In my previous "GPH-NDFP Peace Process for the Third Quarter of 2011" entry, Part I, I spoke at length about the ongoing JASIG impasse. JASIG, or the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees, is a 1995 Joint Agreement that was designed to protect CPP/NPA/NDFP members directly involved in the Peace Process. Back in the first and only Round of the current GPH-NDFP cycle, in February of 2011, GPH Peace Panel Chairperson Alexander "Alex" Padilla had his wingman, GPH
Panelist Pablo "Pablito" Sanidad go to work on securing the release of what was then thirteen JASIG-protected personalities.
As Mr.Sanidad quickly found out, the stated task wasn't seriously considered by either Chairperson Padilla OR his superiors in the Aquino Administration. Like Mr.Padilla, Sanidad is an old hand in Philippine politics and just like Padilla he too had seriously flirted with the Philippine Left during the Marcos Era. A truly hellish time for anyone with even a scant shheen of principals, the Left offered the only cohesive way in which to approach the almost insane hypocrisy of Fidel Marcos and the nearly fifteen years of hell he created for the Philippines and its people.
Though Sanidad gravitated towards the other end of the political spectrum after the demise of Marcos in 1985, he still likes to imagine he has managed to retain an iota of scruples and a fair amount of idealism. Who knows? Maybe he is right on both counts. By the looks of it I'm willing to buy into the whole rigamorole since unlike his compatriot Mr.Padilla, Pablo Sanidad put his money where his mouth was and kissed the GPH Peace Panel goodbye.
Of course the powers that be wasted no time in shrugging their shoulders, taking out the master list compiled in July of 2010 and simply moved on to the first runner up, Efren Moncupa. Mr.Moncupa's resume could easily be mistaken for Mr.Sanidad's except for one gigantic discrepancy; Moncupa was arrested by the Marcos Regime and then spent just over a year as a political prisoner. On April 22nd, 1982 MIG-15 (Military Intelligence Group #15) nabbed Moncupa in Metro Manila's Quezon City. In the Government's line of thought vis a vis the GPH Peace Panel, it now has a token political prisoner to trot out in front of the cameras every six weeks or so. IF the NDFP wishes to talk about the detention of prisoners, let them talk to one, so goes the rationale. So what was Mr.Moncupa arrested for you ask? Simply for SUSPECTED membership in the NDFP, which of course was absolutely verboten with the implementation of Martial Law by former dictator Marcos after 1972. As it turned out he was cleared of the charges in two separate, parallel investigations by the AFP, or Armed Forces of the Philippines' Task Force Makabansa and the Quezon City Fiscal's Office. Although the charges involving the NDFP were dropped, Moncupa was still saddled with two other charges:
1) Illegal Posession of Firearms
2) Possesion of Seditious Material
On May 11th, 1983 Moncupa was released but was forbidden to speak publicly about his ordeal. In addition he was forbidden from leaving Metro Manila, obstensibly to prevent him from going underground like so many of his generation did. To those that knew him then, Moncupa would only smile as he described himself as having gotten through his ordeal in one piece.f course in reality the Government had put the screws to him and he promised to do anything they ask
In past incarnations Mr.Moncupa has served as an Under Secretary of Field Operations for the DAR, or the Department of Agrarian Reform, as well as having served on the Board of Administrators for the CDP, or Co-operative Development Corporation, a Government owned corporation. Just as his predecessor Pablo Sanidad, Mr.Moncupa served as an attorney who became well known for championing Human Rights and the rights of the poor. Indeed, when Sanidad was the Chairperson of FLAG, or the Free Legal Assistance Group, Moncupa served as his subordinate on FLAG's Executive Committee.
On September 20th, 2011, Mr.Moncupa got to play King for the Day as none other than P-Noy himself, yep, President Aquino swore in the newest member of the GPH Peace Panel. A man who served a year in prison for being charged with membership in the NDFP now sits with the Government negotiating WITH the NDFP, if this wasn't the Philippines it might be strange. As for how Mr.Moncupa will do, all one can ponder is whether or not Efren Moncupa will demonstrate even half the integrity of Pablito Sanidad. Moreover, when Mr.Sanidad tendered his resignation a news blackout- never a good sign- was implemented so as not to lose any of the momentum that was supposed to have been gained from the February Round in Oslo.
In fact, in the September 6th meeting in Makati where GPH Panel Chairperson Alex Padilla and his NDFP counterpart Luis G.Jalandoni shared a rushed lunch with the Norwegian Ambassador at his official residence in Makati, each man re-committed himself towards changing the status quo vis a vis the GPH-NDFP Peace Process, harnessing whatever momentum still may exist and most importantly, ALWAYS keep redundant lines of communication open so that the Chairpersons may, if they so choose, contact each other OR the Ambassador cum Facilitator personally (Ambassador Tore Lundh ALSO moonlights as the Facilitator of the GPH-NDFP Peace Process).
