LATHALAIN
PHILIPPINE COLLEGIAN
WHEN I WAS FIRST INFORMED of what had happened to Kim— thanks to his colleague in AGHAM, Dr. Gani Tapang—my first question was if he was still alive. The same as many of us, I had not forgotten what had happened to another scientist, Professor Leonard Co two years ago while he was doing field research. It seemed as if time had stopped and I was only able to breathe after Gani answered that, yes, Kim was still alive, only he was hurt and in the custody of the military. I found it ridiculous but at the same time not surprising that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) had arrested Kim and branded him as a member of the New People’s Army. Years back, I worked for the joint human rights monitoring committee of the GRP and the NDFP, and I had become familiar with all the strategies and tactics—very often brutal and inhumane—of the AFP to arrest and accuse innocent civilians of being NPA members. The AFP seldom stops at nothing to find as many people as they can and present them to the media as captured NPA just so the military can justify its existence and the billionpeso budget it receives courtesy of taxpayers’ money. So when I was told that Kim had been arrested, part of me wanted to simply roll eyes and heave a sigh of exasperation. The thing is that I also learned that when real members of the NPA are captured, they hardly have any problems admitting that they are NPAs. I have learned that they even take pride in admitting it because, after all, they are asserting the moral ascendancy of their revolutionary cause by saying that they are NPAs. And in any case, captured NPAs have rights under International Humanitarian Law and under the Comprehensive Agreement for Respect for Human Rights and IHL or CARHIHL between the GRP and the NDFP. But I digress. To the point now. Kim is not a member of the NPA. He hasn’t been for the last two years—he hasn’t been ever. He is an academic, a researcher, an activist and teacher. He is not a member of the NPA. Kim came from a poor family in Iligan and studied Physics in
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Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology, where he graduated Magna cum Laude and Class Valedictorian. His passion for physics and teaching inspired him to teach at the University of the Philippines, Mindanao Polytechnic State College, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, and Mapua Institute of Technology. There, he conscientiously explained the need for young scientists and engineers of the country to touch base with the poor and marginalized communities, by promoting science and technology that serves well the needs of the people. His determination to understand the environment led him to pursue his postgraduate degree
I have learned that they even take pride in admitting it because, after all, they are asserting the moral ascendancy of their revolutionary cause
on Chronobiology in Groningen University in the Netherlands, but he came back to the Philippines before finishing his dissertation, to be more involved in the environmental campaigns in the country. He joined the non-government organization Center for Environmental Concerns and participated in the humanitarian and fact-finding mission for Typhoon Pablo in April this year. Soon, he realized that the rehabilitation work would be needing his full attention. When he was arrested, Kim was conducting a scoping of the areas ravaged by Typhoon Pablo. He heard a series of gunfire not too far from where he is. He tried to determine its source while he was in a hurry to leave
the area. While walking along a creek, he slipped into a waterfall about seven meters high. He was unconscious for several hours and when he woke up, his head was bleeding profusely while his right foot is already swollen. In this condition, he was found by the military belonging to the 67th Infantry Battalion, who interrogated him and forced him to admit that he is an NPA. All his so-called admissions of being an NPA member he made under extreme duress. After all, he was questioned by fully armed and uniformed soldiers just after he had gained consciousness after a bad and painful fall. When the news report about him came out in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, I had a very difficult time keeping my temper, striving not to lash out against the military stooges who posted comments maligning him and saying that he was better off dead because he was an NPA. I became so angry that I posted “Kim Gargar is a civilian and he has a fiveyear old daughter whose chipped left toenail is more intelligent than you.” Kim would have agreed. Now, I plea for everyone’s support in our campaign for Kim’s immediate release and the dismissal of all the inane and made-up charges the AFP and the Aquino government have issued against him. While I have heard that Kim is already making good use of his time in prison by teaching the inmates basic literacy and science courses, it is still imperative that he be released from prison because he is innocent, because it a violation of his rights that he be kept in prison, and because the Aquino government should not be allowed to continue violating the civil, political and human rights of civilians like Kim with impunity. On behalf of Kim’s five year-old daughter Kimiko, I urge readers to support AGHAM’s campaign to free Kim, and at the same time assert the rights of all political prisoners of the country. ∞ *Ina Alleco R. Silverio is a writer and the author of Ka Bel: The Life and Struggle of Crispin Beltran.
A Plea for Kim Ina Silverio*
Kim Gargar is a physicist and a volunteer scientist of AGHAM-Advocates of Science and Technology for the People since 2001.On October 1, 2013, while conducting resource-mapping as part of the rehabilitation program of Panalipdan –Southern Mindanao Region (SMR) in Brgy. Aliwagwag, Cateel, Davao Oriental, Kim was arrested and wrongly accused of being a member of the New People’s Army (NPA). Now, he is detained in Baganga Subjail in Davao Oriental. He has since pleaded not guilty to the charges of illegal possession of explosives, attempted murder, and violation of COMELEC gun ban.
Photo : Agham Nasyunal Page design : Jerome Tagaro