Taxi Tales: A Certain Efren Martirez of Eastern Samar

He grew up in Samar...the driver of the taxi cab I rode to work proudly told me…Eastern Samar…here in Manila, he said, if you own half an hectare of land, you are filthy rich…but in our place in Samar, he continued, no matter how big a parcel of land we own, we were still poor…the place was beautiful though…It has a rice field and we planted vegetables… it’s at the foot of the mountain with a forest so beautiful…only, rebel groups, particularly the New People’s Army (NPA) of the Philippines made that forest their base… their leader’s name—Efren  Martirez… he was related to that basketball player and comedian Yoyoy or Yoyong Martirez…bright kid that Efren and he was a professor of the University of the Philippines, I think…but he was a wanted man in Eastern Samar because he started the NPA in our province…I heard he had a nasty record…he killed 200 soldiers maybe more…Then the taxi driver paused…this was Marcos time…he even tried recruiting my father…but my mother told us our father rejected the offer…in as much as he would like to join the rebels, he would rather take care of his family…I cannot be in the forest while my family here has nothing to eat, my father told Efren…we were dirt poor, even my siblings back then walked the streets barefooted and they had no clothes…the rebel leader did not pursue his offer and just left our shanty in silence…for fear that he offended the head of the NPA, my father decided to leave for Manila that very day…my mother borrowed money for bus fare…a few days later, soldiers came to our barangay in  Dolores…they gathered all the women…they showed no mercy they hit the females with the but of their armalite…they were cussing and forcing them to admit that they are NPA…but they are not NPA…but the soldiers don’t want to listen…they singled out my mother and asked her the whereabouts of her husband…he’s in manila , my mother said….but the soldiers doesn’t want to hear any of it…they called my mother a liar…then someone fired on the grounds near my mother’s feet…It was the soldier’s leader…he yelled and said I will count to ten and if no one comes forward, you will all be executed…the women began to wail… the count started…1, 2, 3,…even the kids and all villagers watching cried…4, 5, 6, 7…on 8 a man rushed to the scene and said –not her…the man was an armed civilian, similar to the CAFGU of today…Efren tried to recruit her husband but said no…catching his breath  he added, the husband is in Manila…that saved my mother’s life but the counting continued…8,9…then a woman stood up and said ill do it, my husband is there in the forest...immediately that woman was dragged…next thing people know she was wearing those military fatigue and was taken to the forest…they said gunfire erupted and lasted for almost two hours…and according to witnesses before the battle ended Efren was seen charging…he fired the Thompson he was carrying at his enemy while yelling you sons of bitches you are all marcos’ puppets..we’ll die together…Efren was heavily wounded and died in that gunbattle…when the dust settled around 40 soldiers and more than 70 rebels were dead…but the story does not end there…all the villagers were rounded, their hands tied…the soldiers declared our area no man’s land…each villager was attached to a long rope and was taken to the town proper…even kids were tied to the rope…crossing the raging river, my mother had to pull me up by the hair to keep my head above the water..I was just two years old when that happened. I told the taxi driver I was surprised he knows the story by heart.  To this he replied, that NPA Commander helped my mother give birth to me. (By:  Ramona Nieva)