Chairperson Jalandoni had arrived in the Philippines on August 21st with wife Maria Consuela "Connie" Ledesma who happens to serve on the NDFP Peace Panel as well. This third visit in eleven months was primarily to push the JASIG envelope. To drum this important point home he and his wife paid a vist to most of the thirteen remaining JASIG-protected individuals still incarcerated as well as to touch bases with high ranking CPP/NPA/NDFP cadres.
Finally, Secretary Teresita Quintos Deles of OPAPP, or Office of the Presidential Advisor on the Peace Process, leaned on Congressman Joseph Emilio Abaya of Cavite Province on Luzon to author the Congressional Bill for her department's 2012 Budget. Ms.Deles is seeking a whopping P569.4 Million (US 8.5 Million). Of that astronomical amount a mere P240.29 Million is for OPAPP per se. The remaining amount, P329 Million, is for OPAPP's share of the PAMANA programme. PAMANA, or Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan, a developmemt scheme that is targeting both comprehensive governmental reform AND empowerment and improvement of 970 barangays in CAAs, or Conflict Affected Areas. Though it is nationwide it is particularly targeting Mindanao since this island has the pitiful distinction of being the most war torn of the Philippines' 7,107 islands. If one imagines that the P329 Million earmarked for PAMANA is a tad bit steep, they should realise that OPAPP is merely one of four Governmental entities kicking into the scheme. Between OPAPP and the other three:
1) DSWD, or Department of Social Welfare and Development
2) DPWH, or the Department of Public Works and Highways
3) DAR, or the Department of Agrarian Reform
The P329 Million from OPAPP is mostly earmarked for PAMANA's PDF, or Peace and Development Fund, with P291 Million going to PDF and the remaining P38 Million going for the administration and overhead relating to PDF that OPAPP must now assume. This cash will be disbursed as cash in the form of grants averaging P300,000 ($6,000) to targeted barangays for infrastructure and/or delivery of services. The picking and choosing of projects is reliant upon a mechanism popularly known as CDD (aaaaah, Filipinos and their penchant for acronyms), or, Community Driven Decisionmaking. In other words, barangays themselves will be choosing according to each community's needs as opposed to people who never even been to Mindanao, let alone CAAs and barangays, which are almost always so isolated that the local government almost never shows its face.
When the Budget made its way to the Upper House the Senate wasn't nearly as keen on the package as had been their compatriots in Congress. A couple of notable sticking points were the lack of breakdown as to how each peso will be spent. Then, Secretary Deles was questioned as to why OPAPP would be handling infrastructural development and delivery of basic services when those facets of governance are the provenance of two extant governmental entities, the aforementioned DPWH and the DSWD, respectively. When Deles stumbled the decision on the requested answers and background infi
ormation the decision was deferred. In parting Secretary Deles was also asked to bring a detailed dossier on just why she needed to have P329 Million as opposed to some other ambiguous amount in the stated hope that OPAPP's administrative costs vis a vis the PDF might be lowered substantially. In the end, as I noted, Ms.Deles did end up getting her Budget approved.
Showing posts with label Alexander"Alex"Padilla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alexander"Alex"Padilla. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
GPH-NDFP Peace Process, First Quarter of 2011, Part III: The Release of Angie Ipong
Since the re-initiation of the GPH-NDFP Peace Process (Government of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines) the most pressing issue, at least for the NDFP, has been JASIG. JASIG, or the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees is designed to offer all NDFP members connected with the Peace Process legal protection from arrest and prosecution as well as freedom of movement. While initially, just after the Peace Process re-re-opened [sic], JASIG seemed to be of little concern, it has since turned into the proverbial white elephant.
President Aquino ensured that NDFP Peace Panel Chairman Luis G.Jalandoni and his wife, NDFP Peace Panelist Connie Ledesma each had their names removed from the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) Persona Non-Grata List so that both could re-enter the Philippines (and then leave again when desired). Like virtually all of the chief ideologues of the CPP/NPA, of which the NDFP is merely a front, the couple remains ensconced in voluntary exile in the city of New Utrecht,in the Netherlands. Unlike the rest though, Jalandoni and Ledesma took Dutch citizenship years ago. In this way the couple has a much greater advantage than the rest of the CPP/NPA leadership because unlike their comrades (pun intended) they are somewhat free to travel, as long as it isn't to the Philippines. I say "somewhat" because in 2004, after lobbying by then-President Arroyo, the United States placed the CPP/NPA onto its list of terrorist organisations. Meanwhile, Jalandoni's elderly mother was near death and so the Government offered the ability to travel to and from the Philippines as a Good Will Gesture, though it was far short of the NDFP's "suggestion" that Aquino receive Jalandoni at the Presidential Palace.
