By ML MARIGZA
www.nordis.net

BANGUED, Abra — The victories and experiences of the people who were tortured, displaced and still suffering the trauma of the dark nights of Martial Law should be documented and retold.

In gist, these were the challenges of two Abra priests we interviewed early this week. President Father Cirilo Ortega of Divine Word College and Fr. Renato Amasi of Bangued parish posed these challenges as they recalled their experiences during the Cellophil Resources Corporation struggle in the 80s. Cellophil Resources Corporation and Cellulose Processing Corporation were two giant logging projects in Abra, Kalinga and Mt Province promoted by Marcos and funded by the World Bank.

The two projects would have logged-out the thick forests of these provinces for paper and cellulose primarily for foreign consumption. It would have dried the mighty headwaters of the major rivers not only of Cordillera but also of the Ilocos provinces where the rivers flow. Farmers in Gaddani, Tayum were evicted from their rice fields and homes to give way to the companies’ headquarters and processing plants.

The people of three provinces opposed the projects and launched local, provincial and interprovincial campaigns to stop the logging of the forests and the destruction of their lands. The community churches had to guide their flock through this strife against the destruction of their livelihood and homes. Through the Basic Christian Communities, lay leaders, cathechists, nuns, the youth and the priests joined the people in the challenge.

Fr. Ortega, who was then a newly ordained priest, recalls that they were followed, the military would attend all their activities to spy on them. Fr. Amasi who also had just been ordained resorted to keeping clothes in many parishes because he could not know when his time to be arrested comes. His parish priest was then, the late Fr. Conrado Balweg.

Many local leaders were arrested and placed in jail. Some were killed, many were forcibly evacuated by the troops of Marcos and the goons of the local warlords. Defense Secretary Arturo Barbero, an Abrenian, mobilized the Presidential Security Group to spy on and silence the people. Many, including priests were included in the Order of Battle of the military.

The opposition to the CRC-CPC project reached the people on a national level. Notwithstanding martial law, the people were steadfast in the campaign to stop the logging which prompted support from others who were also affected by large scale corporate logging projects. The CRC-CPC resistance coincided with the fierce resistance of the Bontoks and Kalingas to the Chico Dam project which like the CRC-CPC was a mega project funded by the same World Bank.

Fr. Ortega recalls that the traditional bilateral bodong (peace pacts) assumed a multilateral character when bodong holders of Abra, Mt Province and Kalinga united in a bodong to oppose development aggression in their areas. He described that a local institution became an interprovincial instrument to forge unity among the people and introduce the Igorot consciousness that encompassed tribes and peoples who were separate and diverse.

On deeper reflection, he said the twin struggles and the knowledge that a people united can not be cowed or bent propelled the consciousness of the people and the formation of higher unities among them.

Eventually, the CRC-CPC logging activities and the Chico dam project were stopped. The people were again victorious in another struggle to defend life, land and resources for the next generation of indigenous peoples. Of course, the victory of the people does not hide the fact that a lot of lives were lost and maimed.

Fr. Amasi wishes the stories of the brave fight will be remembered by the next generation. Fr. Ortega hopes schools would be able to program this knowledge transfer to their students and to the communities either in print, in songs, poems, in theater, and in visual arts.

Those of us who have lived through the dark years of Martial Law wish these stories will be told and retold so we can with faith say: Never again to martial rule! # nordis.net