PECOJON – The Peace and Conflict Journalism Network has recently come out with its special on the Nov 23 Maguindanao massacre. Please click the image above or this link to be redirected to an electronic copy of the magazine.

A row of water buffalos cut a field in Zamboanga del Sur.  I decided to stop to photograph them as I have not seen so many at one time.

As I walk closer, happy faces lighted up the mood by children manning these water buffalos, eagerly driving them to a spot and back.

Children, riding 24 water buffalos, were helping their parents harvest a rice field in Labangan town.  And because they are just children, they help out by collecting harvested rice stalks all over the field with their timid giants.

The 3.75 hectare rice field in Labangan town had been already harvested to the brim when we passed by during a late afternoon drive to the municipal hall. When I asked one of the farmers how much they are paid, interestingly enough one said, none. “But we are given snacks and a hefty lunch.”

The statement puzzled me because nowadays nobody would work for free.

The system is called bayanihan.  While I was thinking that I was only talking to labourers in the field, after some inquiry, the farmers were also land owners of tracks of rice field in the area. When a rice field owner needs to harvest his crop, other farmers will come to his field to work. He, in return, needs to work at others’ field when they harvest.

Soon the children were back again from collecting the rice stalks. Some of them would stand on their water buffalo and others lie down on the carrier will driving, to show off.

They end the day by given their work friends a nice cool bath.

He was referring to his wife, Melinda, who was killed with 19 others when an overloaded truck crashed in Visenzo Sagun, a remote coastal town on Iliana Bay, some three hours away from Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur, last Saturday. Thirty-six others were also seriously injured.

“It was supposed to be a very happy day for all of us here. My cousin had just wed,” Rogie Mae Hidoquio said, tears streaming from her face. “We were all supposed to go to the beach on Sunday.”

Today, an eerie silence envelops Barangay Waling-Waling as the whole village mourns a mother, a sister, a brother, a father, a cousin or an in-law. Everybody is related in this close-knit community.

Grief is on all the faces. Some of the residents still bear the marks of the tragedy – scratches on their faces and bodies that will heal quickly, though the pain in their hearts will take far longer, if ever, to ease.

The wedding had been held in Margosatubig town, a 45-minute drive away, because there is no priest to perform the Catholic wedding rights in Visenzo Sagun.

It was as the 57 Waling-Waling villagers left after the ceremony that tragedy struck.

Porpirio Salazar, who was outside his house with his son, saw the truck speeding, screeching down a slope on the paved road in Kapatagan, a half hour from Waling-Waling. “The truck hit a rock formation on the side of the road and turned sideways, throwing out the people riding in the back. It turned (turtle) about three times.”

Witnesses say the driver, Paulito Hidaquio, was drunk. They said he had been drinking the night before, and was still drinking outside the church where the wedding was held.

Police Inspector Vinson Ogas said Hidaquio had alcohol on his breath. “The case we filed was reckless imprudence resulting to multiple homicide,” Ogas said.

Interviewed in his jail cell beside the Margosatubig municipal hall, Hidaquio admitted he had been drinking but insisted the main reason for the accident was that the truck lost its brakes and the transmission failed to engage second gear as it went downhill.

Visenzo Sagun Mayor Edilberto Adlaon has offered to help with the hospital and medical expenses of the victims while Eduard Pintac, from whom the truck was borrowed, said he is willing to shoulder funeral expenses and also help the families who had lost members.

“It’s really very hard, we do not have any money,” an aggrieved Juan Colipano said.

A boy had just arrived home from the hospital. He had asked to be discharged because he could not bear to think about hospital bills.

Most of the upper part of his back had severe abrasions and his right shoulder appeared dislocated. He said he would just go to a “hilot,” a traditional chiropractor, to have it fixed.

There are white wooden coffins in most of the houses lined up every 10 meters or so along the rough road that cuts through Barangay Waling-Waling.

The village lost two kagawad (councilmen), one former militiaman, and a number of students.

In one of the houses, coffins were placed on the balcony. In another, the coffins of Ludivina Salinas, 44, and her daughter Eunice, 5, were laid on top of their bed.

At the site of the accident, people have put up a cross, surrounded by the unclaimed belongings of some victims, beside it the crumpled wreck of the truck.

In the hospital in Margosatubig, a child, Geman Hidoquio, screamed as a nurse dressed the wounds covering his face and arms. Albert Navarro, 15 years old, lies naked in his bed, the front of his body blanketed with severe abrasions. He lost five of his upper teeth in the crash.

