he Senate has ratified a
bill providing for P10 billion in compensation to victims of human rights abuses
during martial law. The House hopefully can ratify the same measure during the
special session called by President Arroyo next week or the week after that.
Compensating the victims of martial law is the least the nation can do in
recognizing their sacrifices.
It’s been more than a decade since US Judge Manuel Real ruled
in favor of the victims. Some of the victims are dying, many are sick and most
are entering that period of life when they can no longer provide for themselves
or their families.
The P10 billion is available, part of the P35 billion in
recovered Swiss deposits. The rest has long been spent by this administration,
but to give the thieves their due, they have refrained from getting their sticky
fingers into the amount earmarked for the victims.
Last December 23, Monico Atienza, a teacher at the UP
Department of Filipino and Filipino Literature, went to the wake of another
victim. He suffered seizures and fell into a coma. He was initially diagnosed as
having suffered a heart attack due to asthma. Later it was discovered that he
had cancer of the thorax. He has not regained consciousness and remains confined
at the Philippine General Hospital.
Monico’s name probably does not ring a bell. But for those of
his generation, he was known as the secretary general of the pre-martial law
militant group Kabataang Makabayan. Upon his arrest he was tortured and suffered
an overdose of drugs injected during interrogation. When he was released he went
back to the University of the Philippines to complete his undergraduate degree
and later his master’s. After 1986, tragedy again struck when the car he was
driving was ambushed (two of his passengers, including Kumander Dante was
wounded, while two others were killed). The bullet fragments to this day remain
embedded in the back of his head.
(For those who are interested in academic minutiae, Monico
was responsible for debunking the long-held orthodoxy that Jose Corazon de Jesus
or Huseng Batute was a "mere" romantic poet, in contrast to Amado Hernandez who
was the acknowledged master of social realism.)
Friends are helping. Some members of the Senate have provided
assistance. Thank you, Mar Roxas, Jun Magsaysay, Manny Villar, Frank Drilon and
Serge Osmeña.
But there are many more Monicos out there. They need help
now.
As the saying goes, "Aanhin ang damo kung patay na ang kabayo?"