President Aquino then enabled the BID modification for the couple and as he did so he took great pains to portray himself as taking the neccessary steps to re-implement JASIG. After the US declaration of the CPP/NPA as a terrorist entity the NPA had withdrawn from the Peace Process. The following year the Government unilaterally suspended JASIG, something it wasn't legally able to do since it is a bi-lateral agreement (though this being the Philippine Government that facts borders on irelevant). While the BID gesture was great in the immediate sense, the fact of the matter is that it seriously jeapordised all JASIG-protected persons.Though the re-implementation of JASIG merely amounted to the Government unilaterally deciding to recognise it.
Then, just hours before Round I of the Formal Talks began in Oslo on February 15th, 2011, the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) arrested yet another JASIG-protected person, CPP General Secretary Alan Jazmines. The AFP, when informed of Jazmines' status as a Consultant to the NDFP's Peace Panel offered this little gem, "To hell with JASIG." That about nails the GPH policy on the agreement to a tee. To smoothe things over, so to speak, GPH Peace Panel Chairperson Alexander "Alex" Padilla had Panelist Pablo "Pablito" Sanidad intercede in the case of one of the then eighteen JASIG-protected persons sitting in detention, Angelina "Angie" Bisuna Ipong.
Angie Ipong,a native of Bicol, obtained a BA in History from Ateneo de Naga University and then joined her husband Boy in performing lay missionary work for various Catholic organisations. Feeling unfufilled at her job reading History at Assumption College in Quezon Province's Lucena City, she and her husband Boy decided to devote themselves fulltime to their Catholic Faith. By the late-1970s the couple decided to move south, to Cebu City. While in Cebu the couple drifted into Liberation Theology, a variant of Catholicism that advocates direct Church involvement in the political process (Whatever happened to "Render unto Caesar"?), and while not condoning violence outright, offering plausability and rationalisation for it so as to allow a great many adherants to cross the fine line from multi-sectoral front partisanship right into violent activity and outright rebellion. Among the people the couple met while in Cebu were a group of radicalised priests from a Maryknoll Residence in Tagum (now Tagum City) in Mindanao's Davao del Norte Province. At the priests' invitation the Ipongs relocated to Tagum and took positions at the Maryknoll "Christian Formation Center".
It was in Tagum that the couple drifted closer to crossing that aforementioned fine line. Not long after, they left Tagum to work with "Rural Missionaries of the Philippines," or (RMP). Then, as now, RMP is a thinly verneered NPA multi-sectoral front organisation.Unlike most other front organisations that exist to serve a multitude of purposes benefiting the CPP/NPA, RPM exists chiefly as a format for political indoctrination directly into the CPP,and as a conduit into the NPA itself.
On November 20th, 1983 Boy Ipong joined scores of Church functionaries and lay people for a ferry ride to Cebu City to attend a Church gathering. The ferry, the Dona Cassandra, left Nasipit in Agusan del Norte Province overloaded and just as Typhoon Orchid began touching down in the Visayas Region. Early on the 21st, as the ship traversed the Surigao Strait in the Leyte Sea, the ferry capsised with at least 167 deaths out of a passenger and crew manifest of 387 people. Among the 167 was Boy Ipong.
Though Ms.Ipong eventually took the plunge and became a full-fledged member of the NPA, she tended to concentrate on the ideological end of the equation. Known to fellow NPA members as "Ka Nilda," Ms.Ipong focused her efforts on bringing more and more people into the fold. In fact, on March 8th, 2005 she had been conducting a forum on the CARHRIHL,or Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law facet of the GPH-NDFP Peace Process to a group of newly indoctrinared people gathered at a private home in Anastacia Missionary Village, in Barangay Lumbayao in the municipality of Aloran in Misamis Occidental Province. At 145PM she took a break and just as she began a light lunch a group of ten men, in military fatigues and skimasks (known locally as "bonnets") and carrying M16s entered the house and immediately surrounded the shocked women. Tying her hands behind her back and blindfolding her the men,a combination of AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) soldiers and officers from the PNP's (Philippines National Police) CIDG-10 (Criminal Investigations and Detection Group-Region-10) then led her out of the house and into incognito.
Immediately driven by van to 1ID (1st Infantry Division) Headquarters in the municipality of Labangan's Barangay Pulacan in Zamboanga del Sur Province.Arrested by virtue of warrants issued in Pagadian City and the town of Molave, both in that same province, as well as additional warrants in Misami Occidental Province's Oroquieta City, she was slapped with the usual generic charges applied to any and all mid to upper echelon NPA arrestees: Rebellion, Multiple Frustrated Murder, Arson, and so on. Barely subjected to interrogation while at Division Headquarters she was deemed high value enough to warrant a prompt transfer on March 12th to SOUTHCOM, the then unitary command responsible for all of Mindanao and its island possessions, at Camp Navarro in Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Norte Province. It was there that Ms.Ipong's interrogation began.
As far as interrogations go it was a by the book (if THE book was at least 50 years old) almost anti-climatic affair. The first inquisitor was a junior officer who left her blindfoled (to re-inforce her vulnerability) and changed his rythym several times to keep her tense and off balance, berating her and often screaming threats. Ms.Ipong also claims to have been punched in the side during this and subsequent rounds of questioning.
