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Militant leaders fear for their lives as harassments, threats heighten

BAGUIO CITY (Feb. 16) — With recent deaths of political activists like Romy Sanchez, Jose “Pepe” Manegdeg and Albert Terredaño, some militants gathered together to express their continued fear from imminent danger of political killings, illegal surveillance, recent threats and intimidation against leaders of peoples’ organizations based here in Baguio City.

The Cordillera Peoples Alliance-Tongtongan Ti Umili (CPA-TTU), the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) and the partylist Bayan Muna-Cordillera have spoken of the current experiences of “harassment and intense surveillance by suspected members of the military.”

CHRA’s Beverly Longid shared that these attacks are in line with the government’s plot of ‘knowing the enemy.’ Longid said that some time last year, a video presentation about the alleged enemies of the state was shown publicly.

Among the ‘enemies’ were the progressive organizations such as CPA, APIT-TAKO (Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas), and the opposition partylists Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela Women’s Party labelled as front organizations of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) – the so-called terrorists of the country.

Longid elaborated that the process of ‘knowing the enemy’ has been maneuvered into ‘finding the enemy’ to eventually ‘killing the enemy.’ ‘Finding the enemy’ deals with surveillance, filing charges for cases without proper warrants, thus, committing illegal detention. ‘Killing the enemy’ has been the activists’ most loathsome predicament. Longid revealed that Oplan Bantay Laya was launched in January 2002, supposedly to end in 2007.

Longid then expressed that the government has no formal pronouncement of police policy and yet the killings continue.

“GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) has not denounced the killings. Let the people know of the Oplan Bantay Laya. And besides, the rationale of a partylist is to represent the marginalized, thus, the progressive partylists are the most active members of the Congress. These (threats) are a mere trend of silencing any opposition,” she elaborated.

She added, “How are we called terrorists or threats? We have no violation of the law upon doing our activities. There is no clear distinction between civilian activists and armed revolutionaries.”

Bayan Muna’s national vice-chairperson Manny Loste said that the government’s accusations against the partylist being a front organization is illogical. “We are registered in the Commission on Elections (COMELEC). We have an open office, our addresses are known. It’s actually an oxymoron that the people called intelligence agents report falsely, report wrong information,” Loste reacted to the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) tagging them as threats to the society.

Furthermore, he explained that there is no truth of the accusation they are using the partylist’s money for funding CPP or the NPA’s activities. “What money are they accusing us of using improperly? The funds for projects do not pass by our hands directly. We only propose or recommend projects that would benefit the people. And the money goes directly from Congress to the local government finance unit of the concerned project area,” he detailed.

Shadows luring

TTU’s spokesperson Chie Galvez reported on the chronology of events suspected of harassments and illegal supervision that occurred last year until present.

“From January to December 2005, intensified monitoring, surveillance, harassment and intimidation have been experienced by members of CPA. There have been tinted vans, parked taxis with antennas, balut vendors in daylight roam in front of CPA office for no apparent reason except that these people are obviously watching our moves very closely,” Galvez clarified.

Galvez also shared that their office telephones have been receiving anonymous calls from early morning to midnight.

Santi Mero, CPA education committee member and Defend Patrimony spokesperson, has been a victim of pestering unknown men who followed him frequently. Last year on October 3, Mero’s house had been forcibly opened. He also his cellular phone to a snatcher.

October 7, 2005 at around 11 P.M., the CPA office’s gate lock was dislodged; their vegetable garden was destroyed until one CPA member inside the office shouted which startled the intruders. And to open this year, last January 4, the CPA office was again intruded.

On November 6, around 7-8 P.M., CPA’s Chairperson Joan Carling was followed by a motorcycle-riding man with a helmet. She was followed all through from their office to her home.

“Pag bumibilis siya (Joan), bumibilis din ang takbo nung naka-motor. Nung bumagal si Joan para makita kung sino nga ang sumusunod sa kanya, bumabagal din ung naka-motor. Malinaw na talagang sinusundan siya nun,” (Whatever was Joan’s pacing was tracked by the motorcycle man; if she speeds up, he does too. When she tried to catch a glimpse of the motorcycle man, the man slowed down too) said Galvez giving details on the incident.

Last January 28, around 3-4 P.M., Carling’s cellular phone was stolen along Session Rd., her other valuables were intact.

Also in January, Galvez had her own share of suspicious following. Around 7:30-8 P.M., a man was tagging behind her wherever she headed that time. She imparted, “Nung sumakay ako ng jeep, sumakay din sya. Pero nakapansin ako kaya bumaba ako at bumaba din naman sya. When I tried to ‘lose’ him by buying some street foods, he too bought some street foods.” (When I rode the jeepney, he rode too. I immediately noticed, so I decided to just go down, but he still followed me.)

Carling’s car parked just outside her home was recklessly opened on the dawn of February 11, 2006. The car stereo, some big costly flashlights, among others, were not stolen, but the only things lost were a photocopy of her driver’s license and a few important vehicle documents.

As of the last account, on February 13, Mero, from Galvez’ house, was followed by the man who also followed the latter sometime last month. They have concluded that it was the same man since they have engaged in collaborative description.

Galvez claimed that these recurring incidents could not be denied suspicion. “This is a clear threat to life, to our lives. There are countless cases of violations and political activists killed,” Galvez concluded. She also said that as soon as they have more investigations, they would present some cartographic sketches of their suspected military and paramilitary stalkers. Lastly, in their statements, CHRA, CPA and Bayan Muna call for “an intensified campaign against violence threatening to engulf the country, thus, the call for the immediate ouster of Arroyo.” # Pink-Jean Fangon Melegrito for NORDIS

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