Honorable Capt. Gary Alejano’s struggle

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
09/17/2010



When I watched the farcical Senate, with the likes of Joker Arroyo faulting media’s work in the hostage crisis, and read such do-nothing solons criticizing our colleagues Michael Rogas of RMN and the TV crews, I can only thank media for risking life and limb to get the full story or else the tales of the dead hostages and Senior Insp. Rolando Mendoza may never have come to light — this, as the highest officials of the land are still trying to cover up their dark motives, siopao predilections, and gross incompetence.

Media need not apologize; the authorities failed to direct the scene in every way. But as I watch these farces, I remember the real struggle of a few good men of idealism and vision, continuing their fight for justice and social change despite the absence of media’s klieg lights: Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, still in unjust detention, and Capt. Gary Alejano, who won the mayorship of Sipalay, Negros Occidental but was Hocus-PCOSed and now fights for a manual recount.

Media should pay more attention to these real struggles, as these people are the ones who can make the difference. In fact, the women behind these warriors are as dedicated and visionary, too: Arlene Trillanes, once a military officer in her own right, and Minnie Alejano, who carried the campaign when Gary was in detention. The public knows much more about Senator Trillanes than they do about Gary Alejano. The latter is a young Marine officer who abandoned the much-coveted Medal of Valor Award almost eight years ago on the day he chose to join the Bagong Katipuneros’ march to Oakwood to make a stand for change by condemning corruption in the military and beyond. In all these years, Alejano’s twin girls only grew up visiting and playing with him inside the Fort Bonifacio brig and later the Camp Crame detention center.

Capt. Gary Alejano’s aborted Medal of Valor was based on his rescue of a team of soldiers from another unit trapped and under severe threat from enemy combatants in an encounter along the Narciso Ramos Highway, which connects Marawi and Parang to Cotabato. The Medal of Valor is the highest, most prestigious, and most coveted honor given to any member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines for “acts of conspicuous gallantry” and a deed “of personal bravery and self-sacrifice above and beyond the call of duty so conspicuous as to distinguish himself clearly above his comrades in the performance of more than ordinary hazardous service.”

Gary, whom I have come to know well since his detention in 2003, exhibits truly heroic humor and equanimity in the face of the worst possible crises, as I have witnessed when I was arrested and detained with him after the Manila Peninsula stand-off at Camp Crame.

Candidate Alejano ran in the last elections, along with fellow Magdalo partymates in other parts of the country, such as Navy Seal Lt. James Layug, Army Capt. Dante Langkit and Lt. Ace Acedillo, who ran for congressional seats in Taguig, Kalinga, and Cebu, respectively. Even though Magdalo was not accredited as a party despite its track record as a national organization of around 85,000 card carrying members to date, these four gentlemen still had the fortitude to run as independents.

By all accounts, Alejano won in his bid for the mayorship of Sipalay, a city which he has great vision for — a vision that inspired his constituents to come together to vote for him in the hope of freeing their beloved place from the monopoly of the Montilla dynasty that prevents the full development of tourism and mining potentials there.

On election day itself, the camp of the Montillas had already become mournful. Their impending debacle became clearly written on the wall. Eight of 10 “deacons” of a religious sect had joined the campaign of Alejano despite the promise of money and threat of expulsion from their church. Volunteer campaign workers for Alejano had swelled the ranks, and nothing stood in the way of a people’s victory over the old dynasty.

The mood in the other camp only turned for the better when rumor filtered out from their headquarters that they had found the “fix” to deliver the “winning” votes. Alas, as in so many areas of the country, such as in the premier city of Manila, where candidate Lito Atienza is now engaged in a recount of the Hocus-PCOS votes, the issue of manipulated voting machines reared its ugly head.

Alejano has filed a protest with the Commission on Elections, calling for a recount, and is still being asked to fork over P235,000. That is not an amount easy to come by; yet he is determined to push through with the recount to prove the election anomaly — in the interest of future election exercises which would become meaningless if the Hocus-PCOS is allowed to wreak havoc again. I have joined Alejano’s struggle to obtain this manual recount of votes, to prove the Hocus-PCOS fraud and seat the rightful and deserving leader in place.

Contributions to Alejano’s “Election Protest Fund” can be sent directly to Gary Alejano, Samahang Magdalo HQ, 2/F Timog Bldg., Barangay South Triangle, Quezon City. I am also doing the rounds of friends and supporters personally to raise funds for this cause. Please help restore our democracy; let’s each do our share.

(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics (and Economics) Today, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)