Round II offered the first inquisitor's foil, the "good cop" of the well known "good cop:bad cop" routine. Removing Ms.Ipong's blindfold the senior officer acted enraged to find that she had been sleeping on a concrete floor and brusquely ordered inquisitor number one to immediately provide the detainee with a bed and took great pains to "admonish" the junior officer in the detainee's presence, warning him that he would be brought up on serious disciplinary charges if he ever came close to mis-treating any prisoner again. Of course this was entirely for her benefit since both inquisitors were running a standard interrogation technique. It is a very simple endeavour. Working with very basic human psychology, they soften up a subject by isolating them, removing any emotional footholds he or she may have retained. This is accomplished by interrupting the sleep pattern, serving a sub-standard diet, screaming at and insulting the subject and so on. Then, a new personality is introduced into the dynamic,a more senior officer so as to convey stability and reliability and instill trust. This senior officer "rights" most of the "wrongs" dished out by the first inquisitor. This naturally a initiates desire within the subject to please inquisitor number two, to show gratitude but mostly to avoid a repeat of the first round of interrogation.The inquisitors are alternated over a series of days,as was the case with Angie Ipong.
Round III saw the return of the first inquisitor, "Mr.Bad Cop." The junior office angrily ordered subordinates to remove the bed given to her by the second inquisitor, "Mr.Good Cop." Again her interrogator punched her in the side. Then the officer stepped it up a notch by ordering subordinate personnel to "strip" the then 60 year old woman naked. With her hands tied behind her back, and a blindfold over her eyes, Ms.Ipong maintains that the junior officer and his subordinates began touching her, squeezing her breasts and touching her genitals. Terrified Ms.Ipong pled with her tormentors, asking them to remember that she was 60 years old and that she was no different from their mothers or sisters. This caused the soldiers to laugh derisively, turning up the air conditioning to its maximum setting to offer even further discomfort. It was at this point that Ms.Ipong lost consciousness.
Coming to her senses the next morning, it took a few moments to realise she was naked, having been left exactly where she fell though sometime afterwards her blindfold had been removed. Hands still tied behind her back, but only loosely, as if to allow the prisoner to release herself when alone. Having gotten her hands free Ms.Ipong quickly dressed herself only to find just as she finished, that the callous junior officer had returned. That morning, March 13th, Round V of her interrogation began. Though she had been lying on the concrete floor all night a bed had been re-installed. Making a point to have it removed the officer had the blindfold re-applied and the hands re-bound, after having a subordinate forcefully pinion the detainee's hands behind her back. After punching her in her side once again the officer began his questioning.
By mid-morning her inquisitor exited and almost immediately the emphatic, courteous senior officer entered the room in tag team fashion. Round V began with the sentence again markedly demanding that her bed be re-installed he called the junior officer into the cell and threatened to have him court martialed for his "abuse" of Ms.Ipong. Dismissing him brusquely he downshifted and spoke tenderly to the frightened woman. He promised to have the junior officer docketed for his unseemly behavior but noted that he couldn't be on site 24 hours a day to protect her. He then played his hand; asking Ms.Ipong to "help" him, he offered to personally write down her answers, thus ensuring that they would be accurately recorded without omission OR embellishment and offered that this was the only way to neutralise the immediate threat posed by that abusive junior officer. If Ms.Ipong agreed to help him together they could ensure that no other prisoners would suffer from that same heartless treatment and abuse. Were the prisoner to question the correlation between her providing information and the disciplining of the unruly junior officer, the calm and reasonable senior officer would simply reply that were he to docket the abusive subordinate for his mistreatment of Ms.Ipong, his own superiors would assume that Ms.Ipong was lying or exaggerating about her mistreatment, something the senior officer wasn't able to personally witness. The powers that be would assume that the detainee was being manipulative but moreover, dishonest. However, IF he could show that the detainee had voluntarily provided even a scant modicum of information it would leave senior staff unable to make that point. Never having been arested or imprisoned Ms.Ipong had no way of knowing that this "kindly" senior officer was just as callous and manipulative as his junior counterpart.
With the completion of Round V Angelina "Angie" Bisuna Ipong was served with formal charges, delivered to SOUTHCOM Headquarters by a State Attorney on the afternoon of March 13th. Much to her suprise the 60 year old woman was notified that she was being saddled with Rebellion, Arson, Double Frustrated Murder, and Triple Frustrated Murder charges in three different venues. The three jurisdictions were:
1) Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur Province
2) Molave, Zamboanga del Sur Province
3) Oroquieta City, Misamis Occidental Province
The next day, March 14th, 2005, Ms.Ipong, sitting in a wheelchair, was subjected to the obligatory show and tell. The social hall at SOUTHCOM Headquarters was packed with leering media and grinning AFP officers who congratulated themselves on a job well done. With that anti-climatic apex the issue quickly devolved into one in which SOUTHCOM was being besieged by Leftis groups, both domestically and from abroad. Although the AFP can arrest people it cannot detain them passed tactical interrogation (though in reality it happens most of the time, my favorite case being a 10 year old boy who was brought to a battalion headquarters for questioning and then forcibly made into a houseboy for the post chaplain for four years). Interrogation having ended the AFP being under pressure, transferred custody of Ms.Ipong to the BJMP, or Bureau of Jail Management and Prisons, at its facility in the town of Ramon Magsaysay in Zamboanga del Sur Province. The problem with that ridiculous idea is that BJMP facilities are only allowed to detain sentenced prisoners. Pre-trial and trial detainees are relegated to LGU (Local Government Unit, as in municipalities and provinces) managed facilities.
