Chapter VI

CHAPTER 6

THEY GATHER AGAIN, Sabirah (the Patient One), wife of Bobby Jupatan, cried alone in her room. She had pretended to her husband that she was indisposed.

Wiping away her tears, she pulled out an old box from the bed she shared with her husband and their unfortunate child, Jammil who was suffering from palsy.

She took out pictures of the time when they were young. When she looked at Bobby like he was all there was in the world. Minutes later, she fell asleep holding the photographs close to her chest.

Beyond where she lay, courtesy of the elder Jupatans, was the receiving area. The patriarch, Lamundin Pagdagdangan, an uncle-in-law was entertaining guests. The soon-to-be Honorable Congressman Edgar K. Valloso; the forthcoming Prime Minister Jorge Novicia’s political analyst and drug user Claudio San Gabriel — sometime referred to more often by his colleagues as Mr. Cloudy when he would be high on drugs; the patriarch’s fellow Muslims, Gakon Horo; retired Admiral Rogelio Gaspaldon; second-in-command Rommil Khan; Mayor Jaffar Saalih; former Ambassador Badli Agando and their subalterns.

While everybody settled into their places in the huge sala, former ex-convict, now general factotum of aspirant Prime Minister Novicia, Reynaldo L. Baclang, kept dipping his hands inside a huge bag full of 1,000 Philippine Peso-denominated cash – at least P20,000,000 of it inside the leather bags.

Baclang was accompanied by a Dr. Marcelo Roque, a tall man with a lot of muscle. The doctor regularly lifted weights. But while Dr. Roque prescribed drugs for his patients, Rey Baclang who suffered from an illness that he attributed to “bad liver,” did not ever ask for prescriptions from him.

Baclang did not look good. Some guests in the sala noted his awful appearance as if asking why in heavens he still had to come. But they did not comment. They knew how bad he and aspirant Prime Minister Novicia were relating after a very long spat and were now only renewing their working connection, albeit Novicia who had a terrible grudge against him was always open to using him.

Everyone looked at Baclang once in a while, the willing advocate of the devil. They noticed how terrible he looked, his body sagging everywhere, the lost weight tremendously altered his appearance. Baclang got the services of Dr. Roque’s colleague, Dra. Elizabeth Rimano, who intimated to him that she did not really care an iota if Baclang died. Baclang insisted when she refused to be his doctor, pleaded and begged. Fortunately, Dr. Rimano’s oath in the end did not allow her to turn her back from him.

Baclang settled himself into a sofa away from all the guests — it irritated him that they minded him so much. He felt very tired and spent.

He set down two medium-sized suitcases while Dr. Roque had four. They both worked on transferring the contents into large duffel bags. One bag already stacked changed hands from Baclang to a group of young mujahideens eager to get their hands on the package. The large sum of money for the mujahideen was for a certain Operation Condemn.

The money was for the group to undertake “terrorism” in Ranao and Maguindanao. Deals were being made so they would be tolerated by politicians, high police and immigration officials in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei if and when they need to escape there. They would thus not be harmed and may even be contracted to undertake similar nasty jobs in those places.

The young turks were first to be allowed to an elders’ meeting. This was unprecedented and was never done in the past. It must not be easy for young Turks to identify the elders. It was taboo for anyone to determine the elders’ true identity. No one was supposed to know who they were and be able to threaten, kidnap or kill them if they opposed the more recent, high-profile acts of the emerging young breed who were more mercenaries of the worst order rather than disciplined guerillas, the same ones who would gravitate towards the People of the Chosen Tribe – now calling themselves Jama’a Abu Sayyap or Jama’a l'harakatul.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As Baclang got comfortable in the plane ride back to Manila, he smiled. He thought that those young Muslims would be doing what he and his companions in the Light The Fire Brigade and the April Seventeen Movement used to do. He shuddered to think that back then, he was always the one ordered to carry the pail or plastic shopping bag containing the explosives and it was he who had to plant the bomb at the Manila Garden Hotel as well as at the Shell Gasoline Station and oftentimes, he was also the one who did the planting in many of their other targeted places.

