DAVAO CITY (28 June) — Unnerving.
I am not referring to those near-death incidents which are related to the metaphysical realm. What I am talking about are the ones that are real, those which involve guns and knives.
I have had numerous brushes with such incidents. The last time happened more than two years ago. It ensued right after I went out on local television to dismiss malicious statements by a military spokesperson that I was seen in the company of the New People’s Army somewhere in the boondocks of Compostela Valley Province. To make it sound more truthful, that spokesperson even pitched in some details. They said that they were able to monitor that I went out of the country, went straight to Utrecht, The Netherlands, received instructions from Jose Maria Sison, went back and vanished into the mountains.
To stress my own personal disdain towards the security forces’ accusation, in a TV interview, I told the military spokesperson that I am going to slap him if I will ever see him for maliciously putting my family and myself in grave danger. Right after that, we were able to monitor men, riding in tandem, staking out right outside of my rented house and were just obviously waiting to attack.
Friends and family members who were around were able to shoo them away.
The most horrifying experience though, happened on September 12, 2006. At the time, I was accused of rebellion together with seven other leaders of progressive organizations for marching through the streets of Davao calling for social justice and an end to the corrupt Arroyo Regime.
I was rushing out of my house for a meeting at the former office of Kilusang Mayo Uno along Anda Street. I was with a companion then. I went out of my house’s gate head first, bowing down a little bit so my head won’t hit the rusty metal frame.