Hilda Narcisco, a
school teacher in the Philippines, was abducted on 24 March 1983, held in a
military intelligence “safehouse” and later detained
at the 431st P.C. Barracks in Davao City,
until September 1983. She was raped repeatedly as part of the normal
interrogation procedure. Hers was the first case brought against the military
for sexual abuse and rape. No military personnel were charged.
Part 1 —
Women’s Stories
7
The Philippines
Making
women talk: rape and military interrogation
This
story, about a thirty-seven-year-old unemployed Filipina teacher, is reprinted
from Magdalene, a Sydney (Australia) Christian feminist journal, no 2, June 1983, p4.
While the account is dated, it is worth noting the comment of the contributor,
Mandy Tibbey of Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace in The
Philippines: "This is a terrible thing and happens more often than we
would think, but usually the women are ashamed to have it known".
Subversion
suspect Hilda Narciso reported that she was raped
several times and subjected to other forms of sexual indignities by her
military captors on the night of March 24. Narciso is
at present detained at the 431st Philippine Constabulary (PC) barracks in Davao City.
Narciso was one of those arrested last March 24 when
around thirty heavily armed military men raided a house along Bolton St in Davao City. Two other persons and German pastor Volker
Schmidt were also arrested. On March 24, after searching the house, the
military men decided to bring the four to their headquarters, Narciso narrated. It was around midnight. Anna Mae Morallos and Jethro Dionisio were pushed inside a sky blue car parked outside.
A dark blue car arrived fifteen minutes after Morallos
and Dionisio had left. A man in plainclothes, whom Narciso identified as a certain Ponce of the government
intelligence unit R-2, led her to the back seat of the dark- coloured car. All in all, there were four men — the driver,
another who sat next to him and two other men who flanked Narciso.
She was then blindfolded and warned "Ayaw pag-eskandalo ha gusto mo pang mabuhi"
(be quiet if you want to stay alive).
Minutes
later, the men started threatening her again, and began touching the upper part
of her body. When she tried to struggle she was told that they were driving
along the seashore and they could just throw her out of the car. The man next
to the driver then interrogated her and insisted that she was a "member of
the movement and a funder from Manila". The car
stopped around twenty minutes later. After the men had sounded the horn twice,
she heard two doors being opened. Several persons came towards them as the
driver parked the car. She was led inside and, upon reaching the end of the
room, made to sit. She was subsequently raped.
"Alam namin
'yang arte mo!" (we know that play-acting of
yours!) several men shouted while Narciso
recited prayers. About four men took turns raping her, while others pressed on
with the interrogation. She was
8
repeatedly threatened, at the
same time that she was being sexually abused. A little later, she heard the
loud scream of Dionisio from another room in the
place; she recognised Morallos'
voice from the distance, answering the questions of an interrogator.
It must
have been early in the morning of March 25, Narciso
wrote, when two men led her to the stairs — about fourteen steps away from
where she previously sat. They turned left at the landing and entered another
room. Only one of them was left behind. He warned that she would be salvaged if
she did not tell the truth. Narciso was again raped
in that room. The man finally led her downstairs. Still blindfolded, they tied
her hands at the back with a belt. The questions started coming again while the
men freely touched the private parts of her body. About an hour later, she was
again brought upstairs. One man was in the act of raping her when he was
stopped by two others. She was then dragged out of the room, only to be
subjected to more sexual abuse by two men.
It was
daylight when Narciso was finally allowed rest. She
was given a glass of milk and biscuits upon the admonition of one of them that
she must be taken care of as she would be useful later. At around 9 a.m. on
March 25, Narciso was permitted to take a bath.
Wearing the same clothes, she was led upstairs and interrogated. She was
transferred to Camp Catitipan in Davao
City on March 26 and was later brought to the 431st PC barracks.