By MICAELA PAPA

The clock struck twelve midnight. The brothers snuck out of a safehouse in Pangasinan where they were allegedly detained by elements from the 24th Infantry Battalion and hurried towards the highway. Unlike their previous attempt to flee, this time they succeeded.

Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo, two farmers from Bulacan, are the first victims of enforced disappearances under Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s regime to escape and testify against the atrocities that occur behind closed military doors.

Systemic

The Philippines is a signatory of the United Nations Agreements on Human Rights, which “bans torture under all circumstances” and “requires states to take effective legal and other measures to prevent torture.” However, human rights group KARAPATAN reports that there are over 800 documented cases of torture under Arroyo’s regime.

In a statement, KARAPATAN details how the Manalo brothers were forcibly taken from their home after refusing to cooperate with military elements to locate a neighbor. For 18 months, they suffered whippings using barbed torture implements, water cure, and rotten food consumption. The experience left Reynaldo so traumatized he could not produce a handwritten statement detailing his experiences. The brothers’ ordeal gave way to a landmark decision by the Supreme Court that granted protective custody over the two farmers. Raymond, in his sworn statement, identified Lt. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon and retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, as well as other members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Citizens’ Armed Forces Geographical Unit, as participants in their torture.

Torture, classified as either “physical” or “psychological,” is used by the military to extract information that would either implicate the captives or point to other potential arrests. It reflects a culture of systemic violence in interrogation reminiscent of the atrocities of the Marcos regime.

Dr. Judy Taguiwalo, president of the UP All-Academic Workers’ Union, became one of the 3500 victims of torture during the Marcos era. Taguiwalo states that while she was repeatedly transferred to different military camps, the torture methods were the same, indicating that the military follows a standard procedure in torture.

One technique utilized is the “Good Cop, Bad Cop” or Hard and Soft strategy of torture. Says Taguiwalo, “[May] magegain ng sympathy mo, at may papasok na parang kontrabida agad.” She adds that the two are often used in conjunction. “Kung di ka makuha sa hard, kukunin ka nila sa soft. O yung hard, magpapalambot sa’yo, para magsalita ka na.” Taguiwalo, despite being four months pregnant, was still subjected to psychological torture when she was detained on January, 1984.

Historian Alfred McCoy explains that the asymmetry of power plays a big role in efficient torture. For Taguiwalo, the worst part was the feeling of helplessness and the “absolute control” her captors had over her. “ They can do anything with you... [In] ‘shock’ ka na. Minsan nag-a-out-of-body experience ka, like you’re looking at somebody else [being tortured].”

Systematic

McCoy observes that the nature of torture is similar to a theatrical production. The room where interrogation occurs is referred to as the “production room” in the Philippines. Every detail is scrupulously positioned, from the sparse lighting to the lack of windows, in order to achieve the optimum psychological impact.

According to McCoy, it is possible that the “script” for these activities comes straight from the desks of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). From 1950 to 1962, the CIA conducted covert coercion research, experimenting with methods such as electroshock treatment, hallucinogenic drugs and sensory deprivation. The fruit of the study was a new, more efficient brand of torture – more psychological than physical.

One of the infamous torturers during the Martial Law era was Lt. Col. Rolando Abadilla. Abadilla was sent to study at Fort Leavenworth, the United States’ (US) Command and General Staff College in 1978. Lt. Rodolfo Aguinaldo, Abadilla’s replacement, assumed the position in 1980 after six months of training under the CIA. McCoy notes, “Marcos’s torturers carried [the CIA’s] techniques a step closer to perfection.”

Symptomatic 

Taguiwalo notes that the accounts of many victims of human rights violations under the Arroyo regime resemble those of political detainees during the Martial Law era. She declares, however, that the Arroyo regime is worse than the Marcos regime. “[Sa] panahon ng martial law, outright na malinaw you’re under military rule. Ang difference ngayon, meron pang pretension [that] we’re in a democracy.”

Arroyo even lauded retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan in her 2006 State of the Nation Address, despite being condemned by both local and international human rights advocates. Palparan has earned the title “butcher” due to his alleged participation in the spate of human rights violations.

The proliferation of human rights violations in Arroyo’s regime is in line with the government’s Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL) and the US’ “War on Terror.” In 2005, the AFP released a PowerPoint presentation entitled “Knowing the Enemy.” Therein, the AFP tagged legal people’s organizations like Gabriela and Kilusang Mayo Uno, as communist fronts, and consequently, enemies of the state.

Despite being noncombatants, members of these organizations are often subjected to political harassment. The military actively pursues sectoral groups, as shown in the OBL’s implementation of “Target Research on Sectoral Organizations.” Thus, the line between combatants and non-combatants is often intentionally blurred by the AFP.

Indicative of the government’s attempts to suppress any dissent is the attempt to militarize urban areas where people’s organizations are situated. The AFP has categorically denied allegations that troops were deployed to depressed communities, such as Tondo and Payatas, since November 2006, admitting only shortly before the May 2007 elections that the deployment is in line with counterinsurgency operations of the government. The subsequent militarization of select areas points to a “creeping martial law,” wherein democratic space is constricted by the military.

According to Dr. Rolando Tolentino, chairperson of the Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy, the military’s resulting attack on people’s organizations roots from the fact that these groups serve to uplift the downtrodden conditions of marginalized groups, such as farmers and workers. This intention clashes with that of the administration’s benefactors – landlords and business moguls – whose lifeblood comes from the exploitation of these same sectors.

The people’s organizations’ attempts to disrupt the status quo and to expose the administration’s frailties and shortcomings are in itself a big threat to the ruling power. To preserve power, the Arroyo administration resorts to brutal actions to silence opposition.

Arroyo’s terror tactics are but symptomatic of a government that is decadent, for only an administration so desperate can commit barbaric transgressions behind closed doors. The appearance of the Manalo brothers and their damaging testimony, however, will be the key to bring these violations out in the open. ●

The article was first published in print in the Collegian’s October 5, 2007 issue.