MikeLigalig.com

By Daphne Santuyo
IPIL MASSACRE.......NEVER FORGET

April 4, 1995, 26 years ago today.

I was a third year MassCom student of Silliman University then..... I did not take summer classes because it was election year and my brother was running for Councilor at that time.

For those who know me since childhood, maybe they also know that ever since, my idol was Atty. Belma Cabilao, and on that day, she was scheduled to come to Ipil as part of her campaign sortie. She was running for Congressman of the third district of Zamboanga del Sur then.

Each time she came, I would prepare a corsage for her, and I would have it handed to her, and I'm not even sure if she that I was that child sending her those corsages, all the time....hehehe.

Because she was supposed to arrive around 2:00PM that day, I went out around 11:00 AM to buy some orchids and some things I needed to make a beautiful corsage for her.

While on my way home aboard a "sikad-sikad", I noticed that there were so many soldiers at the vicinity of the public market, and I asked myself, "What could there be to have that unusual number of men in uniform?"

Few minutes after getting home, as I was making the corsage while watching TV, we started hearing gunshots first....then explosions. We saw people running from the Public Market area, and some even took refuge inside our house.

We were told that men in military uniform were attacking the commercial center of Ipil.

Few minutes later, the commercial area of Ipil was burning.

So my dad who happened to be the president of Jayceecom then, contacted Fixer (Susing Dapat) who was based near Mercury drug today. Proximity wise, he surely would have the best assessment of the situation.

And we heard from him that hundreds of men in military uniform were indeed attacking Ipil.

For about 30 minutes, we were glued to the floor while monitoring thru hand-held radio.......it seemed forever though.....Until finally Fixer echoed on the radio "Tua na sila, nanghawa na!".

Automatically, I rushed to get my Kodak camera with very little film during that time, and went to the commercial district of Ipil with my dad's motorcycle.........

I could not even come close because of the fire.

I decided to check on other places instead, thank you to Konica for allowing me to buy 2 rolls of 36-shots of film then, I was able to go inside banks and establishments to take pictures.

I took photos of burned people......buildings.......but one thing that never got off my mind was the image I saw inside Allied Bank. They used to be located at Flying A area. The moment I got in, I saw the corpse of a person who save my life in the past......Nong Eddie Ignacio. How he saved me is another story though, but the moment I saw him, I trembled.......

We walked towards the back part of the bank and saw three dead persons on top of each other.........another one along the aisle......

It was a nightmare.......

That was the longest day for my beloved Ipil........

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