EDGEDAVAO VOL. 6 ISSUE 30 • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 26-27, 2013
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officer up in Tumurok, Col. Paul Marshall, wanted to make sure the enemy was not headed that way. Corminal and I were classmates in Surigao high (Class 1940) and playmates in our boyhood. We were on the same wavelength, so to speak, that’s why I guess he picked me. I did not foresee how I would almost lose my life – because of him. he took the right side of the highway, I took the left as we followed on the heels of the Japanese column. No stars were in the sky and it was hard to make out each other’s figure in the dark. At one instance I came upon a mound of earth that covered what seemed to me a freshly-dug grave from which stuck out a crudely made cross. Some poor soul must have unknowingly run afoul of the ruthless enemy. I felt goosebumps as I made the sign of the cross. Soon enough the two of ussaw the silhouette of houses up ahead and heard the plaintive howl of a stray dog probably wondering where its masters had gone. We had reached the ghost town of Claver. After mak-
ing sure that the enemy had not stayed over for the night, we walked through the town with only the dog’s howling breaking the silence of the night. We stopped at the last house on the town’s fringe and rested until daybreak, deciding to find a fisherman to take us by banca to an island where we would probably come upon someone who may have information on the enemy. We were told that the enemy appeared to be heading for the next town, Carrascal, the last town before Cantilan. Which meant regimental headquarters was safe for the moment and we could return to base for Corminal to make his report on the mission. ThEN it happened. We were ferried back to the mainland aboard another banca. When the boat stopped in shallow water, Corporal Corminal was the first to disembark. holding his Thompson in one hand he jumped into the water, but the butt of his Thompson struck the boat’s outrigger and the impact caused the gun to accidentally fire a short burst of several rounds of bullets that fanned my face as I followed behind him to the water. By “fanned” I mean I felt the bullets as they whizzed inches past my face. It took a long while before I recovered from my shock from that close call with death at the hands of my boyhood friend and comrade. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this.
Disturbing events
hERE is something disturbing in the strings of events that involved the Communists Party of the Philippines-New Peoples Army and their legal fronts. Recall how they inveigled the masses to barricade the national highway at the height of the calamity that hit Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley. They were able to paralyze public transport in Comval for hours with hardly a police or military action to deter them. Then they boldly staged a twin assault on Dole and Del Monte pineapple plantations in Bukidnon. Last month, several construction equipment were set on fire in Panacan, Davao City and without hesitation proudly claimed the crime. Last Sunday Gingoog City Mayor Ruth de Lara Guingona, wife of former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, and her companions were ambushed by the New Peoples Army on her way back from a fiesta celebration. She was seriously wounded while two members of her party were killed. The NPAs apologized but later Bayan Muna issued statement which in many words tend to convey the message that she was part of the collateral damage in the civil strife brought about by the withdrawal of the government from the peace negotiation with the CPP-NPA-NDF. While the ambush was being staged
COMMENTARY By MenarDo WenceSlao in Gingoog City, a band of militants mostly members of the legal fronts of the CPPNPA along with some elements in religious habits trooped to Baganga, Davao Oriental in the guise of conducting an investigation on the death of a Barangay official. They group claimed that the victim was killed by the military. If we are to believe the military spokesman who was interviewed at ABS-CBN however, the victim was gunned down in the town proper and that he was a rebel returnee. While this cannot be independently ascertained the question arises: Why should a government soldier shoot anyone in the middle of the town? As this developed the communist fronts appeared to be pressing its agenda to re-establish its foothold in Davao Oriental which had been declared by the Armed Forces of the Philippines as cleared of insurgents. In another show of force reminiscent of the mass action that crippled the national highway in Compostela Valley the group composed of Barug Katawhan and Balsa Mindanao staged the same demonstration in Mati City. They were bused to Mati from all over Mindan-
ao. The issue that they rallied about was the indiscretion in the distribution of rice in Mati. It is a rehash of what they did in Comval. They brushed aside the fact that the Department of Social Welfare and Development never had any rice allocation for Mati since it was not hit by typhoon Pablo. The group attempted to discredit Gov. Corazon Malanyaon whom they charged to be “committing indiscretion in the distribution of rice”. This sounds funny if one considers that Malayaon is running unopposed. Now the indefatigable governor who is not cowed by Barug and Balsa demos has come out with a challenge: “I will resign as governor if you can prove your allegation”. The CPP-NPA-NDF foray into local politics has become more perceptible. In Mati City the mass action was given permit by Mayor Michelle Rabat. In Davao City they openly declared their support for Joji Ilagan Bian courting a confrontation with ideologically liberal Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. Gingoog City Mayor Guingona, Governor Malanyaon and Comval Gov. Arthur “Chingkee” Uy are certainly unhappy. With the attempt on the life of Guingona, Pres. Benigno S. Aquino is not pleased either. We will see whether he will go beyond ordering the dismantling of checkpoints of the New Peoples Army.
