, he said.

Grief and anger drove him to write an open letter condemning his uncle’s slay and other extra-judicial killings. In it, he revealed that persons he knew as intelligence agents frequently visited his uncle’s house before the latter was killed. He would send the letter to all political groups he knew of – from Left to Right. The letter circulated all over the Internet.

A few weeks later, he returned to the PMA – and found himself getting dismissed. The official reason given for his dismissal was that he went absent without leave.

Late last month, he was surprised to find his name on the news – as a “rebel” who had studied communism in Laguna and gone on to infiltrate the PMA! The “information” was leaked by sources who remain unknown.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, a PMA graduate and a former Marine commander, took up his case and offered to help in having him reinstated.

He politely refused, saying he just wants to get on with life at this point, as a civilian. Though he remains an avid observer of developments in the military institution, he has lost all interest in getting another shot at his aborted military education. He is preparing to get back into UPLB, but ultimately plans to shift to BA Political Science at UP Diliman. He now has his sights on a new career prospect: the legal profession.

Below are excerpts from his interview with Bulatlat:

What is it in the military life that fascinated you?

It was the term “the most noble profession,” referring to the military man’s job, that struck my mind the most. I saw that soldiers are disciplined, and they help each other out whenever there are things that need to be done, to succeed in their plans.

Were you aware that your Tito Noli was an activist early on?

When I was little, we didn’t really know of it, of activism. Even when I was in high school, we didn’t know of it. It was only when I was in college that I became more aware of activism, through my classmates who were activists.

About my Tito Noli, he was quiet at home. He would only speak if you asked him something, he was that kind of person.

One time I saw him speak (at a rally) in Calamba, and I saw that he was pushing for his views for the betterment of the nation. That’s when I realized that he was an activist.

In the letter of yours that circulated around the Internet, you said that it was here at UPLB that you learned patriotism. How did that come to be?

Even when I was in the ROTC and the said organization is military-based, we were always aware that we students at the State University have our studies funded by the people. We are indebted to the people, because our government is funded by the people. It was thus that I realized that we should be very patriotic because our studies are really funded by the people, so we should give back to the people.

It is worth noting that included in the reading list on your Friendster profile are the likes of Renato Constantino and the Simbulans (Dante and Roland) – who are known to have strongly criticized the military at various instances. What made you interested in their writings?

Dr. Dante Simbulan, the father of Roland Simbulan, is a PMAer. I read one of his books, The Modern Principalia, and what he is saying there is very right. I thought that if PMAers discussed social problems like he does, it would be good. What’s wrong if military men discuss social problems? He himself used to be with the military, and was a member of the Corps of Professors at the PMA at that. I thought, if his views are like that, it should not be wrong for us to also think critically about our society.

As for Roland Simbulan, I saw his website and it was only then that I found that he’s the son of Dr. Dante Simbulan. I read his articles there and they were good – articles on the environment and other topics. I also know him to be a faculty regent at UP and that gives his views more weight. You see his position, see that he’s a regent at UP, you would really look into what he’s saying. His writings are good.

As for Renato Constantino, I read his book The Filipinos in the Philippines and Other Essays. He urged us to place more confidence in ourselves as a race, taught us that we don’t have to degrade ourselves before foreigners who should be the ones to adapt to our terms when they visit the Philippines.

As one who was able to spend quite some time at the PMA, you must have heard of the likes of Crispin Tagamolila and what they did during the Marcos period. What do you think of him and what he did?

I read about Tagamolila in a book by someone who also used to be a military officer, retired Navy Capt. Danilo Vizmanos.

I bought the book because I saw that it was written by someone who went to the U.S. to study at King’s Point, and afterwards became a navy officer. That was my first reason for buying the book. I then saw that the book was dedicated to Lt. Crispin Tagamolila.

