[This piece was first published in the book, “Transfiguring Mindanao: A Mindanao Reader” edited by Jose Jowel Canuday and Joselito Sescon . The article opens Part V on “Mediating Truths, Contested Communities, Making Peace” of the book, which was launched on June 22 this year in Davao City. The Ateneo University Press granted MindaNews permission to share the article. Bobby Timonera is one of the editors of MindaNews.
We stayed a few hours in a village somewhere between Karomatan and Malabang while the boatman looked for a way to fix the problem, which he did after a few hours. Today, the 75 kilometers between Malabang and Marawi is less than a two-hour ride on the paved Narciso Ramos Highway. But at that time, it took us more than four hours. The unpaved road was so bad; it was full of potholes and dust flew all over that we had to cover our entire bodies with our malong, with only our eyes showing.
Coverage was much easier there, as I was either being driven to the field in an Inquirer vehicle, or aboard a car owned by any of the government agencies I was assigned to cover, or hitching a ride with a non-government organization espousing some issues. The only real exciting work I had in Manila was covering that diminutive doctor, the Secretary of Health, Juan Favier, who caught every Filipino’s fancy. My last beat before finally packing our bags for the boat trip back home was the Senate, which was not my idea of fun.After five years with the Inquirer, I came home to Iligan in the summer of 1997.
We were lucky because we got there in the nick of time. We could see the convicts blindfolded, their hands and feet bound with yellow nylon rope and tied to bamboo poles above and below them. Someone was on a microphone, reading something I could not understand. I was told he was reading the verdict of the MILF’s Shariah court in Meranaw.
Shots were fired about five minutes after we arrived, and I kept on shooting what I thought were the important shots — the moment of impact, both bodies hanging held only by the ropes, someone looking into the wound under the shirt, a close-up of a missed shot that hit an arm instead of the heart, cutting the rope so they could bring the bodies down, the crowd looking at the lifeless bodies on the grassy lawn.
Education Education Latest News, Education Education Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: mindanewsdotcom - 🏆 10. / 68 Read more »