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Muzzling the online vigilantes
A brush with death
NE cloudless night in December of 1944, Lt. Richard “Dick” Barton, commanding officer of the Regimental Combat Company, hq. Bn. 114th Inf. Regiment, 110th Div., United States Forces in the Philippines (USFIP), Agusan-Surigao sector had a mission for Corporal Agustin Corminal. Earlier that day, a platoon of 17 men from the RCC had engaged in a brief firefight with a column of some 200 Japanese that was approaching our Command Post. The gunfire lasted long enough to alert regimental headquarters up in the hills of the barrio of Tumurok. Our platoon disengaged and withdrew to the second line of defense at the CP itself. It turned out that the enemy did not intend to attack our CP or Tumurok, but was only bringing food supplies to their garrison based in Cantilan another 60 or 70 kilometers along the highway. Days later the enemy would return to their base in the capital town of Surigao but would be ambushed at Doyangan hill by our company, this time by a full complement of 100 men that had more firwpower than the enemy. But that’s another story. Cpl. Corminal picked me, a buck private , as his buddy for the mission, which was to follow the enemy and find out where they would bivouac for the night or continue on their way. It seems that the 114th commanding
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VANTAGE POINTS
ANAlYSIS By Michael Maiello
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(Conclusion)
N other instances, online activists have won some measure of public sympathy by targeting odious people. hackers affiliated with Anonymous claimed in mid-April that they know the identities of at least two Nova Scotia teenagers who have been accused of raping classmate Rehtaeh Parsons and then cyber-bullying her until she committed suicide. The incident has attracted attention because, despite photographs of the alleged crime, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police decided it did not have sufficient evidence to charge any of the boys. The group is demanding “immediate legal action against the individuals in question,” or it will, if the Parsons family consents, release the names, substituting public shaming for a criminal prosecution. Of course, there is no due process when dealing with Anonymous. Just as with the Reddit investigators, we have to trust their motives, their restraint, their ability to police themselves and their willingness to be fair. Even if they take the utmost care, mistakes are possible and, of course, there will be times when online investigators believe that crimes have been committed but the authorities don’t. People are free, of course, to say what they want and to investigate what they want. People in public spaces have no real expectation of privacy. But there needs to be some negative consequences for those investigations that have gone wrong, if only to deter amateur sleuths from too enthusiastically pursuing their quarry and smearing people with allegations. One answer would be to give those who are publicly accused of a crime, but never convicted, an easy avenue to sue their accusers in civil court. In cases where the accusers use online handles, those who are accused and exonerated should be able to compel Internet service providers and services like Reddit to identify their users. If the Recording Industry Association of America can identify online music pirates, surely somebody falsely accused of a crime should be able to identify their antagonist. In the U.S., it is purposefully difficult to bring successful suit for libel or slander, as the laws are written largely to protect the rights of people to speak their minds and to sometimes make mistakes. A complainant has to prove not only that false statements about them were harmful but also that the statements were the result of recklessness and malice. Civil libertarians tend to worry about the government’s surveillance powers but, practically speaking, the nosy neighbor is probably more a threat to people’s privacy and reputations than government eavesdropping. These days, that neighbor could be a stranger living thousands of miles away. It could be an accuser who will never have to face you. Our laws need to be updated to deal with that.