So it was that on March 20th that the AFP was compelled to transport Ms.Ipong once again, this time to the Pagadian Reformatory Jail, the Pagadian City managed facility. It was here that Angelina "Angie" Bisuna Impong would spend the bulk of her imprisonment. Initially placed in a cell with nine other women, all incarcerated for criminal acts (as opposed to the Mass Murders Ms.Ipong was accused of commiting, which in her deluded mind, and the equally delusional minds of her NPA "comrades" constituted "political acts"), Ms.Ipong protested to the jail's administrative staff that such conditions were beneath her. For a moderate bribe she was allowed to sleep in the chapel for the rest of her time there. Bored beyond reason she then turned her attention towards gardening. Getting a parcel of land belonging to the jail Ms.Ipong began raising produce and flowers which she then began selling (so much for capitalism being evil). Finally joined by her fellow female inmates she then started a new venture, producing clothes via sewing machines and soon Ms.Ipong was controlling her own prison sweatshop, one of two businesses she began while still a prisoner. A third venture eventually followed, involving the manufacture of greeting cards that included pressed flowers from her prison garden.
After nearly four and a half years in the Pagadian Reformatory she was cleared of Rebellion in Court, with the prosecutor citing a lack of evidence.With that charge withdrawn it was time to travel to the next venue,Oroquieta City where she was lodged in the Misamis Occidental Provincial Jail. Not long after her arrival Ms.Ipong was able to have a foreign NGO donate three new sewing machines, enabling the then 64 year old woman to launch yet another prison-based garment business.The busy woman was also able to find the time needed to wite a book as well, though in reality it was written by Leftists in Manila and merely included a few recipes attributed to her and a couple of dozen "inspirational" letters written from prison. "The Letters and Diary of Angie B.Ipong," (Manila:InPeace) (2010) published via the Women and Children Concerns Committee of the NGO InPeace was an 85 page diatribe cum salad recipe compendium (I am 100% serious). The volume has been yet another moneymaking scheme with Ms.Ipong's supporters boosting sales with tales of suffering and oppression under the claim that all proceeds would be deposited in her legal support fund to pay for lawyers. In reality Ms.Ipong received absolutely free legal representation from local attorney Emiliano "Emil" Deleverio,Vice Chairperson of the multi-sectoral legal organisation UPLM (Union of People's Lawyers in Mindanao).
Fast forward to the February Talks in Oslo in 2011. As I have repeated ad naseum, the NDFP Peace Panel has been extremely focused upon contraventions of JASIG, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees. With the CPP's General Secretary Alan Jazmines being arrested mere hours before Round I began on February 15th the GPH Panel tried to appear magnanimous by having at least one of the eighteen JASIG-protected "Consultants" released. GPH Panel Chairperson Padilla chose the easiest choice, Ms.Ipong, who at 66 had become the nation's oldest "Political Prisoner."Panelist Pablo "Pablito" Sanidad was assigned to the task and immediately faxed a letter to Judge Bernadette S.Paredes Echinareal of Regional Trial Court (RTC) #36 in Oroquieta City where Ms.Ipong was dealing with the last of her criminal charges. Fully aware that that the defendant would be freed in a matter of weeks, Chairman Padilla viewed the Ipong Case as a win:win gambit. Needing a JASIG quick fix, he found a detainee whose release was imminent and simply had the release expedited.
On February 18th, 2011, Day 3 of the GPH-NDFP Peace Process, Angelina "Angie" Bisuna Ipong was released and re-gained her freedom, her dignity,and her life.
President Aquino ensured that NDFP Peace Panel Chairman Luis G.Jalandoni and his wife, NDFP Peace Panelist Connie Ledesma each had their names removed from the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) Persona Non-Grata List so that both could re-enter the Philippines (and then leave again when desired). Like virtually all of the chief ideologues of the CPP/NPA, of which the NDFP is merely a front, the couple remains ensconced in voluntary exile in the city of New Utrecht,in the Netherlands. Unlike the rest though, Jalandoni and Ledesma took Dutch citizenship years ago. In this way the couple has a much greater advantage than the rest of the CPP/NPA leadership because unlike their comrades (pun intended) they are somewhat free to travel, as long as it isn't to the Philippines. I say "somewhat" because in 2004, after lobbying by then-President Arroyo, the United States placed the CPP/NPA onto its list of terrorist organisations. Meanwhile, Jalandoni's elderly mother was near death and so the Government offered the ability to travel to and from the Philippines as a Good Will Gesture, though it was far short of the NDFP's "suggestion" that Aquino receive Jalandoni at the Presidential Palace.
