Theres The Rub
Kidnapped
By Conrado de Quiros
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:14:00 10/15/2008
On Friday, James Balao will have been gone for a month.
On Sept. 17 last month, James left his home in Fairview, Baguio
City, at 7 a.m. He was wearing a black jacket, brown pants, hiking
boots, eyeglasses and a visor. He was carrying a yellow and blue
backpack and a traveling bag. He was on his way to his family’s
residence in Trinidad Valley. He hasn’t been seen since.
Eyewitnesses would later say he was kidnapped in Tomay, La Trinidad.
He was standing on the roadside, when a van pulled up in front of him
and several men jumped out and cornered him. They handcuffed him and
pushed him inside the van. One man turned to the crowd of onlookers and
shouted, “’Wag kayong makialam, drug pusher ’to, dadalhin namin sa Camp
Dangwa.” [Don’t interfere, this is a drug pusher, we’re taking him to
Camp Dangwa.]
James Balao, born 1961 and the eldest of four children, is one of
the founding members of the Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA),
established in 1984 during the pit of martial law. A graduate of the
University of the Philippines (UP) in Baguio, he has devoted a lifetime
to studying and fighting for the rights of the indigenous folk of the
Cordillera, particularly rights pertaining to ancestral domain. In 1986
he was on the staff of Pons Benagen and helped write the draft of the
articles on indigenous folk in the Constitution. At the time of his
abduction, he was president of the Oclupan Clan Association, and one of
his tasks was to look into the registration of clan properties.
UP Baguio says of him: “We are proud of James Balao. He … best
realizes the wisdom of UPB’s focus on Cordillera studies, which the
university, struggling to find its footing within the UP System and its
relevance to the region in the early 1980s, decided to take. James’
decision to forego opportunities to distinguish himself and establish a
brilliant career in various academic and professional areas for which
his many talents and gifts amply prepared him in favor of a selfless
and socially responsible commitment to regional development and social
wellbeing, is a grand affirmation of UPB’s institutional vision. [He
has made] academic work and public service programs responsive and
sensitive to Cordillera concerns.”
This is the person who was abducted last month. UP Baguio names
operatives of the Intelligence Security Unit (ISU) of the Armed Forces
of the Philippines as the perpetrators. Since his abduction, I’ve had
several friends call, email, and text me vouching for the complete
integrity and high-mindedness of this man. Like Jonas Burgos, he is an
epic loss to society, or since “society” is an abstraction, he is an
epic loss to all of us who dream of a better world to leave to our
children. If he is a drug pusher, it is only in that he pushes the kind
of drugs doctors use, including potent, experimental ones to revive a
country in extremis. I join James’ kin and friends in hoping he is
still alive, despite being held in some hellhole by his captors.
It’s time we said “Enough!” Enough of the killings, enough of the
abductions, enough of the disappearances, enough of the harassment,
enough of the surveillance, enough of the sowing of fear, enough of the
terrorism, enough of the culture of mayhem, enough of the reign of
impunity!
At the very least that is so because we are the only country left in
this part of the world that’s still fighting a war against communism.
At a time when the communists are no longer poised to overrun the
country, at a time when the communist ideology no longer sounds a
siren’s call to the youth on campuses, at a time communists all over
the world have come to terms with parliamentary, rather than armed,
struggle. Indeed, at a time when the very government of this country is
desperate to hock, pawn and sell the national patrimony to the only
communist power left in this world, which is China. You can’t get any
more hysterically hypocritical than that.
It’s a cynical war waged by cynical persons to keep their cynical
selves in power. It has no other purpose than that. It exists to hide
the real threat to this country, which is dictatorship, and to unleash
the forces needed to prop it up, which are fear and violence. It’s a
cynical war that’s claiming a cynical toll on the innocent.
But more than the innocent, it’s taking its toll on the country’s
best and brightest. Jonas Burgos is one of them. James Balao is
another. They are people who have been given abundant abilities and
endowments. Burgos has the illustrious name of his father to carry and
Balao the glorious traditions of his tribe to do so. They could have
become “successful” professionals, with enough trophies and
testimonials to proclaim the fact. Instead, they chose to serve the
people—how powerfully that phrase continues to resonate among those who
have internalized it!—conscripting their talents and energies for the
benefit of their communities. With only the laughter in the eyes of the
children and the gratitude in the faces of their parents to proclaim
their successes.
If that is what it means to be a communist, then let us all become
communists. If that is what it means to be an enemy of the people, then
let us all become enemies of the people.
But what insanity that Norberto Gonzales, the creep who once tried
to hire an American company to lobby the US Congress to change the
Philippine Constitution, should have the power to decree who is an
enemy of the Filipino people and who is a friend to them. What insanity
that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the illegitimate president who wants to
enter into illegitimate deals with China to kill off the Philippines,
should have the power to decree who lives and who dies.
On Friday, James Balao, pride of UP Baguio, pride of the Cordillera,
and pride of the Filipino nation, will have been gone for a month.
|
