Returning to home while at home

(A Story of a former rebel)

TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte, December 4 (PIA) - - Gigamit ko. Gibayaran ko. Nahadlok ko. (I was used. I was paid. I was afraid.)

These were the words of a tribal chieftain in Brgy. Gupitan, Kapalong when he described his ordeal with New People’s Army (NPA).

As he came approaching, Datu Lirab Lirab (an alias he took in the military camp) was in high spirits. He even smiled to his fellow tribal chieftains, shook hands with the officials and greeted some familiar locals. But as we started our conversation on his life as an NPA, his face grimaced. Wrinkles started to assemble in his forehead. He readied himself to an interview he knew that it will again relive some of his nightmares. He was focus on the subject not minding the busy atmosphere at the riverside of Sitio Patel, Brgy. Gupitan, Kapalong.

It was Sunday, November 30, the day the iconic Andres Bonifacio was born 151 years ago. It was also the day the Association of Regional Executives of National Agencies in Region XI or ARENA XI spearheaded a one-stop-shop of services dubbed as Serbisyo Caravan in the area. And most of all, it was the day that more than 200 NPA members including Datu Lirab Lirab pledged back their allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines and its constitution.

Datu Lirab Lirab was just new in the NPA. He recalled that it was just last August 5 that he was kidnapped by a group of armed men.

“Gi-ingnan ko nila na insultuhun nako ang mga sundalo nga naga operasyon dinhi sa among lugar. Dili naman unta ko dapat maka-ingon ana kay tiguang naman ako, pero isip na gi-kidnap ko nila, ako silang gisunod,” he said. (They told me to slander the military, who are operating in our area. I should have not acted that way because I am already old, but since they kidnapped me, I just followed.)

He recollected the day he was deployed to a radio station in Davao. Following the rebel’s instructions, he walked miles towards their assembly area, then ride a motorcycle going to Tagum. He said that from Tagum, a different group brought him to Davao.

It was his first time to set foot in Davao City. He said that he barely left Kapalong. He went to Tagum only if there were assemblies.

In the radio station, he badmouthed the military and requested them to pull out of Gupitan. He said that the NPA even ordered him to speak ill against Kapalong Mayor Edgardo Timbol and Davao del Norte Governor Rodolfo del Rosario. “Gi-ingnan ko nila na insultuhon apil si Mayor ug Governor kay nganong walay gibuhat aron papahawaon ang mga sundalo sa Gupitan.” (They told me to defame the Mayor and the Governor because of doing nothing to pull out the military in Gupitan.)

He also remembered explaining to the NPA that he was not the President of this country to tell the military to pull out and say anything against the officials. But the NPA members rebutted that this was a revolution. He did not dispute that with a little knowledge on the said revolution.

“Pagkahuman, gihatagan ko nila ug P 1,000, mao ra,” Datu Lirab Lirab said. (Afterwards, they gave me P-1,000; that’s it.) For more than two months in the NPA, he said that he never received any assistance other than the money given to him to insult the military.

“Pasalamat nalang ako kay gidakop pud ako sa mga Bagani.” (I was just thankful that I was seized by the Bagani.) Datu Lirab Lirab was captured last October by the Bagani, a group of tribal warriors who are against the presence of the NPA in the area. The Bagani knew that Datu Lirab Lirab appeared on radio stations in Davao to speak against the military. “Kung dili sa mga Bagani, dili ako kabalik sa karaan nakong gobyerno.” (If not because of the Bagani, I cannot return to my previous government.)

Datu Lirab Lirab and his family now live in a military camp in Kapalong leaving his house and corn field unattended. “Mahadlok na ako mobalik didto kay basig kidnapon napud ako sa mga NPA.”(I feared that if I go back there, I will be kidnapped again by the NPA). His fear grew that he even pleaded that his family would live with him in the camp.

Datu Lirab Lirab said that he is happy now with the military.  He still lives in Gupitan, the biggest barangay in the Kapalong covering a land area of more than half of the municipality and one of the most NPA infiltrated areas in the province.

He said that he is happy not because the war is over, in fact it is far from over. He is happy because he now returns to Republic, which he describes as his previous government.

Nevertheless, he is hoping that sooner or later, the insurgency will end. (PIA 11, Michael Uy)