At that time, he used to be the mere errand boy, man Friday, general factotum of the Light The Fire members, led by famous Ateneo de Manila University alumnus and big time Social Democrat, Rafael Mallavos himself. Under Mallavos were Dino Corazon, a certain Joseph whose last name he could not recall, Miguel Rebondio, Eduardo Buenoferro, brothers Jose and Miguelito Ramiro (who even claimed blood relations with Pres. Porteza), Manolito and Juan Piñia – who believed they were half Israelites and half Spanish, Lucefo Largamayo and Arthur Baltazar, who says he is a nephew of former Pres. Eggy Porteza.

From being a mere runner of the Christian terrorist brigade, going to prison for it and losing his wife to a jail guard, he had come a long way. A mighty long, long way. He began feeling exhaustion again. The trip did not exhaust him so much. What made him feel so bad was avoiding being noticed by the others in the traveling party from Manila that he was going out at nights to meet at least fifteen big time drug traders.

Aside from the suitcases of cash that the delegation had brought along, he also inserted about fifty seven and one half (57½) kilograms of Methamphetamine Hydrochloride, that was also known in the streets by its Japanese name shabu.

There were at least eleven contacts that he had to meet to fully dispose of the 57½ kilos of shabu he brought over from his brother's contacts. He himself had tried out the drugs and found out that they had a high degree of purity. Each time he sniffed on the smoking paraphernalia bought by his brother, he was kept awake for two days.

He got the drugs from his brother. Ereneo Maclang was the expert in these things. He was the socialist (he was communist when he started), he was the revolutionary, or at times reformist, at times terrorist, but his brother was the criminal and he was also the killer of the family. They belonged to a clan of insurrectionists and cattle rustlers, both regarded lowly during the early days of the Republic.

Apparently, he inherited traits from the rebel side of his clan while his brother, the characteristics of his villainous forebears. They rarely got along well but blood is thicker than water. When he broached the idea of entering into his brother's business, showing two attache cases of money to him, his sibling's eyes and mouth had watered and hugged him very sincerely to say that "You are the best brother in the world."

Baclang always thought that he was, after all. Recently, through the power and influence of the Novicia camp, he had gotten his younger brother out of jail not more than once. Now that certain people in the Novicia camp were into drugs themselves -- thanks to him, they had to be highly circumspect and had to appear spanking clean.

Therefore, his brother with a long list of offenses against the law was highly visible and very obvious. He had to be told to keep low and not become involved in the operations of some of the people of Novicia.

The politician did not know what his men, nor Baclang, one of his most trusted political advisers, were doing. Little did he know that it would affect him and his life deeply.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

There were now two mass casualty incident sites. The Saluag Island massacre site and the ground zero of the huge explosion at EDSA.

Dr. Coscolluella and Maj. Ramon Signes, after more than one month of painstaking work, had just about wrapped up what they were doing at the island and on invitation of the Australians, had gone with their group to Canberra and then to Sidney for futher work on evidence study, classficiation and analysis. The Aussies let Ramon and Janey take at least four other Filipino staff to Australia. However, when the EDSA event happened, the Australians asked them to accompany their International Deployment Team to the spot at EDSA.

It was a quick call. There was no time to pack, so Ramon and Janey brought only their important personal items and left all their clothes in their quarters at the dorm inside the compound of the Australian Federal Police national headquarters in Canberra. They initially flew by the Australian Air Force chopper to the airport and then they took an air force plane to Manila.

It was a Sunday and Non-Commissioned Officers and enlisted personnel who served as drivers were few and far between which was the reason for taking the chopper instead over the short run to the air field. Police Major Ellie Lovejoy and Captain Helen Wise however, had enormous clout with the Australian Protective Service (APS) that in turn had very good relations with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).

The Royal Australian defense forces have been integrating their efforts with the federal police of Australia to reach out into an international clientele in disaster assistance. At the forefront of these efforts is the RAAF.

They took off at about 11 a.m. from the small but highly secured landing strip that was exclusively reserved for the use of the Australian Defence Minister. A light lunch was served for them by a RAAF lady 2nd Lieutenant. Ellie and Helen, along with five other Australians were also with them.

Upon hitting Manila, they checked in at the Intercontinental Hotel at Makati City, abruptly leaving for the incident site at EDSA. All the time, Ramon kept the communication open with Eugene who was helping in the rescue and relief operations. Upon reaching the site, Eugene was there to meet them.

Ramon and Janey, introduced their companions, Ellie and Helen and the five other members of the Australian IDT delegation.

