THEY DESERVE to die. They are activists and noisy. The Philippines is peaceful without them. These are some of the comments one can read after stories of human rights violations under Martial Law of the Marcos dictatorship are posted on social media.
Oscar Labastilla narrated a true story that happened in Barangay Tagapua, San Franciso, Agusan del Sur in January 1973.
Labastilla shared his story in a virtual session called “Evening of Truth” where survivors told their stories. His daughter, Skeeter, then wrote his story on what living in fear and violence felt like.
In 1973, a Manobo tribe lived in a small barangay called Tagapua in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur. Around 300 tribesmen, women and children tended a farm, raised animals, did their weaving, and lived a peaceful life.
When the Philippine Constabulary (PC) grew in power, they harassed the tribe by taking their harvest and animals.
The Manobos were helpless and furious for 12 months of constant abuse and harassment before the Martial Law Referendum on Jan. 10 to 15, 1973.
Filipinos were given a “choice” to vote if they wanted Martial Law to continue or not. One classroom was assigned for the Manobos of Tagapua where they all voted “No”.
However, all the assigned teachers tasked to oversee the referendum were instructed by Presidential Assistant on Community Development (PACD) that regardless of the results, they must report at least 90% “Yes” and 10% “No”.
The helpless teachers assigned in voting precincts, including that in Tagapua, followed the instructions, and reported 90% “Yes” to Martial Law.
In anger, the Manobos almost beheaded a teacher right there and then. His head was hacked at least halfway by a bolo.
The senior member of the tribe was named Aporto, a known cult member from Leyte who was believed to have possessed a power that made him impenetrable to bullets.
Someone reported the incident to the town priest, Dutch Fr. Engelbert, who then ran to the school supervisor, Mr. Porfonio Lapa, pleading for him to come along.
The school supervisor was the father of Baltic Lapa, Labastilla’s former roommate in an apartment while they were both working at the Provincial Assessor’s Office.
Mr. Lapa went to confide with his son, Engineer Baltic Lapa, at the Romana Pol Building which was the temporary capitol of Agusan del Sur at that time.
Labastilla was with Baltic when Mr. Lapa arrived. It was around 5 p.m.
Mr. Lapa told his son Baltic that there was an emergency in Tagapua – ateacher was killed by the Manobos.
He was hesitant to go as he had high fever that time. Baltic gave the blue jacket he was wearing to his father along with some medicine.
Off they went to Tagapua – Mr Lapa, Dutch priest Fr. Engelbert and a policeman.
They never came back.
It was past midnight when Baltic and the Labastilla police visited them and asked them to immediately go to the morgue.
Mr. Lapa’s head was hanging on the table, barely connected to his neck. He was still wearing the blue jacket Baltic gave him.
He, too, took the brunt and the rage of the Manobos for the abuse and atrocities they suffered for generations.
The following week was a blood bath. The PC stormed Barangay Tagapua and murdered at least eight members of the tribe who were helplessly fighting with their bolos against guns and automatic rifles of the PC.
This incident was not reported then for fear of their lives.
Sketeer then asked: Who was to blame?
“Who created the monster out of the Manobos but the Philippine Constabulary? Who created the monster out of the PC but the unquestioned power of Martial Law?” she asked.
Many argue that Marcos’s reign was a “golden age”, that Martial Law was beneficial to the country as Filipinos at that time were the most disciplined they have ever seen.
However, many Filipinos fail to see and understand what really went on behind the “discipline” that the Marcos administration forced upon every individual – curfews, veiled threats, detainment, torture, disappearances and even death.
Life under the dictatorship was deadly, especially for those who stood against Marcos.
“Our martial law experience bore strange unwanted fruits…the colossal damage wrought under the oppressive conditions of the period. The cries of justice for the tortured, the murdered, and the desaparecidos arouse outrage and sympathy in the hearts of the fair-minded, yet the dispensation of the appropriate relief due them cannot be extended through the same caprice or whim that characterized the ill-wind of martial rule.” – Supreme Court (Mijares vs Ranada, G.R. No. 139325, April 12, 2005)
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Atty. Dennis Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, email info@sapalovelez.com, or call 09175025808 or 09088665786.)/PN