President Aquino then enabled the BID modification for the couple and as he did so he took great pains to portray himself as taking the neccessary steps to re-implement JASIG. After the US declaration of the CPP/NPA as a terrorist entity the NPA had withdrawn from the Peace Process. The following year the Government unilaterally suspended JASIG, something it wasn't legally able to do since it is a bi-lateral agreement (though this being the Philippine Government that facts borders on irelevant). While the BID gesture was great in the immediate sense, the fact of the matter is that it seriously jeapordised all JASIG-protected persons.Though the re-implementation of JASIG merely amounted to the Government unilaterally deciding to recognise it.
Then, just hours before Round I of the Formal Talks began in Oslo on February 15th, 2011, the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) arrested yet another JASIG-protected person, CPP General Secretary Alan Jazmines. The AFP, when informed of Jazmines' status as a Consultant to the NDFP's Peace Panel offered this little gem, "To hell with JASIG." That about nails the GPH policy on the agreement to a tee. To smoothe things over, so to speak, GPH Peace Panel Chairperson Alexander "Alex" Padilla had Panelist Pablo "Pablito" Sanidad intercede in the case of one of the then eighteen JASIG-protected persons sitting in detention, Angelina "Angie" Bisuna Ipong.
Angie Ipong,a native of Bicol, obtained a BA in History from Ateneo de Naga University and then joined her husband Boy in performing lay missionary work for various Catholic organisations. Feeling unfufilled at her job reading History at Assumption College in Quezon Province's Lucena City, she and her husband Boy decided to devote themselves fulltime to their Catholic Faith. By the late-1970s the couple decided to move south, to Cebu City. While in Cebu the couple drifted into Liberation Theology, a variant of Catholicism that advocates direct Church involvement in the political process (Whatever happened to "Render unto Caesar"?), and while not condoning violence outright, offering plausability and rationalisation for it so as to allow a great many adherants to cross the fine line from multi-sectoral front partisanship right into violent activity and outright rebellion. Among the people the couple met while in Cebu were a group of radicalised priests from a Maryknoll Residence in Tagum (now Tagum City) in Mindanao's Davao del Norte Province. At the priests' invitation the Ipongs relocated to Tagum and took positions at the Maryknoll "Christian Formation Center".
It was in Tagum that the couple drifted closer to crossing that aforementioned fine line. Not long after, they left Tagum to work with "Rural Missionaries of the Philippines," or (RMP). Then, as now, RMP is a thinly verneered NPA multi-sectoral front organisation.Unlike most other front organisations that exist to serve a multitude of purposes benefiting the CPP/NPA, RPM exists chiefly as a format for political indoctrination directly into the CPP,and as a conduit into the NPA itself.
On November 20th, 1983 Boy Ipong joined scores of Church functionaries and lay people for a ferry ride to Cebu City to attend a Church gathering. The ferry, the Dona Cassandra, left Nasipit in Agusan del Norte Province overloaded and just as Typhoon Orchid began touching down in the Visayas Region. Early on the 21st, as the ship traversed the Surigao Strait in the Leyte Sea, the ferry capsised with at least 167 deaths out of a passenger and crew manifest of 387 people. Among the 167 was Boy Ipong.
Though Ms.Ipong eventually took the plunge and became a full-fledged member of the NPA, she tended to concentrate on the ideological end of the equation. Known to fellow NPA members as "Ka Nilda," Ms.Ipong focused her efforts on bringing more and more people into the fold. In fact, on March 8th, 2005 she had been conducting a forum on the CARHRIHL,or Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law facet of the GPH-NDFP Peace Process to a group of newly indoctrinared people gathered at a private home in Anastacia Missionary Village, in Barangay Lumbayao in the municipality of Aloran in Misamis Occidental Province. At 145PM she took a break and just as she began a light lunch a group of ten men, in military fatigues and skimasks (known locally as "bonnets") and carrying M16s entered the house and immediately surrounded the shocked women. Tying her hands behind her back and blindfolding her the men,a combination of AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) soldiers and officers from the PNP's (Philippines National Police) CIDG-10 (Criminal Investigations and Detection Group-Region-10) then led her out of the house and into incognito.
Immediately driven by van to 1ID (1st Infantry Division) Headquarters in the municipality of Labangan's Barangay Pulacan in Zamboanga del Sur Province.Arrested by virtue of warrants issued in Pagadian City and the town of Molave, both in that same province, as well as additional warrants in Misami Occidental Province's Oroquieta City, she was slapped with the usual generic charges applied to any and all mid to upper echelon NPA arrestees: Rebellion, Multiple Frustrated Murder, Arson, and so on. Barely subjected to interrogation while at Division Headquarters she was deemed high value enough to warrant a prompt transfer on March 12th to SOUTHCOM, the then unitary command responsible for all of Mindanao and its island possessions, at Camp Navarro in Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Norte Province. It was there that Ms.Ipong's interrogation began.
