I AM WRITING this to report several incidents of suspected military surveillance and harassment against me. Last May 1, at around 9 in the morning, a neighbor reported that a blue van was spotted slowing down in front of our house in Quezon City, seemingly doing surveillance.
At least four men were inside the van. He said that at least one wore camouflage pants and military jackets were hanging at the back of the van, visible through the rear view mirror.
He reported it to security guards of the village which confirmed that indeed, a group of men entered the village. The guards said the driver identified himself as MSgt Federico Sagun Tambacao, Jr. and presented an military ID card. They said they were going to pick-up something at a house a few blocks away from ours but they did not know and could not tell the guards the exact address of their destination.
Suspicious, the security guard followed the van. The men ended up not picking up anything and not going to their said destination. He approached them and asked them to turn back and leave the village.
I was inside the house at that time preparing to leave for the Labor Day mobilization.
After the Mayo Uno rally program ended, I stayed at Mendiola and chatted with one of my colleagues in Anakbayan. I noticed a man holding a cellphone who kept looking at me from a few feet away.
He stayed and hovered around while we talked. I grew suspicious and sensed that he might be following me. I decided not to walk alone and went near the rally stage, which was still being disassembled. I tried to go out of his line of sight. Luckily, the jeepney of the youth delegation passed near me, giving me a chance to get away. I immediately boarded the jeepney and as our vehicle passed by him, I saw him stand up, anxiously searching, and looking at the direction where I initially went.
This incident is the latest among the many cases of suspected military activities targeting me and other activist youth leaders. A few months ago, suspected military agents broke into the venue of our youth leaders’ meeting in the middle of the night and stole all our laptops and gadgets.
These incidents occurred at a time when more than a dozen other cases of military attacks against the youth were being recorded, which included the harassment of UP students doing field work in Pampanga, which included Anakbayan Vice Chairperson Anton Dulce; the assault and attempted murder of UP student leader Lordei Hina in the UP student council office; and deployment of intelligence officers in various youth assemblies.
These cases show that the policy of targeting activists and critics continue under the Aquino administration’s (anti-insurgency operations) Oplan Bayanihan. Human rights group Karapatan already recorded 137 victims of extrajudicial killings, 72 victims of torture, 498 cases of illegal arrests, and 30,260 victims of forced evacuation under Aquino.
Recently, the Aquino administration has announced its intent to terminate the peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines – which could also be an indication that it is planning to intensify military offensives and step up its attacks against activists. His government’s sabotage of the talks show Aquino’s insincerity in pushing for genuine reforms necessary to solve the root causes of the insurgency – landlessness, oppression and poverty – and attain just and lasting peace.
We condemn Aquino’s attacks against the youth and progressive leaders. The activist leaders are being targeted for exposing Aquino and his kapartidos as anti-people, pro-foreign and pro-elite. Youth leaders have recently led campaigns against tuition hikes, Aquino’s budget cuts on social services, government ‘noynoying,’ KKK corruption, intensifying US intervention and Comelec’s plan to automate cheating to favor administration candidates and Malacanang puppet groups like Akbayan.
The progressive leaders have been most consistent in pushing for genuine land reform, higher wages for workers, national liberation, human rights, social justice and change – programs which Aquino, his landlord ilk and his sipsip puppets despise and try to frustrate.
The oppressors are mistaken if they think repression and fascism will defeat the people’s movement. These cowardly attacks against activist organizations and their leaders further stoke the fires of outrage and further show the need to intensify the struggle for genuine freedom and democracy.
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