Part II
While nobody would want to contradict the affidavit executed by Jibin Arula, who himself died in 2006 in a motorcycle accident in Cavite, the only persons who continue to affirm that canard are the secessionist rebels as originally peddled by MNLF chairman, Nur Misuari, and now by his erstwhile subaltern, the MILF. Obviously they have their own agenda in having to perpetuate that fraud. The sad thing is some of our “investigative journalists” are making a fuss of that canard to obviate the stiff resistance to the proposed BBL and to neutralize the anger of the Filipino people who saw how our law enforcement officers were mercilessly slaughtered, robbed and their bodies desecrated while uncannily harping of “giving peace a chance.”
Strange as it was, Arula could not recall the name of a single trainee who was supposed to be his comrade-in-arm in that clandestine operation to liberate Sabah. He merely speculated they were summarily executed after they alighted from the weapons carrier. Ninoy himself interviewed a certain William Patarasa, a 16-year-old trainee who was sent home for leading the petition complaining the condition in the camp. Patarasa was presented by the military as in fact alive. Not satisfied, Senator Aquino went to Jolo to verify the fate of the first batch of 24 trainees that boarded RP-68. They denied knowledge of any massacre.
Arula admitted he had no knowledge the four leaders who were called by Major Martelino on March 3 were liquidated. None of these facts were quoted by the so-called “investigative journalists” because as fifth columnists, they were hell bent on perpetuating a fraud that could further demonize their favorite whipping boy Ferdinand Marcos. To quote again Ninoy’s privilege speech:
“Like Jibin Arula, up to yesterday claims he had no knowledge of what has happened to their four leaders called by Major Martelino last March 3. X x x.”
“One of the leaders has since presented himself to army authorities.”
“This morning, the Manila Times, in its banner headline, quoted me as saying that I believed there was no massacre in Corregidor island.”
“And I submit it was not a hasty conclusion, but one borne out by careful deductions. What brought me to this conclusion:
“1, Massacre means, to my mind, the wanton killing of men – maybe premeditated, but definitely committed according to a previous plan. I submit there was no plan to kill the Muslim recruits.”
“2. What would have been the motive of the “massacre”? Some quarters have advanced the theory that the trainees were liquidated in order to silence them. But then, the 24 boys have already shown up in Jolo, safe and healthy. To release 24 men who can spill the beans and liquidate the remaining 24 “to seal” their lips would defy logic.”
“3. Jibin Arula had been telling the truth all along. However, his fears, which in his place maybe considered valid, many not be supported by the recent turn of events. Twenty four recruits have turned up.”
Even if Ninoy wanted to embarrass his arch-enemy Marcos, he dared not because he could not find a single strand of evidence to support the claim of massacre. Ninoy was cocky not to mention the purpose of the clandestine training, but nonetheless managed to deliver the core of what it was all about to Malaysia, thereby allowing it to recruit traitors to join the rebellion using the fraud of alleged “Jabida Massacre” as their rallying cry.
In the book of Senator Arturo Tolentino, the Voice of Dissent, he said, and I quote:
“AFP generals had reported to the President that the Corregidor affair was a case of ‘simple mutiny or desertion.’ After a couple of days, the AFP chief of staff announced that all the trainees had been found or accounted for. But a week after the assuring announcement by the chief of staff, President Marcos, after an actual head count by roll call he personally made, said that eight trainees were missing.”
“Because of his discovery that eight trainees were missing, the President ordered the filing of charges of murder and frustrated murder before the AFP court martial against the training officers in Corregidor; but at the same time, he ordered the AFP authorities to conduct a massive search for the missing eight.”
Note that no cadaver was presented. The only body that was accounted for was that of Lt. Eduardo Nepomuceno, the training officer who tried to stop the trainees from bolting. In that, one could surmise that Lt. Nepomuceno was killed by the mutineers. Since nobody could account for their whereabouts, Misuari’s MNLF and their handlers, Malaysia classified the unaccounted deserters as “massacre victims.”
Marcos had to press charges against the patriotic soldiers led Major Abdul Latif Martelino, then Lt. Rolando Abadilla and others to squelch suspicion of whitewash. Although in the end all were acquitted, the damage has already been done; that the Philippines was planning to create a special task force to liberate Sabah. Nothing was written about the heroism of Major Eduardo Abdul Latif Martelino, and those patriotic soldiers and Tausugs who were executed after the untimely exposé, and the thousands of Filipinos deported en masse by the Malaysian authorities in retaliation.
Unknown to most of us, the clandestine operation was not an all-Muslim squad. Christians were also recruited. As my informant told me, it was a certain trainee by the name of Alfonso Mamaroglo, from Camp Servillano Aquino who shot Lt. Nepomuceno after he tried to stop the trainees from bolting. Mamaroglo in turn was allegedly killed by then Capt. Eduardo Batalla who later became the Constabulary commander in Western Mindanao who himself was killed by Rizal Alih in a hostage taking.
To consummate the vilification of our soldiers, they depicted Major Martelino as a swashbuckling playboy who used the funds of the Armed Forces to build a villa in Jolo for his Muslim wife, Sophia. They could not also forget Colonel Abadilla whom they consistently accused of have gained notoriety for heading the Military Intelligence Security Group (MISG) that accordingly arrested and killed political activists without naming a single victim. Abadilla himself was treacherously ambushed in 1996 by communist guerrillas in Quezon City.
PNoy, in commemorating the so-called “Jabida Massacre” is the one perpetuating the lie without giving a thought that he is the one keeping alive the wedge that exacerbates the secessionist cause. Maybe it is his way of giving peace a chance, but such is idiotic because it indicts the very government he presides. The shameful marker erected in Corregidor by the sympathizers of the MILF, with all the praises from an ignorant President, continues to desecrate the name of a young solider, Lt. Eduardo Nepomuceno, who instead of being honored for doing his duty is perpetually being maligned for an alleged crime he never committed.
rpkapunan@gmail.com
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