More than 15 persons are still in the hospital and families still wait to bury their dead. (Published on Dateline Philippines at http://dateline.ph)

Life is better for the recipients of solar panels structured beside the low-cost houses in the island barangay of Pangapuyan in the east of Zamboanga City. They were installed by USAID’s Alliance for Mindanao Off-Grid Renewable Energy program which received some $73 million new funding to support the Philippine’s environment and energy programs and bring development to the poorest provinces in Mindanao.

On February 11, 2009. US Ambassador Kristie Kenney arrived in Zamboanga City, Philippines, met schoolchildren at the Sta. Maria Elementary school and visited a Mentors Assembly and Refresher Training organized by Save The Children Foundation and the USAID-funded project EQUALLS2.

Kenney also visited the Recodo Elementary school where the US military turned-over books for the library from the “books for the barrio” foundation and the Zamboanga City Water District in Barangay Pasonanca for a memorandum of agreement signing.

On February 10, 2009, kidnapped businessman Eliseo Jablo was rescued by the anti-kidnapping task force of the Zamboanga City police office.

As the rescue happened, another incident also happened. And I wrote:

‘CHECKPOINT CHARLIE’

How I Nearly Got Shot By Police at a Roadblock in Mindanao

Had it not been for the series of INSI safety training I’ve attended, things could have turned out badly for me.

It was a slow morning on February 10 when I got a call from a colleague that kidnapped businessman Eliseo Jablo had been rescued by authorities.

Members of the anti-kidnapping task force in Zamboanga City had launched an early morning operation to rescue the victim from a safe house near the SouthCom (Southern Command) village in the city. No one was hurt in the operation and the task force immediately launched a manhunt for the kidnappers.

As soon as I got the call, I rushed to my house in a subdivision to get my cameras. I noticed policemen milling near the entrance as if they were waiting for something or someone. I didn’t give it a second thought.

I sped off in my jeep after I had gotten my equipment. The last street leading out of the subdivision was about 50 meters long. Police were on the other end. There were no checkpoint signs or barriers. I stepped on the accelerator, fearing I might miss taking a picture of the freed kidnap victim.

When I was about 10 meters away from the policemen, I saw some of them run to a side street while others took cover behind their vehicle. Suddenly a policeman was pointing his M16 rifle at my face. He was about three meters away from me and shouting, “Hinto! Hinto!” (Stop! Stop!).

I kept the engine idling and made eye contact with the policeman while showing my hands. At the same time I was shouting “media ako! Media ako” (I’m a journalist! I’m a journalist) while pointing to the press emblem on the windshield of my jeep.

By this time, more policemen armed with assault rifles, were moving towards me. One stood beside the passenger seat but he can see only my silhouette as the window was rolled up. All had their weapons cocked and ready to fire.

The one standing on my left was already shouting “baba! baba!” (Get down from your vehicle!) while pulling the door to open. Trembling, I kept showing my hands while shouting “media ako! Media ako!” (I’m a journalist! I”m a journalist) and followed instructions promptly.

He lowered his rifle slightly. At the same time, two men in plainclothes carrying calibre 45 handguns were running towards me. I told one of the men, whom I presumed to be the team leader, that I am a journalist and that my press ID card is in my jeep. He told me to get it and showed it to him.

After examining my press card, he said “Really sorry. We apologize. We were after someone who’s driving a jeep quite similar to yours and our information is that it will be coming from the direction where you drove.”

I did not have time to get their names or units. I just sped off, still trembling, to cover the freed kidnap victim at police headquarters. I recounted my ordeal to my colleagues, laughing to get the stress out of my system, to get me cooled down.

Maybe, I was just lucky it did not turn out badly. Or maybe I did things right. I replayed the whole thing in my mind: I kept identifying myself. I made eye contact. I promptly showed my hands. I promptly followed instructions. I kept my nerves even if I was shaking badly.

It was something I don’t want to happen again.

Hmm… I think this will be a very long task – holy week anyway so I think I have time.

After my last post on the memorandum signing, on February 9, 2009, Naval Forces Western Mindanao for the first time – at least it was mine, brought the media in Zamboanga City to Isabela City, Basilan Province for a press briefing on the kidnapping situation. When we came back to Zamboanga, Commodore Pama (now Rear Admiral – see how long it already has been after my last post?) was already bringing along kidnapped midwife Eleazar Gumera who was working in Lamitan, Basilan when he was kidnapped.

It should have been my scoop at first because I was the only one who were able to capture Gumera on camera when he went on board the Philippine Navy gunboat but the Commodore Pama later decided to give others the chance. :p

Lieutenant General Nelson Allaga and Chief Superintendent Felizardo Serapio signed infront of local and national media, the memorandum of agreement of intercooperability in fighting threats like kidnapping, terrorism and insurgency in their area of responsibility.