Beside Eugene, there were several officers and staff of the National Disaster and Emergency Assistance Coordinating Council (NDEAC) of the Philippine Government who were also there to receive them. They courteously introduced themselves to the foreign visitors. They were instantly brought to a tent that served as the command post of the OSC, on-scene Incident Commander, BGen. Carlos Maglaya, who was the Commanding General of the National Capital Regional Defense Command (NCRDC).

Eugene showed Ramon and Janey and the Australians a brief footage of the post explosion scene. They saw an officer covering the dead bodies of civilians with a plastic sheet after the bomb planted inside the EDSA Shrine exploded, instantly killing nearly two hundred and fifty people and wounding more than one thousand others.

Eugene told them that the footage from tape was taken by a young fellow who was at the scene. He said that he and his classmates in CGSC watched the guy take footages and after he ran out of tape, persuaded the youngster to part with his digital camera since this was a terrorist attack and it was a matter of national security. The boy reluctantly agreed and received Eugene's and the other officers' calling cards. Ramon, Janey and Major Lovejoy laughed at the story.

Eugene explained parts of the tape: "As you can see, there, a large part of the Robinson's Galeria Mall and Hotel collapsed when the ground upon which the bomb was detonated caved in, bringing down with it a huge component of the facade and a portion of the Mall's 5-storey structure like a pack of cards."

"The EDSA Shrine explosion, where did the bomb actually explode?" Janey asked Eugene.

"The bomb, exploded in the southern part of the chapel and therefore nearer to the Mall. At first, the concrete broke open and caused a major portion of National Bookstore, the adjacent restaurant as well as driveway to the basement parking area to join the lower levels of the basement, thereby damaging hundreds of vehicles parked at that spot," Eugene said and Ramon butted in "Must have been powerful, that bomb."

"It was," BGen. Maglaya reported. The General was in civilian attire. He was wearing a dark Ralph Lauren shirt and freshly pressed navy blue denims and rust colored loafers. "Our bomb investigators have hauled a lot of the soil and debris for the past twenty hours in the two explosion sites. They have so far pieced together a big part of the two explosives used. The basic, common factor in the two bombs and in many of the other bombs used here in Manila, like the one in the LRT bombings in December 30 2000, is the silicon something. Eugene, you're the bomb expert, what do you call that silicon thing again?"

"That's a part of the circuit Sir that arms and ignites the bomb. The silicon controlled rectifier, or SCR, Sir" and the General said thanks and signaled with his palm that he had to join the party of the Secretary of National Defense (SND) that had just arrived at the scene.

Eugene continuted: The initial count was at least one hundred sixty civilians killed and and at least 500 others injured security forces estimated.

Due to the low preparedness of the Philippines to these types of incidents, Ramon, Janey and the Australian team were told by Eugene and the NDEAC officials that they have so far been doing things by trial-and-error.

There were some personality conflicts and unit rivalries that were making the job difficult. But so far, the work was proceeding without much delay.

After the informal orientation, the Australians, Ramon and Janey coordinated with the top honchos of NDEAC who were helping provide a semblance of command and control over the incident scene together with the on-scene Incident Commander and started to work right away.

BGen. Maglaya approached Ramon, Ellie and Helen who were huddled in a corner of the Command Post and politely interrupted them: "I'd like you to please meet our Secretary Antonio Sobrinos. Secretary of Defense." As soon as Ellie and Helen acknowledged the top man of defense in the Philippines, the General said, "Mr. Secretary, may I please introduce Police Captain Helen Wise, Police Major Elwood Lovejoy from the International Deployment Team of the Australian Federal Police. They will be assisting us with the investigations."

As he was walking through the incident site, the defense secretary noticed Eugene and said, "Col. David, I think they have very little to teach you at the Command and General Staff Course, ha?"

Behind him, BGen. Maglaya whispered for everyone's benefit in a not-so-soft voice, "He is our unofficial bomb analyst here, Sir, Mr. Secretary" and the SND said, "Is that so now? Well, well!"

Eugene blushed but replied, "We won't be having classes until next week, Sir, Mr. Secretary." to which the official said, "Very good! Very good! Carry on with what you are doing then." And he looked towards the direction where his aides were watching beside the Department of Defense convoy of cars and utility vehicles that ferried the SND to wherever he had to go.

At one of the vehicles, Eugene observed that a familiar pair of eyes were staring at him. His former friend and now bitter foe, newly-promoted to Lieutenant General, Gil Gerveron. The real power behind the throne at the defense department.