As far as interrogations go it was a by the book (if THE book was at least 50 years old) almost anti-climatic affair. The first inquisitor was a junior officer who left her blindfoled (to re-inforce her vulnerability) and changed his rythym several times to keep her tense and off balance, berating her and often screaming threats. Ms.Ipong also claims to have been punched in the side during this and subsequent rounds of questioning.
Round II offered the first inquisitor's foil, the "good cop" of the well known "good cop:bad cop" routine. Removing Ms.Ipong's blindfold the senior officer acted enraged to find that she had been sleeping on a concrete floor and brusquely ordered inquisitor number one to immediately provide the detainee with a bed and took great pains to "admonish" the junior officer in the detainee's presence, warning him that he would be brought up on serious disciplinary charges if he ever came close to mis-treating any prisoner again. Of course this was entirely for her benefit since both inquisitors were running a standard interrogation technique. It is a very simple endeavour. Working with very basic human psychology, they soften up a subject by isolating them, removing any emotional footholds he or she may have retained. This is accomplished by interrupting the sleep pattern, serving a sub-standard diet, screaming at and insulting the subject and so on. Then, a new personality is introduced into the dynamic,a more senior officer so as to convey stability and reliability and instill trust. This senior officer "rights" most of the "wrongs" dished out by the first inquisitor. This naturally a initiates desire within the subject to please inquisitor number two, to show gratitude but mostly to avoid a repeat of the first round of interrogation.The inquisitors are alternated over a series of days,as was the case with Angie Ipong.
Round III saw the return of the first inquisitor, "Mr.Bad Cop." The junior office angrily ordered subordinates to remove the bed given to her by the second inquisitor, "Mr.Good Cop." Again her interrogator punched her in the side. Then the officer stepped it up a notch by ordering subordinate personnel to "strip" the then 60 year old woman naked. With her hands tied behind her back, and a blindfold over her eyes, Ms.Ipong maintains that the junior officer and his subordinates began touching her, squeezing her breasts and touching her genitals. Terrified Ms.Ipong pled with her tormentors, asking them to remember that she was 60 years old and that she was no different from their mothers or sisters. This caused the soldiers to laugh derisively, turning up the air conditioning to its maximum setting to offer even further discomfort. It was at this point that Ms.Ipong lost consciousness.
Coming to her senses the next morning, it took a few moments to realise she was naked, having been left exactly where she fell though sometime afterwards her blindfold had been removed. Hands still tied behind her back, but only loosely, as if to allow the prisoner to release herself when alone. Having gotten her hands free Ms.Ipong quickly dressed herself only to find just as she finished, that the callous junior officer had returned. That morning, March 13th, Round V of her interrogation began. Though she had been lying on the concrete floor all night a bed had been re-installed. Making a point to have it removed the officer had the blindfold re-applied and the hands re-bound, after having a subordinate forcefully pinion the detainee's hands behind her back. After punching her in her side once again the officer began his questioning.
By mid-morning her inquisitor exited and almost immediately the emphatic, courteous senior officer entered the room in tag team fashion. Round V began with the sentence again markedly demanding that her bed be re-installed he called the junior officer into the cell and threatened to have him court martialed for his "abuse" of Ms.Ipong. Dismissing him brusquely he downshifted and spoke tenderly to the frightened woman. He promised to have the junior officer docketed for his unseemly behavior but noted that he couldn't be on site 24 hours a day to protect her. He then played his hand; asking Ms.Ipong to "help" him, he offered to personally write down her answers, thus ensuring that they would be accurately recorded without omission OR embellishment and offered that this was the only way to neutralise the immediate threat posed by that abusive junior officer. If Ms.Ipong agreed to help him together they could ensure that no other prisoners would suffer from that same heartless treatment and abuse. Were the prisoner to question the correlation between her providing information and the disciplining of the unruly junior officer, the calm and reasonable senior officer would simply reply that were he to docket the abusive subordinate for his mistreatment of Ms.Ipong, his own superiors would assume that Ms.Ipong was lying or exaggerating about her mistreatment, something the senior officer wasn't able to personally witness. The powers that be would assume that the detainee was being manipulative but moreover, dishonest. However, IF he could show that the detainee had voluntarily provided even a scant modicum of information it would leave senior staff unable to make that point. Never having been arested or imprisoned Ms.Ipong had no way of knowing that this "kindly" senior officer was just as callous and manipulative as his junior counterpart.
