Catastrophic results of Jabidah massacre

It is regrettable that there are still many people who doubt that the Jabidah massacre ever occurred. (See Amando Doronila’s column “Is ‘Jabidah Massacre’ a myth?” in Inquirer, 3/27/13).

The massacre has had catastrophic consequences for our country in the past 45 years. The news of the massacre in March 1968 caused outrage among the Muslims of Mindanao amidst the recurrence of their ethno-religious-land conflicts with Christian residents and settlers, aggravated by politics.

In May of that year, a group of traditional Muslim leaders led by Datu Udtug Matalam, newly retired governor of Cotabato, formed the Muslim Independence Movement. In a manifesto, the MIM proclaimed its goal of Muslim Mindanao’s secession from the Republic of the Philippines “in order to establish an Islamic state.”

In 1969, enraged by the massacre, Nur Misuari, a political science professor of the University of the Philippines, formed with other politically active Muslim youth the Moro National Liberation Front.

When President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in September 1972, open rebellion broke out in Cotabato and other Muslim provinces, a rebellion that eventually came to be dominated by the MNLF. A breakaway component, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, is at present engaged in negotiations with the national government for an autonomous Moro homeland to be called Bangsamoro.

In this conflict that has raged for more than four decades, tens of thousands of Filipino soldiers and rebels have been killed and wounded, and perhaps about a million other Filipinos, including Christians and Muslims, have become refugees. The government has spent trillions of pesos for military operations that could have been used for economic development.

The Jabidah incident nearly caused a war between Malaysia and the Philippines. It sapped the government campaign against the communist-led insurgency that started in Central Luzon in the early 1940s. This communist-led insurgency is now the longest lasting rebellion in the world.

Did the Jabidah massacre really happen?

Three Senate committees conducted hearings for three months on the incident as a result of a privilege speech made by then Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., the father of the incumbent President. Ninoy had exposed the mass killing based on the testimony of Jibin Arula, a Muslim who survived the massacre and who swam from Corregidor to Cavite despite a bullet wound in the thigh.

The lead investigating committee was that on national defense headed by then Sen. Genaro Magsaysay, a brother of the late President Ramon Magsaysay. The other committees that participated were those on foreign relations and on finance.

The Magsaysay committee report found that “two sets of offenses” were committed in the Jabidah project from late February to early March 1968.

One set comprised the massacre, or the “unlawful killing and wounding” of military trainees, mostly Muslims, known as the “Jabidah Forces,” in Corregidor, and various violations of the Articles of War in relation to the implementation of the Special Forces Training Project named “Merdeka.”

The second set of offenses was committed during the Senate hearings themselves. It consisted of the making of “false testimony and/or perjury” by top officers of the Armed Forces and their refusal to heed the Senate’s summonses to appear at the hearings.

The list of 15 officers recommended for prosecution under this offense was headed by Gen. Segundo P. Velasco and Brig. Gen. Romeo Espino, retired chief of staff and retired commanding general, respectively, of the Philippine Army.

In its report, the Magsaysay committee berated the military establishment for its elaborate and determined efforts to cover up the crime. It said:

“The Armed Forces of the Philippines is the guardian of the nation’s security, peace and order. It must measure up to the trust reposed upon it …. Yet … they have been made to bear the ignominy that a handful of perverse elements had brought upon the entire Defense Establishment. Unless therefore the [AFP] is completely and immediately purged of the ruthless and diabolic elements responsible for the Corregidor incidents … [it] cannot hope to regain the full confidence of the people and much less inspire their cooperation toward the restoration of peace and order in the land.”

The Magsaysay report was signed by 14 of the 17 committee members. The three members who were abroad at the time the report was released later verbally signified their adherence to it, making its findings and conclusions unanimous.

The primary findings of the Magsaysay committee were:

• The gory killings at Corregidor at the beginning of February and late in March 1968 were direct results of Project Merdeka, an operation of the AFP that was officially sanctioned by the Department of National Defense. Under the project, a special team known as the “Jabidah Forces” was trained in Corregidor to infiltrate Sabah, which was then being claimed by the Philippine government as part of Philippine territory.

• The AFP explanation that Merdeka was a “psywar” project designed to prevent lawless elements from invading Sabah and embarrassing the Philippine government was “self-contradictory, incredible and deceptive.”

• Merdeka was “unlawfully organized” and was in violation of Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution, which states that the Philippines “renounces war as an instrument of national policy.”

• Then Undersecretary of National Defense Manuel Syquia admitted that he had conceived of Merdeka on his own initiative, and that after it had been started, he informed Marcos, as Commander in Chief, of the project.

• The AFP admitted that 180 trainees, mostly from Sulu, were recruited and sent to Corregidor in January 1968. Three were identified as “definitely killed” and three were wounded by shooting, including Arula. Fourteen trainees were missing and presumed killed. Their bodies were believed dumped into the sea off Corregidor. Other trainees of undetermined number were also presumed missing and killed.

• The massacre occurred after the trainees signed a petition dated Feb. 20, 1968, and addressed to Marcos demanding that they be paid their promised monthly allowance of P50. They also asked for improved living conditions at the training camp. Three leaders of the Jabidah Forces were shot after the petition was submitted.

“Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.”

Manuel F. Almario is a veteran journalist, former editor of the Philippine Graphic, freelance writer and spokesman of the Movement for Truth in History, Rizal’s Moth.

E-mail: mfalmario@yahoo.com