Greetings with music of the sacred breath my dear brothers and sisters,
My ancestral name is Dom-an. I am also Florence Macagne-Manegdeg, 36 yrs old, widow of Jose (Pepe) Riveral Manegdeg III and duly registered citizen of the Philippines. I am mother of two children.
Please allow me a few moments to bring you to that stage where I draw the courage and strength to come before you just now… (play flute)… the breath of love, life and liberty…
What could I say that has not been recited or written in endless pages? As I was informed, this inquiry is in aid of legislation on human rights…a public hearing with victims of human rights abuses… extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, internal displacement, rape… and countless gruesome images of horror by its name alone. It has no claims of resurrecting the dead I suppose… but I am certain that many of the dead and the living dead are certainly interested with this event and they could be right in our midst…
Let me start with where I was yesterday… in isolation room number 3, contagious pavilion of the Baguio general hospital. Free accommodations in isolation… contagious… hospital… Believe me, I could not help but think of a prison cell, a bartolina and even Ninoy Aquino. There I was with my child, under observation. It was madness. Madness like the rabies virus that struck my child coming from a treacherous mad dog. The last time I found myself in a hospital with another daughter was last September 2006, in Fairview, Manila. My youngest child was struck with Dengue Hemorrhagic fever when we fled from masked men who disturbed our healing space in Baguio. The investigator of the Commission on Human Rights of Region I know this as we were corresponding while I was in a desperate moment. The risks, expense, and trauma from rabies and dengue infection could be boundless… and makes poverty more glaring than ever…
Now, how does this connect with the inquiry at hand?
I come before you as a parent of two now fatherless young children. They are the children of Jose Pepe Riveral Manegdeg III. Pepe was assassinated in November 28, 2005 in Apatot, San Esteban Ilocos Sur with 22 gunshot wounds. He is a lay leader of the Rural Missionary of the Philippines. He was monitored, harassed, demonized and subsequently murdered.
November 27 at 10pm, I last heard Pepes hearty laugh over the phone while I was in Hong Kong. Early in the day, we exchanged calls. I was bidding farewell with my fellow domestic helpers in a turtle park in Hong Kong. He was enjoying a picnic in Burnham Park with his children and nephews and then went window shopping at the national bookstore.
The last text I got from him was around 8.55 in the evening of November 28. He just finished his lecture in a seminar and was on his way out to get a bus. A bus to Manila where he would pick me up from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 5 oclock in the afternoon after meeting a colleague in the morning.
November 29, 9 oclock in the morning, I was at the Philippine consulate in Hong Kong. Waiting for a managing director of Deutsche Bank Hong Kong to sign my new employment contract. And then, I get a call that in my craziest imagination never occurred. My brother tells me that my husband could not meet me… as he is taken… he is dead. And our children? All they knew was the sudden change that instead of waiting for their father coming home with their mother, they were taken to manila to meet me. After the excitement of our reunion, they asked for their father. And it was a moment of telling them their father not coming home anymore… we asked the world why what and why and who would kill their Papa?
It makes no sense to make sense of senselessness. So instead of a warm hug and a gentle smile, I found an empty bed and a coffin with the corpse of my childrens father… my husband and friend… deprived of sacred breath… his body maimed, dragged and riddled with more bullets amidst pleas for mercy… and then robbed of money for human rights work…
Who could be guilty of such gruesome cold blooded murder? Who could be so threatened by such a gentle, loving and compassionate being whose only longing was to live a simple and happy life with his family in community of peace, abundance and social equity? What kind of state would declare such a man an enemy?
And worst, who would send full battle geared soldiers and masked men on motorcycles… who dare disturb the solemnity of mourning… and send a widow and her children flee for safety? These creatures have lost their senses, enslaving themselves to their weapons of death and destruction and their equally insane masters.
What facts and myths are being peddled to rationalize such madness?
That my husband is a dangerous man? That his death was masterminded by his own colleagues? A check with the files of the agencies of the government peace panels would reveal that my husband is classified as alleged enemy of the state. Police investigation reports point that he was gunned down by Capt Joel Castro of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The father of my children is a civilian, unarmed. A peace loving duly registered citizen of this country who lived up to his ideals for good governance. He effectively criticized and exposed corruption, greed and inhumane systems that perpetuate vicious cycles and roots of poverty and war…
What brings me here before you my fellow citizens who cherish our sacred breaths and human rights?
I have come to say… I have no space in my bleeding heart that would keep the flames of compulsion for vengeance raging… nor am I obsessed with the condemnation of those who perpetuated such terror. And to let you know that at this point in time, I am weary. A weariness beyond my body.
I know that I am powerless to compel those who are deluded with their positions of power and choose to eliminate their enemies in such error and terror to do what is right. But, I beckon them to be accountable before humanely courts.
Many of our people are in the verge of stupor and apathy… yet the world once more shifts to balance such disorder.
I know and I believe in the full circle of life … that our unspeakable pain and sorrow shall once more be healed with joy… and my children and their children shall cry and fear no more… As the sun sets, it surely rises… and we shall learn our lessons and grow out of this tragic experience… kasiyanah…kasiyanah…
I humbly offer you my songs, my dance, my poems… for peace… for truth… for dignity… for liberty… for love … for ourselves and our neighbours… forever… just as Pepe promised to love me… freely and forever…
May I submit this statement and attached fact sheets to the honourable members of the Committee on Human Rights of the House of Representatives, Republic of the Philippines.
Katakatang salamat kon sikayu…
Dom-an (Florence Macagne-Manegdeg)
Kasiyana Peace and Healing Initiatives
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