The power of presence

BENCHWARMER

Ramon Dacawi

Many in the early morning crowd  a-forming at Camp Dangwa felt no  need for them to say a word. All they needed to do-and did - was to be there in silence - in and around  the chapel of the regional police headquarters. All they wanted was to witness,  in their  anonymity, the  solemn, final arrival home of the fallen warriors of the Cordillera.

Less is more, we, verbose journalist,  are reminded now and then. The less words  there are, the clearer the message becomes. So  was  the  silence of the  crowd gathered a fitting and most powerful expression of the common grief and sense of community of this region’s people triggered by the violent deaths of  15 of its young warriors. Coming from all walks and hardly knowing each other, they kept coming in to witness the dignity of the  slow, unhurried, respectful pace with which the mortal remains were borne on the shoulders of the heroes’ fellow officers of the peace.

There were 15, not 13, sons of the Cordillera among the 44 members of the Special Action Force of the Philippine national Police who fell in that battle in Mamapasano, Maguindano. The biggest number coming from a region, they  were the latest in a growing roster of Cordillerans who, ever the years, made the ultimate sacrifice in the protracted struggle for peace in the troubled Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

From their ranks as junior officers (Police Officer 1 to Chief Inspector) and photographs, we presume most – if not all – were in their 20s or early 30s, born  after Sept. 13, 1986. That was the month, day and year when rebel priest Conrado Balweg of the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army signed the “sipat” (cessation of hostilities”) with then Philippine revolutionary government President Corazon Aquino. 

True to that truce,  the Cordillera Administrative Region that was formed stood faithful to that agreement in Mt. Data. Still, the date, despite being termed “historic” then, now hardly comes to memory. (The only and most feeble attempt I remember to mark its significance was when retired regional director Henry Aliten of the Department of Agrarian Reform mounted a “sipat” anniversary chess tournament a few years ago.)   

Given our wanting of a sense of history, chances are  the gallantry and heroism of the 15 SAF members from the Cordillera and those of the rest from various parts of the archipelago, would soon be forgotten, slowly erased, yet as brutally as some of their identities by the overkill with which they were peppered after they had fallen.  

The prayer, the hope is that the sense of community at Camp Dangwa last week-end would transform into action so that this part of the history of this region of warriors, gory as it was, would be taught to our children. The fear is that it would be lost and unlamented,  as many of us lost, or  never knew of the heroism of our forebears against foreign intrusion and domination, first marked by the successful resistance of our Ibaloy ancestors in the un-remembered Battle of Tonglo.   

Two of the 15 Cordillera heroes who fell in Mamapasano were not officially listed as from the Cordillera as  their addresses were in Region 2: P03 Rodrigo F. Acob Jr. of Kalinga whose address  was in Isabela, and P02 Joel B. Dulnuan of Kiangan,  Ifugao  who was a resident of Barangay Ocapon, Villaverde, Nueva Vizcaya where he was laid to rest last Monday.

Baguio Mayor Mauricio Domogan found it only proper their inclusion in this week-end’s obituary page tribute of the city government to the fallen Cordillera warriors.

At the honor rites inside the chapel in Camp Dangwa (named after Maj. Bado Dangwa, the Igorot warrior and guerrilla fighter from Kapangan, Benguet ), Cordilleran regional police chief, Chief Supt. Isagani Reyes called out the names of his fallen comrades: Chief Inspector Gednat  Garambas Tabdi of La Trinidad, Benguet; Senior Inspector Cyrus Paleyan Anniban of Tabuk, Kalinga; PO3 Robert Domollog Allaga of Banaue, Ifugao; PO3 Noel Onangey Golocan of Baguio City; P02 Peter Indongsan Carap  of Kabayan, Benguet; PO2 Walner Faustino Danao of Baguio City; P02 Franklin Canap Danao of Tinoc, Ifugao; P02 Jerry Dailay Kayob of La Trinidad, Benguet; P02 Noble Sungay Kiangan of Mankayan, Benguet; P02 Nicky de Castro Nacino Jr. of Baguio City; P01 Russel Bawaan Bilog of Baguio City; P01 Gringo Charag Cayang-o of Sadanga, Mt. Province; and P01 Angel Chocowen Kodiamat of Mankayan, Benguet. 

Benguet Gov. Nestor Fongwan fought off tears narrating how Chief Insp. Tabdi was brought home to La Trinidad, Benguet for an overnight vigil, after which his remains were to be transported to Zamboanga where his wife, Leah Mefranum, a nurse from Basilan who is six months pregnant, waited for him to finally come home.

Three other sons of Ibaloy couple Garcia and Edna Tabdi are in the police force.  One is assigned in Laguna, another in Pampanga, and still another is under training with the SAF.   

The firefight was termed a “mis-encounter”. It could have been,  if only it had  lasted far short of  the 10 hours that it actually raged, against combined forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, its break-away  Bangsamoro Islamic  Freedom Fighters and other forces only known to but repeatedly disowned in the aftermath by the  MILF rebels.

Also termed as a “carnage”, the firefight drew lingering suggestions, demands and questions needing answers. On top of these is the cry for justice from the relatives and fellow officers of the slain police officers that ranking SAF officer, Superintendent Jonathan Calixto pointed out at the honor rites in Camp Dangwa.

In the wake of this latest carnage in Maguindanao, Mayor Domogan,  a leading advocate of autonomy for the  Cordillera who admits the bill seeking self-rule here pales compared to the new one being pushed by the national leadership and the MILF in the ARMM , strongly suggested a review of the Bangsamoro Basic Law being rushed for passage in Congress.

Baguio Rep. Nicasio Aliping Jr. had enough reason to say he and Benguet Rep. Ronald Cosalan wouldn’t push for the passage of the BBL until justice for the fallen soldiers is served.

Noting  the huge crowd of mourners,  La Trinidad Mayor Edna Tabanda found consolation in the sense of community of Cordillerans who  feel the need to be there in  wakes and funerals, even  for “kailians” they had never met until the final rites.

Such is the soothing, consoling and healing power of presence, of ordinary people being there when grief strikes a fellow Cordilleran’s family and kin. (e-mail: mondaxbench@yahoo.com)