Terror strikes most callously
in its victims’ joyous moments.
A wedding anniversary is not at all one occasion for death
squads to be considerate. On the night of December 5 in San Pablo, Del Gallego,
Camarines Sur, as Barangay Captain Angel Mendoza and his wife Helen prepare
their repose from a day’s celebration of their 25th wedding
anniversary, a motorcycle stopped outside the Mendozas’ house and a man’s voice
called out Kapitan Angel’s name. Thinking that the man was a belated
well-wisher, the barangay captain went out to check his visitor. He was instead
met by gunshots.
Badly wounded were Kapitan Angel and his wife Helen. The
couple’s niece Shirly Magpantay and husband Norman, who happened to be visiting
for the occasion, were also hit. According to a report prepared by the
Camarines Sur Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace, the bullet that hit
Angel on his right arm pierced through his armpit, while Helen suffered a
bullet each on her leg and arm, crushing her elbow. The victims were rushed to
the Bicol Medical Center in Naga City for treatment.
While news reports relate that the police are still
investigating the incident and have yet to point to suspects, the people of San
Pablo have no puzzles on the perpetrators and their motives in attempting to murder
their village chief, and in the end almost carrying out a massacre.
Barangay Captain Angel Mendoza is a well-liked fellow and
leader. He was San Pablo’s barangay captain from 1984 to 1994, again from 1997
to 2002, and yet again from 2007 up to the present. The people of San Pablo can
suggest nothing in Kapitan Angel’s character and performance that would stoke
the ire of anyone. Except, they say, when Kapitan Angel stood up for his barrio
constituents against the harassment of the 902nd Infantry Brigade
from 2007 to 2009.
The people of San Pablo and its neighboring barangays in Del
Gallego have long been committed in advocating the fight for human rights. They
have also gained victories in reducing land rent through legal mass struggles,
and are active in joining rallies and mobilizations that advance the people’s
interests. It was not unexpected of San Pablo and its neighboring barangays to
be focused on by the past regime’s Oplan Bantay Laya. Apparently, the military
believes that those who righteously fight for the people’s interests, or
simply, those who join rallies, are enemies of the State.
From May 2007 until 2009, San Pablo and its neighboring
barangays were occupied by the army’s Special Operations Teams. The soldiers
started out with campaigning for congressional candidate Dato Arroyo(which
caught the media’s eye), then conducting patrols and operations, in the process
intimidating the people, most especially those whom the military suspects of
being NPA supporters, or rally participants. A military camp would eventually
be set up at neighboring Sta. Rita.
This was what Brgy. Captain Angel Mendoza faced up to when in
2007, he chastised soldiers of the 902nd IBde on their conduct and
warned them that no less than the Barangay Council will file charges against
any violation of San Pablo people’s rights. Apart from being barangay captain,
Mendoza was then BAYAN MUNA Municipal Coordinator for Del Gallego.
Regardless of his stature as a barangay leader, Kapitan
Angel was still subjected to various forms of harassment and intimidation. On
November 2007, he was made to grasp an M-16 rifle and was photographed against
his will. He was also coerced into betraying his constituents and was told to
identify those who supposedly are NPA supporters, to which Kapitan Angel
strongly stood up against. Then on 2009, together with his cousin and fellow
barangay leader Diego de Torres, Kapitan Angel was once again subjected to
interrogation by the soldiers and was pressed to “clear” their names of being
NPA supporters and active rally participants.
Through the years of Oplan Bantay Laya’s torments, Brgy.
Captain Angel Mendoza has not faltered in protecting his constituents and has remained
devoted in his principles of fighting for what is just, even as the
government’s counter-insurgency campaign has assumed another name in Oplan
Bayanihan. The counter-insurgency fanatics may well be maddened by Kapitan
Angel’s stance. This may be as infuriating for the 902nd IBde to
have him killed.
Shortly after the interrogation in 2009, San Pablo lost one of their leaders when Diego de Torres was extra-judicially murdered allegedly by elements of the 902nd IBde. With the recent events threatening to once again put the barrio in martial plague, the people of San Pablo can only conclude that Oplan Bantay Laya’s Palparan model of killing activists is still being employed under Oplan Bayanihan. But ultimately, as they are fortunate to still having their barangay captain to fight with them, so are the people of San Pablo most sharpened by collective experience forged by years of Kapitan Angel’s leadership.
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