I think he was really patriotic. Captain Vizmanos makes readers like myself realize that people like Lieutenant Tagamolila who were already officers of the Armed Forces and were privileged with benefits left the service to go over to the other side and take to the hills, where they have none of the privileges and benefits they had as military officers. If you care for nothing but money, why would you do such a thing?

I realized that people like him are really patriotic and they cast their lot in defense of those of our countrymen who suffer. They dedicated their lives just for that. (In the hills) they make do with little food and distance from their families. That’s patriotism.

During the peak of military restiveness, some newspaper columnists branded the PMA as a “breeding ground of destabilizers,” supposedly because many of those who have led mutinies were PMA graduates. As a former PMA cadet, what can you say about this?

It now seems funny because recently, UP was also branded as a “training ground destabilizers.” So what’s that – UP and PMA are training grounds for destabilizers? Three of our cabinet members are from the PMA, if I’m not mistaken. There are others who are from UP.

We can say such statements are irresponsible... And I think many of those they call “destabilizers” may be destabilizing only corrupt officials and are not really aiming to bring down the government, they may only want change in the policies of the government.

Talking about military restiveness, what do you think about the various forms of protest staged by military men thus far under the Arroyo administration – from the so-called Magdalo group to the likes of Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim?

Technically these are beyond the boundaries of the Constitution, but we all know that what they are fighting for, their views, their idealism, are correct. The Constitution does not provide for these types of action, but we have seen that they didn’t do that to demand money or whatever: they were demanding benefits not only for themselves but also for their foot soldiers.

The ones who did those actions were among the best of the best.

Lt. Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes IV was the Honor Committee chairman when he was a cadet at the PMA. He was in charge of maintaining honor in the ranks of the cadets. Those who joined the Magdalo group were usually among the top ten in their classes... They were the really battle-tested ones: most of them are Marines, Scout Rangers, Special Forces – they are the ones who lay their lives on the line in the battlefield, and they really realized the problems.

Your Tito Noli is one of the many, many victims of political killings under the Arroyo administration. What are your observations on the political killings?

I don’t really know who perpetrates the political killings, but these are very cruel... Those are very inhumane.

My uncle was on his way home after selling a few baskets of eggs when he was suddenly gunned down.

Government is being pointed to as the one responsible for these killings. Even if we say for the sake of argument that it is not the government that perpetrates these, at least it should be able to solve these.

If they are really the ones doing these, (they should realize that) political killings are useless because the military cannot capture the hearts and minds of the people (by going on a killing spree). Even if you finish them all off, all those against the government, you can’t kill off the ideas. Their views would only make a greater dent on the consciousness of the people.

The budget for counter-insurgency should not be increased, because we are not sure whether the money would indeed be used for counter-insurgency. It might only be used for political killings.

What do you think of the “all-out war” declared by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo against the Left?

I don’t think the government will win it. Because I have read that during the time of President Ferdinand Marcos, there was already an all-out war, against the Moros and against the communists. That was Martial Law, and however much power the military had then, it lost the war. The people they called “enemies of the state” grew in number and strength. Based on that experience, I can’t really say whether the government can hope for victory now.

How do you see the mistahs you left behind at the PMA in the next few years? Do you see any reforms coming for the military as an institution?

I know that the mistahs I left behind there are good and capable people. I know they will do what is right, I know they want our country to be peaceful and the war to stop and the nation to develop.

I know that the military has established a Grievance Committee to hear out problems raised by soldiers and that they are building houses for soldiers. Those are the developments I’ve been hearing about.

I know of many competent soldiers and officers. They either have left the service or are in prison. So I don’t know what development there will be for the military.

Now that you have decided to just live a civilian life, what career path are you now thinking of – and why?

I am going through the process of reinstatement here, and I intend to shift to any pre-law course and proceed to law school. Before I thought that by being a soldier I can defend myself and others – the victims of oppression – through arms. But now that I have lost the chance to bear arms, I think I can defend those who are oppressed through debate, as a lawyer. Bulatlat