A Day in a Life in Olongapo, Part 3
“Ganito pala sa Olongapo, parang war zone,”. This was the surprised remark from one of the media personnel from GMA-7 who witnessed what happened that fateful day in November 1996.
All the action were going on inside the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) where the APEC forum was being held, so it only makes sense for all the media, local and international, to be there.
Fortunately for us, some GMA-7 staff, particularly Luchi Cruz Valdez (from The Probe Team fame) and a cameraman decided to go outside the former US base searching for exclusives. They have found what they were looking for, the exclusive footages of how we got mobbed. And they were stunned to have witnessed what happened.
This is not just about APEC nor globalization. This incident is a clear proof of how they suppress people’s rights in Olongapo. This isn’t Manila nor Marikina, where administrators can shove their police rights over right of ways, or provide pink street urinals. This is Olongapo, where non-conformity is publicly banned.
Not by any known rule, not by any written law, but by physical intimidation from so-called people monitors and physical harm from alleged spontaneous mobs.
The blood that was shed was proof enough of how they try to suppress civil rights in Olongapo. The huge crack on my head is a living proof that a community ruled by an iron hand who organizes people’s mob fuels fanatics willing to kill their own.
Now the world knows, even for a just a glimpse.
After I discharged myself from the hospital, we went in hiding for a month while I recuperate. We went to Manila to do a thorough CT scan on my head injury and to provide an interview. Jo-Ann Maglipon (now the Editor of Yes! Magazine) was the only media person who dared interviewed us. She had a column back then at the Manila Times.
Back in Olongapo, we were charged with illegal assembly by the local government which, as expected, was dismissed by the courts. Illegal assembly is just like vagrancy, the establishment with police power usually uses it, but had minor if not no legal bearings against civil rights.
We sued for attempted homicide against the henchmen, but later the fiscal dropped it to physical injuries. We went to CHR and filed human rights violation against the city government for their participation (paying the alleged attackers, the use of SBMA and City Hall’s vehicles to mobilize such personnel) in the attack.
The cases we filed died a natural death. It had been dragging on for too long, the suspects don’t attend hearings. Postponement after postponement, we lost interest. After all, the people who did us harm were just henchmen. The CHR case went nowhere too. I now wished we had CHR chief De Lima then.
But with a renewed sense of hope, we went ahead with our daily tasks of organizing the disenfranchised people of Olongapo. Only this time the community was less hostile and more open in embracing our cause which is their cause… a free Olongapo.
And the city’s dreaded culture of fear… begins to fade.
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BURAOT is your quintessential skeptic but a not-yet-so-hopeless pessimist. Impatient most of the time, hence the name, he yearns to discover the magnanimity of the universe and the infinite folly of human stupidity (yep, that was Einstein's). And yes, oo.. he also want world peace. You can stalk him out at Anak ni Kulapo and I Am Buraot.
So what is the point of all these posts? When is Part 4 coming?
I will rather have a “Despot with Results” any day….
Go GORDON !!!
Par 4 is when you bend over and kiss your own ass Jet.
LINK:
http://www.greenleft.org.au/1996/257/12866
sinusubaybayan ko ang write-up mo kuya buraot and i must say, nag-iba tingin ko kay gordon, lalo na on how did he manage olangapo….tsk..tsk….
like I said snow, he is a good administrator. so all these pro-Gordon can shove the idea that I am disputing his achievements.
but we need to look more than just what is written on somebody else’s resume.
good one buraot! at least you guys had the guts to show the truth behind the people who ran the city to the ground..
people who believed them must’ve really loved kissing their asses!
thanks abu. dumadating na ang isa-isa ang mga bataan ni blue. kala naman nila natakot ako.
I’d rather have a strong and capable leader like Gordon than someone who don’t have any SIGNIFICANT accomplishments in 12 years as a congressman and senator. With Gordon, majority of the people have dignified jobs, are honest, have discipline and law-abiding citizens than the other way around. Gusto nyo ba isang president na weakling? Di makapunta sa Davao forum kc ngkasakit at bawal mag-plane?
Sherwin,
Marcos had a lot of SIGNIFICANT accomplishments too. yep, all have dignified jobs i.e. lahat volunteer walang bayad. honest and law-abiding? yes, except them. look at the pending graft charges.
oh, about the Davao forum? tell it on the pro-Noynoys. you’re barking at the wrong tree.
@sherwin,
“Di makapunta sa Davao forum kc ngkasakit at bawal mag-plane”
Well, all of us have our own thought process and decision making basis on who to choose.
If your decision NOT to choose Noynoy is that he did not appear at the Davao forum dahil nagkasakit at bawal mag-plane, to me that’s valid and i don’t see anything wrong. And i would not even convince you where the decision making basis sit on the duh’ parameters
buti nga meron siyang excuse slip from the doktor e..
di gaya ng iba na, with no reason at all e hindi pumupunta.
Baket? Pumunta naman si Atcheng Jamby ah!
Hahaha
Fyi, not everyone here is for Noynoy noh. Haller!
@reynz, di po yan ang basehan ko. I go for integrity, strong leadership, excellent management skills and great track record! Noynoy has been a congressman & senator for 12 years pero NO SIGNIFICANT accomplishments. Just going with the flow..nadadala sa pangalan. No family at 50, nakikitira sa bahay ng magulang..no business venture of his own..in short.. walang NAGAWA..masama man o mabuti..Ganyan ba ang gusto nyong president.. a weak one..never been tested?
The mob who attacked you and whoever ordered them deserved to be condemned, but how can you be so sure Gordon was responsible? “…all progressive groups were being blocked as far as Pampanga” sounds most likely as an endeavor by the national government, and it’s possible that FVR, who probably had more at stake for the APEC success, and who is more likely to resort to such methods, was the one behind this.
Meanwhile, I have a harder time “excusing” Noynoy’s involvement in this: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/183662
the blockade was made by the PNP. we were not harmed by members of the PNP. we were harmed by mobs waiting in the shadows. mobs that, we were informed after the fact, were paid by known Gordon loyal toughies. one neighbor who’s also a toughie apologized to me because he said he knew of the “bayaran” but didn’t know i was an activist who’s gonna be there.
also, sbma and olongapo city hall vehicles were used to transport those mobs. besides, they said “hindi kayo taga-olongapo,” is a classic Gordon line.
This is confusing to me. The line that was mentioned ” hindi kayo taga-olongapo” does apply to the author?
If indeed, then what’s the point in taking a stand against those who are legit in their own place? If they are not happy on the way their hometown was administered, then they have the full right to make a voice out of it. The Rights of somebody ends where others right begins.
it’s their classic way of trying to divert the issue by denying a complainant’s legitimacy to file complaints. di kayo taga-rito. e kung di ako taga-roon, pano ako nakakaboto dun. ano ako flying voter? hehehe.
there are reports saying that dychiu is not even expert on those matter. she is a lifestyle/fashion writer.
in making a report there must always be two sides, I only see one.
fz, i was not trying to make a newspaper report here. hehehe. just reliving the my story of what happened.
ooops! sorry sir. it was meant for turtlepowder.
sabi ko na eh. wehehehe. ako naman, sumagot. wahahha!