Balik-bayan?
by TheDivineMissM!
Para sa mga "bagong bayani" tulad ng aking ama, saan pa sila mag ba-balikbayan?
Abra is our hometown, the place I dream of building a resort-like home for my parents to retire in. Nasaan ang pag-asa ng bago at mapayapang buhay?
*******
Fear and loathing on the campaign trail in Abra
By Jason Gutierrez
Agence France-Presse
Last updated 08:21pm (Mla time) 05/13/2007
BANGUED, Philippines--Congressional candidate Cecy Luna wore a St. Benedict medallion around her neck as she wrapped-up her campaign in the northern frontier province of Abra, where public office is considered a birth right protected by hired guns.
Less than two weeks ago, six of Luna's cousins and nephews were cut down in a hail of machine gun fire in a remote Abra village, their bodies left inside their mangled vehicle for hours before they were retrieved.
More than 200 M-14 and M-16 bullets were found around the campaign truck in what police and Luna suspect was a chilling message from her political rival, long-time governor Vicente Valera.
And just 24 hours before polls open around the country in midterm elections, Luna, a 54-year old mother of eight grown children, is not about to take any chances.
Six policemen provided as security escorts by the local elections office hovered around her as she mingled with the crowd in Bangued, Abra's capital town where all political rivals live in close proximity to each other.
Men in dark glasses with hand guns tucked into their waistbands swept across the road, checking for anything that would signal an ambush. Two black pickup trucks carrying men with automatic rifles hidden on the floor prowled the street as residents peeked from their doors and windows.
"My political rival wants me dead. There is a contract out on me, and I fear for my life," Luna told AFP, a slight quiver in her voice betraying her steady gaze. "I am afraid, but I am also adequately protected."
Luna said her friends, uncles, nephews and other volunteers form the core of her security detail, and they would be willing to die for her.
"It is difficult to hire an outsider," she said.
Her predicament is shared by Luna's political ally and candidate for governor, Eustaquio Bersamin, whose brother Luis was the incumbent congressman of the province before being brutally murdered on the steps of a Manila church in December while attending a wedding.
Like Luna, Bersamin suspects Valera of being behind the assassination, a claim that the latter consistently denies. One of the gunmen who was arrested however has told police that Valera paid him and two others five million pesos (about 105,000 dollars) to do the job.
"Of course I am afraid for my life. But I have friends who protect me because somebody has to stand up to this tyranny," said Bersamin, whose campaign slogan is the commandment "Thou shall not kill."
Both know that they are going against a well-entrenched, powerful politician in Valera, who has controlled this impoverished, landlocked province in northern Luzon for two decades.
"I am innocent of these charges," Valera said, but has restricted his movements to ease tensions.
A lawyer by profession, Valera was first named officer in charge of this unruly mountain area in 1986, when a popular revolt removed dictator Ferdinand Marcos from the presidency.
Marcos however had for years allowed the area to sink deep into poverty exacerbated by an anti-Marcos communist guerrilla movement that later degenerated into general lawlessness in its interior towns.
Surrounded by the towering mountain ranges of the Ilocos in the west and the Cordilleras east, Abra's extremely rugged terrain has made it an ideal base for hired guns whose loyalties can be bought with a hand gun and who would kill for as little as 5,000 pesos (about 105 dollars).
The Valeras and Bersamins are powerful clans who once dreamt of bringing Abra into the 21st century. But politics and greed have driven a deadly wedge between them, one that will likely last for generations to come.
A race to control millions in funds being funnelled into the region, as well as the vast and still untapped mineral reserves here are often cited as chief causes of heated political rivalry.
"Patronage politics here is a dirty game. It is money, money, money. Whoever can hire the most number of armed men and who can intimidate and buy votes win," said a local lawyer from a prominent family who did not want to be named.
"Political families believe that public office is a birth right, and is passed from one member to another during elections," he said.
A check with poll officials showed that in Abra's 27 municipalities, nearly all candidates are either relatives or rivals from close families. In two towns, two mothers are pitted against their own sons for mayoralty posts, while in another, a mayor is being challenged by his estranged wife.
Police said that 10 political families controlled private armed groups in Abra, and they have become either too elusive or powerful that going after them could be a death wish.
Tension was high on the eve of the elections, and while Valera was safely protected in his hilltop ranch overlooking the majestic Abra river and its flood plains, Luna and Bersamin pounded the streets to ensure people's support.
