Norberto Manero:
Portrait of a mercenary and cold-blooded murderer

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

Another notorious henchman of the martial law era who has been judged by history has been rehabilitated by Estrada.

Towards the end of 1999, Joseph Estrada granted a presidential pardon and ordered the release of Norberto Manero, leader of a dreaded paramilitary force that sowed terror in southeastern Mindanao at the height of martial law. Manero and seven others were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987 for the brutal murder of Italian priest Fr. Tullio Favali. Favali, then parish priest of Kidapawan, North Cotabato was shot to death by Manero and his gang on April 11, 1985 in La Esperanza, Tulunan, North Cotabato. The gang boasted of killing Favali as an example to other church people accused of supporting the revolutionary movement.

Manero, together with his father Norberto Sr. and his seven brothers were members of the dreaded Ilaga that had its heyday in the '70s until the mid-'80s.

The Ilaga began as a group of ordinary peasants who wanted to defend themselves against the terrorism sowed by the Black Shirts/Barracuda formed by reactionary Moro politicians and landlords in the late '60s. Black Shirts/Barracuda leaders exploited and intensified tensions between Moro peasants and Christian settlers and used the organization to terrorize settlers.

Upon the declaration of martial law, the fascist regime systematically used the Ilaga as a terrorist force against the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and New People's Army. Consequently, the Ilaga fused with the Integrated Civilian Home Defense Force or ICHDF.

Manero's bloody record includes the 1977 massacre of about 200 Singgil, Kalagan (both Moro tribes), B'laan and Manobo minorities along the Davao del Sur-South Cotabato border. The massacre occurred after a firefight between the MNLF and a composite force of the 5th and 7th IBs of the Philippine Army and the Ilaga-ICHDF.

The military believed that there was an MNLF camp nearby and that residents of the area were part of the MNLF's mass base. Manero herded the civilians inside a school, supposedly for a peace dialogue. Most of those gathered were children, elderly folk and women, some of whom were pregnant. When the soldiers and Ilaga sprayed them with bullets, the victims tumbled down almost simultaneously like banana trees felled by a strong typhoon. Most of those massacred were beheaded and had their ears lopped off to be used as amulets by the perpetrators.

It was after this massacre that the military formally gave Manero the monicker Kumander Bucay, a dreaded killer despised by the people, both Moro and non-Moro. Meanwhile, because of his notoriety as a mercenary, Manero was hired by politicians and multinational corporations to intimidate peasants whose lands they wanted to grab. Along with the "Lost Command" led by Col. Carlos Lademora, the Ilaga- ICHDF under Manero was instrumental in evicting and terrorizing peasants whose lands were grabbed by NDC-Guthrie in Agusan del Sur and Surigao del Sur and Prosperidad Agricultural Corp. in Agusan del Sur owned by Danding Cojuangco.

The Ilaga were also involved in numerous cases of arson, rape, terrorism and other human rights violations. Once, in an interview, Manero admitted and boasted of having killed up to 500 people.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has roundly condemned Manero's release and has demanded that Estrada revoke the presidential pardon. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front has also assailed the grant of pardon. Many believe that Manero remains capable of inflicting harm on the people despite his age.

Estrada, without a doubt, implements a perverted kind of justice. We must banish from our memories, he says, the grim experience of martial law. Thus he had tried to distort the truth, honor Marcos as a hero and exonerate the family and minions of the despised dictator. He has placed in high positions those who served under martial law, and extended favors to those who profited from dictatorship. The grant of pardon to the henchman Manero comes as no surprise.

Definitely, justice can never be expected from a government of this kind.

January 2000
English Edition

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