Widow cries for justice, laments ‘reign of hunger, fear’ in Tumandok villages

By Jennifer P. Rendon

 

More than a month after the death of her husband, Analyn Giganto stands pat on his innocence.

On top of being innocent, Analyn said Roy Giganto, chairperson of TUMANDUK organization, was murdered in cold blood, far from claims that he put up a fight with authorities.

Analyn again made this assertion during a press conference called by Iloilo Council of Ecumenism (ICU), a group of different church leaders in Iloilo, on Friday, February 5, at the St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary in Jaro, Iloilo City.

The group called on Analyn and the widows of other fatalities and families of those arrested during the controversial December 30, 2020 raids in Tapaz, Capiz and Calinog, Iloilo to offer them help and counseling.

Analyn again asked President Rodrigo Duterte to help give justice to her husband’s death and to eight other Tapaz residents.

She also asked help from other agencies and the public so that her husband’s death might not go in vain.

She claimed that they don’t feel safe anymore, adding that they have been swept with trauma and fear after the bloody raid.

Analyn narrated how she and her family were roused from their sleep by law-enforcement authorities early morning of December 30.

To prove that they did not resist the raiders, Analyn asked how they could have put up a fight when a gun’s muzzle woke them up.

“Paano kaw kabato kung pukawon ka lang nga punta dun ka armas ang nagatutok?” she said.

And to those who were behind her husband’s death, Analyn said “nagapanuktok ako sa tagipusuon nyo. Sir, grabe pag-respeto namon bilang mga tumandok kag gasarig kami nga kamo nag depensa kanamon bangod kulang kami sa aram. Mangunguma lang kami nga tawo sa kabukiran.”

Analyn said the authorities betrayed their trust.

“You showed us how you trampled on our rights and that our lives were worthless,” she said in the vernacular.

Barangay Lahug in Tapaz is one of the areas where the Philippine Army deployed a Community Support Program (CSP) team.

CSP is a people-centered program, which aims to bring peace and development in conflict-affected barangays. It is an initiative of our state forces to bring the government closer to the people through an immediate delivery of basic services, especially to grassroots communities.

Analyn said the CSP team deployed in their village could attest to what kind of people they are.

“We trusted them. They lived in our community. But why did they allow this to happen?” she said.

The CSP team, which was deployed June 2020, was pulled out following the raid.

Still, she hoped that they could go out and testify to the kind of life that they had been living.

But for now, with no husband and living in fear, Analyn could only look for a bleak future laden with fear and hunger.