Peasants victimised by military Her name was Angelita and she was 10 years old, though exceptionally small for her age from malnourishment. Her eyes were wide and she chewed on a handkerchief, but her voice was clear and earnest as she related how she had witnessed the murder of her father, Jesus Nonsul, by the military.
Angelita was only one of many peasants from the barrios of Buenavista and Lopez in Southern Tagalog, Luzon, who had come to testify before a human rights fact-finding mission.
The fact-finding mission included 30 people from the Task Force for Detainees; MABINI, a lawyers' human rights group, Friends of the People of Quezon; and other human rights organizations.
The aims of the mission were to investigate reported military atrocities, to publicize its findings, and to provide material, legal and moral support to the victims. The investigation took place at Guinayangan in Quezon Province, a six-and-a-half-hour drive southeast of Manila. Deb SHNOOKAL the NPA, he said, he was hit with a rifle butt. He was held by the army for several days. "We're afraid of the military, but not the NPA," he said. "We provide them with food if we can. But we don't want to associate with the NPA because we're afraid of the military, not because we don't agree with them," he stressed.
"We don't hold it against people if they take up arms against the government. The people will give them food and water," he said. "The military are very unreasonable. They never listen to the people. Things have gotten worse here since 1983." Young peasant tortured
Froilan Malveda is another young peasant from Buenavista. He was arrested by the 16th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army in May 1983 along with his neighbor Edwin Malapote. He was accused of collecting money for the NPA. He experienced various forms of torture at the hands of a Sergeant Fidel Mendoza, infamous for such activities. Mendoza has since been transferred to another province.
Before being released, Malapote and Malveda were forced to sign statements admitting they had been NPA members, but now supported the government. Malveda insisted he did not know what he was signing at the time.
Other testimonies were given to the lawyers by women such as Loreta Dia and Juanita Macaraig, whose husbands had been salvaged. Some like Ida Capili had not yet located the bodies of their husbands.
Sergio Papica, 54, described the abduction of his 15-year-old son, Isagani, by 20 government troops of the 47th Philippine Constabulary. His corpse was found later, along with two others, riddled with 17 bullet holes.
Diego Querobin, a farmer, was on his way to sell his copra when he met some men in civilian clothes. According to witnesses they took him to a military camp. His naked body was found next day in a nearby river with 18 stab wounds and obvious signs of torture.
Felicitas Fresco, a barangay [village or neighborhood] councilwoman from Buenavista who had come to give evidence on the Nonsul murder, commented that it had only been since 1983 that the military had made its presence felt in the area. She described many cases she knew about of torture, both physical and mental, threats, arrests and the looting of property such as chickens from farmers.
"The reason for the military presence," she said, "is the peasants' support for the NPA. The NPA apparently helps the people - by settling land disputes and protecting the rights of the common people."
When Fresco was asked if she was afraid to testify, she replied with confidence, looking around the room, "P'm not afraid because I'm telling the truth."
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Quezon Province is a typical example of capitalism imposed on a feudal system of agriculture resulting in the utter impoverishment of the people. Most of the province is owned by the Gala and Rodriguez families. The principal product here is copra — the dried kernel of coconut from which oil is extracted.
The imposition of martial law by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1972 only increased the burden on the peasants in this province. Now they were not only subjected to extreme economic exploitation, exacerbated by the fall in copra prices, but also became victims of the increasing harassment by the army, the Philippine Constabulary and the paramilitary Civil Home Defense Force. These attacks are made under the guise of the so-called counterinsurgency program against the New People's Army (NPA), a guerrilla movement led by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CCP), said to have up to 20,000 people under arms.
A project entitled "Chains of Love" (Oplan Cadenda de Amor) was launched in this area as part of this program. This fake civic works project and its successor Oplan Katatagan have failed completely to "win the hearts and minds" of the people. The ever-increasing atrocities committed by the military have only further alienated the peasants from the Marcos government. Militarization of Quezon
About 7,000 military personnel are presently based in Quezon. This militarization has meant widespread abuses against the people such as massacres of peasants and their families, "salvaging" (summary executions), abductions, torture, illegal detentions, arbitrary arrests, looting and other crimes.
In the first seven months of 1984, 20 cases of salvaging, 60 disappearances, and 36 arrests were reported in Quezon Province alone. However, Quezon is not International Viewpoint 28 January 1984
Anti-Marcos demonstration in Manila (DR) the hardest-hit province. The island of Mindanao, where both the NPA and the Muslim Moro National Liberation Front guerrillas are fighting government forces, last year saw 265 salvagings, 115 disappearances and 1,643 political arrests.
The September fact-finding mission included seven lawyers from MABINI, who took affidavits from a number of victims and witnesses with the intention of laying formal charges against the Philippine armed forces.
Carlito Buton, a 23-year old farmer from the barrio of de la Paz, Buenavista, described some of the problems he and described some of the problems he and people are afraid of the military, but they suffer very poor conditions. Most are tenant farmers, growing coconuts, rice, corn, peanuts and a few vegetables. They must surrender two-thirds of their produce to the landlord, while having to meet all the costs of such items as fertilizer themselves. "To meet our needs we often have to go to the landlord to ask for extra work," he explained.
Buton was arrested in June 1983 and accused of being an NPA sympathizer. Every time he denied any knowledge of
Hearings held in schoolroom
The testimonies were given in a crowded schoolroom in the small fishing town of Guinayangan. Many of the witnesses had walked 20 kilometers or more despite harassment and intimidation from the military. As they spoke with the lawyers and other members of the fact-finding mission, several obvious stooges for the military tried to listen in to what they were saying. Fresco's confident answer was obviously direct at these spies.
It was decided that the witnesses and the fact-finding mission members should stay together that night for protection and sleep in the large hall behind the convento, the local priest's house. Watch was kept all night in case of provocation or attack.
Guinayangan was itself the scene of a massacre in February 1980. A large group of peasants had been on their way to join a rally against an increase in the coconut tax when they were ambushed by the military. Two people were killed and 19 were wounded. The governor of the province, Eladio Cadiwara, whitewashed the whole affair.
After evidence was taken from 23 of the victims and witnesses, local people brought a simple meal of rice and fish. Following the meal, the lawyers gathered the people together to explain to them their rights and what to do if they were arrested or raided in the future.
The faces of the men and women were serious and attentive as they listened, while some children slept curled on grass mats on the concrete floor. Many questions were asked, especially by women. A woman lawyer, Leo Batat, concluded the meeting by saying, "If you permit fear to get into your hearts, then they will trample on your rights."
In fact, courage and determination are the only weapons these people have. Another young lawyer, speaking to me later, expressed great concern that these people may suffer further reprisals from the armed forces. "We can only really help them by publicizing their cases, and that's all," he said. "Their backs are against the wall. They have to fight or they will be slaughtered."
The next morning we all rose early. The local people again provided a breakfast of rolls, rice cakes and coffee. Some of the young men had a guitar, and they sat around singing nationalist songs in sweet low voices - such words as "What greater love is there than the love of the country that nurtured you?"
Then we set off in a convoy of a bus and a jeep carrying the witnesses along the rough, unpaved road to the highway, the blackening clouds of an approaching typhoon behind us. At the highway the fact-finding mission members parted from the peasants, who then faced their long walk home and an uncertain future.
Intercontinental Press October 15, 1984 18
JAPAN