But whoever wins in the elections, the cycle of violence will likely continue.
Copyright 2007 Agence France-Presse.
Fear and loathing on the campaign trail in Abra
By Jason Gutierrez
Agence France-Presse
Last updated 08:21pm (Mla time) 05/13/2007
BANGUED, Philippines--Congressional candidate Cecy Luna wore a St. Benedict medallion around her neck as she wrapped-up her campaign in the northern frontier province of Abra, where public office is considered a birth right protected by hired guns.
Less than two weeks ago, six of Luna's cousins and nephews were cut down in a hail of machine gun fire in a remote Abra village, their bodies left inside their mangled vehicle for hours before they were retrieved.
More than 200 M-14 and M-16 bullets were found around the campaign truck in what police and Luna suspect was a chilling message from her political rival, long-time governor Vicente Valera.
And just 24 hours before polls open around the country in midterm elections, Luna, a 54-year old mother of eight grown children, is not about to take any chances.
Six policemen provided as security escorts by the local elections office hovered around her as she mingled with the crowd in Bangued, Abra's capital town where all political rivals live in close proximity to each other.
Men in dark glasses with hand guns tucked into their waistbands swept across the road, checking for anything that would signal an ambush. Two black pickup trucks carrying men with automatic rifles hidden on the floor prowled the street as residents peeked from their doors and windows.
"My political rival wants me dead. There is a contract out on me, and I fear for my life," Luna told AFP, a slight quiver in her voice betraying her steady gaze. "I am afraid, but I am also adequately protected."
Luna said her friends, uncles, nephews and other volunteers form the core of her security detail, and they would be willing to die for her.
"It is difficult to hire an outsider," she said.
Her predicament is shared by Luna's political ally and candidate for governor, Eustaquio Bersamin, whose brother Luis was the incumbent congressman of the province before being brutally murdered on the steps of a Manila church in December while attending a wedding.
Like Luna, Bersamin suspects Valera of being behind the assassination, a claim that the latter consistently denies. One of the gunmen who was arrested however has told police that Valera paid him and two others five million pesos (about 105,000 dollars) to do the job.
"Of course I am afraid for my life. But I have friends who protect me because somebody has to stand up to this tyranny," said Bersamin, whose campaign slogan is the commandment "Thou shall not kill."
Both know that they are going against a well-entrenched, powerful politician in Valera, who has controlled this impoverished, landlocked province in northern Luzon for two decades.
"I am innocent of these charges," Valera said, but has restricted his movements to ease tensions.
A lawyer by profession, Valera was first named officer in charge of this unruly mountain area in 1986, when a popular revolt removed dictator Ferdinand Marcos from the presidency.
Marcos however had for years allowed the area to sink deep into poverty exacerbated by an anti-Marcos communist guerrilla movement that later degenerated into general lawlessness in its interior towns.
Surrounded by the towering mountain ranges of the Ilocos in the west and the Cordilleras east, Abra's extremely rugged terrain has made it an ideal base for hired guns whose loyalties can be bought with a hand gun and who would kill for as little as 5,000 pesos (about 105 dollars).
The Valeras and Bersamins are powerful clans who once dreamt of bringing Abra into the 21st century. But politics and greed have driven a deadly wedge between them, one that will likely last for generations to come.
A race to control millions in funds being funnelled into the region, as well as the vast and still untapped mineral reserves here are often cited as chief causes of heated political rivalry.
"Patronage politics here is a dirty game. It is money, money, money. Whoever can hire the most number of armed men and who can intimidate and buy votes win," said a local lawyer from a prominent family who did not want to be named.
"Political families believe that public office is a birth right, and is passed from one member to another during elections," he said.
A check with poll officials showed that in Abra's 27 municipalities, nearly all candidates are either relatives or rivals from close families. In two towns, two mothers are pitted against their own sons for mayoralty posts, while in another, a mayor is being challenged by his estranged wife.
Police said that 10 political families controlled private armed groups in Abra, and they have become either too elusive or powerful that going after them could be a death wish.
Tension was high on the eve of the elections, and while Valera was safely protected in his hilltop ranch overlooking the majestic Abra river and its flood plains, Luna and Bersamin pounded the streets to ensure people's support.
But whoever wins in the elections, the cycle of violence will likely continue.
Copyright 2007 Agence France-Presse.