With the completion of Round V Angelina "Angie" Bisuna Ipong was served with formal charges, delivered to SOUTHCOM Headquarters by a State Attorney on the afternoon of March 13th. Much to her suprise the 60 year old woman was notified that she was being saddled with Rebellion, Arson, Double Frustrated Murder, and Triple Frustrated Murder charges in three different venues. The three jurisdictions were:
1) Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur Province
2) Molave, Zamboanga del Sur Province
3) Oroquieta City, Misamis Occidental Province
The next day, March 14th, 2005, Ms.Ipong, sitting in a wheelchair, was subjected to the obligatory show and tell. The social hall at SOUTHCOM Headquarters was packed with leering media and grinning AFP officers who congratulated themselves on a job well done. With that anti-climatic apex the issue quickly devolved into one in which SOUTHCOM was being besieged by Leftis groups, both domestically and from abroad. Although the AFP can arrest people it cannot detain them passed tactical interrogation (though in reality it happens most of the time, my favorite case being a 10 year old boy who was brought to a battalion headquarters for questioning and then forcibly made into a houseboy for the post chaplain for four years). Interrogation having ended the AFP being under pressure, transferred custody of Ms.Ipong to the BJMP, or Bureau of Jail Management and Prisons, at its facility in the town of Ramon Magsaysay in Zamboanga del Sur Province. The problem with that ridiculous idea is that BJMP facilities are only allowed to detain sentenced prisoners. Pre-trial and trial detainees are relegated to LGU (Local Government Unit, as in municipalities and provinces) managed facilities.
So it was that on March 20th that the AFP was compelled to transport Ms.Ipong once again, this time to the Pagadian Reformatory Jail, the Pagadian City managed facility. It was here that Angelina "Angie" Bisuna Impong would spend the bulk of her imprisonment. Initially placed in a cell with nine other women, all incarcerated for criminal acts (as opposed to the Mass Murders Ms.Ipong was accused of commiting, which in her deluded mind, and the equally delusional minds of her NPA "comrades" constituted "political acts"), Ms.Ipong protested to the jail's administrative staff that such conditions were beneath her. For a moderate bribe she was allowed to sleep in the chapel for the rest of her time there. Bored beyond reason she then turned her attention towards gardening. Getting a parcel of land belonging to the jail Ms.Ipong began raising produce and flowers which she then began selling (so much for capitalism being evil). Finally joined by her fellow female inmates she then started a new venture, producing clothes via sewing machines and soon Ms.Ipong was controlling her own prison sweatshop, one of two businesses she began while still a prisoner. A third venture eventually followed, involving the manufacture of greeting cards that included pressed flowers from her prison garden.
After nearly four and a half years in the Pagadian Reformatory she was cleared of Rebellion in Court, with the prosecutor citing a lack of evidence.With that charge withdrawn it was time to travel to the next venue,Oroquieta City where she was lodged in the Misamis Occidental Provincial Jail. Not long after her arrival Ms.Ipong was able to have a foreign NGO donate three new sewing machines, enabling the then 64 year old woman to launch yet another prison-based garment business.The busy woman was also able to find the time needed to wite a book as well, though in reality it was written by Leftists in Manila and merely included a few recipes attributed to her and a couple of dozen "inspirational" letters written from prison. "The Letters and Diary of Angie B.Ipong," (Manila:InPeace) (2010) published via the Women and Children Concerns Committee of the NGO InPeace was an 85 page diatribe cum salad recipe compendium (I am 100% serious). The volume has been yet another moneymaking scheme with Ms.Ipong's supporters boosting sales with tales of suffering and oppression under the claim that all proceeds would be deposited in her legal support fund to pay for lawyers. In reality Ms.Ipong received absolutely free legal representation from local attorney Emiliano "Emil" Deleverio,Vice Chairperson of the multi-sectoral legal organisation UPLM (Union of People's Lawyers in Mindanao).
Fast forward to the February Talks in Oslo in 2011. As I have repeated ad naseum, the NDFP Peace Panel has been extremely focused upon contraventions of JASIG, the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees. With the CPP's General Secretary Alan Jazmines being arrested mere hours before Round I began on February 15th the GPH Panel tried to appear magnanimous by having at least one of the eighteen JASIG-protected "Consultants" released. GPH Panel Chairperson Padilla chose the easiest choice, Ms.Ipong, who at 66 had become the nation's oldest "Political Prisoner."Panelist Pablo "Pablito" Sanidad was assigned to the task and immediately faxed a letter to Judge Bernadette S.Paredes Echinareal of Regional Trial Court (RTC) #36 in Oroquieta City where Ms.Ipong was dealing with the last of her criminal charges. Fully aware that that the defendant would be freed in a matter of weeks, Chairman Padilla viewed the Ipong Case as a win:win gambit. Needing a JASIG quick fix, he found a detainee whose release was imminent and simply had the release expedited.
On February 18th, 2011, Day 3 of the GPH-NDFP Peace Process, Angelina "Angie" Bisuna Ipong was released and re-gained her freedom, her dignity,and her life.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
GPH-NDFP Peace Process,Second Quarter of 2011,Part IV:The Talks are Breaking Down
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