IN ONE unexpected encounter, I finally met the mystery lady reporter who survived that fateful ambush in Baay Licuan, Abra which killed eight combatants and strategists of the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army in 1987.
This year, I happened to gate crash a recent write-shop on Cordillera’s Pursuit for Regional Autonomy in Baguio City sponsored by the Regional Development Council (RDC-CAR) that seeks to surface and chronicle real events that transpired involving Fr. Conrado Balweg and other local heroes that championed Cordillera’s clamor for self-determination. Present at the said write-shop are members of the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army (CPLA), Cordillera Bodong Association (CBA), friends and former comrades of the fallen Fr. Balweg, and other witnesses who shared with each other historic anecdotes of their personal struggles for Cordillera autonomy. Lawyer Nestor Atitiw who was among the Baay-Licuan ambush survivors recalled his experience where he and fellow lawyer Eugene Insigne braced each other during the gunfire. They crawled under the bushes and forest canopy and stayed with other survivors throughout the night moving away from the scene like centipedes following the lead person clearing the way. With a jester’s face Atty. Atitiw also recalled how he and his fellow lawyer would push Claire’s butt or feet during that fearful ordeal probably even grabbing her from the head down.
News reports at that time claimed that it was the CPLA’s arch enemy and rival New People’s Army that staged the ambush practically storming a company of CPLA with bullets from all sides of a gorge like sitting ducks. We were there too but divine providence or plain luck must have struck on us as we were spared from the carnage as horses were provided allowing us few minutes of lead time while Fr. Conrado Balweg and his men trailed behind on foot.
Anticipating a worst case scenario or possible encounter based on Paulina’s constant mentioning of ambush sites whenever we are in Abra, I actually wore a white rancher’s hat and safari shorts to make me look more like a tourist than a government worker. My newsman’s instinct or penchant with spy movies dictated me to behave a little far-out than my usual self. I actually sported a green flak vest for grenade fragmentation that I got from a surplus shop but the sight of it must have been obscured by my chrome AV-1 Canon SLR camera slung from my neck. With my loud singing of “Rhinestone Cowboy” along the trails which I suspected to be a “deadly zone”, the assailants must by scratching their heads when they saw us pass by with a jolly and talkative Ambay, Dir. Dangilan and driver Arsenio who are almost in their senior years.
So, I was able to reconnect with Susan Claire Agbayani during a recent event at the Tam-awan artist’s village. Appearing to have gained weight, she was with the group that invited me to speak about my personal experiences during the 1990 killer earthquake in Baguio City. I was delighted when Claire approached me and introduced herself. We had a moment of recollection about one of Cordillera’s tragic past. Seeing her after more than two decades was quite refreshing but nostalgic too in the sense that the same region has not yet attained its dream to become fully autonomous.
Though she reminded me of the anti-Marcos activists of the University of the Philippines-Baguio of which she was connected then as either scholar or faculty member, her being in Baguio as part of an organization that heals the psychological wounds of disaster stricken victims through various art forms made me comfortable with her as I was once suspected as military infiltrator during my early years in public service..
I can perhaps say by now that our experience in that tragic encounter in Abra can serve as one lesson why journalists or covering news reporters should maintain their neutrality and not join a military mission or go with any group in conflict with the law. I have been telling my mass communication students about the great risks that journalists may encounter in the course of their chosen field. I often cite the classic war pictorial by David Douglas Duncan in World War II where he even fitted himself inside a wing tank of a bomber plane and took photos from the plexiglass nose of the tank.
The 1987 ambush in Abra precedes the concept of Embedded Journalism which refers to news reporters being attached to military units involved in armed conflicts. The case of Reuters photographer Willie Vicoy is far more tragic when communist guerrillas ambushed the military convoy that he was with in April 24, 1986. Vicoy died of internal bleeding caused by shrapnel wounds in Tuguegarao of Cagayan Province.
While there may be similar undocumented historical accounts and interactions between journalists and military personnel in the past, the concept of “embedded journalism” came to be used in the media coverage of the 1991 Gulf War, the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Accordingly, the United States military responded to pressures from the news media like Fox News and CNN who were disappointed by the level of access granted during the conflict.
I firmly believe that the growing tension between the CPLA and NPA forced the Cory Aquino government to fast track the signing of an executive order that seeks to create an autonomous region out of the mountain provinces of Northern Luzon. Finally, the Executive Order 220 was signed in Malacanang on July 15 1987 by President Corazon C. Aquino and we were called by the Presidential Management Staff to witness the event together with the local government leaders and few officials from the national line agencies.
