Dear
Pope Francis,
Your
visit to the Philippines brings a ray of hope to people like us who have
experienced wanton injustice. Our family
has suffered so much. My son was killed
and my wife, my other son, Selman, and I have been languishing in jails for the
past 10 years for offense we never committed. We are just simple people
striving to live decently until the powerful leader in our town took interest
in the piece of land we are tilling and did everything to get rid of us. My
wife and I are old and ailing. We just want to see our children and
grandchildren once more before we die.—Alegre family (Jesus,
Moreta and Selman)
Dear
Pope Francis,
Your
visit to the Philippines brings a ray of hope to people like us who have
experienced wanton injustice. Our family
has suffered so much. My son was killed
and my wife, my other son, Selman, and I have been languishing in jails for the
past 10 years for offense we never committed. We are just simple people
striving to live decently until the powerful leader in our town took interest
in the piece of land we are tilling and did everything to get rid of us. My
wife and I are old and ailing. We just want to see our children and
grandchildren once more before we die.—Alegre family (Jesus,
Moreta and Selman)
The Plight for Justice of the Alegre Family
In the hot, dingy confines of jails is the Alegre
family, victims of injustice, of man’s greed and idolatry for money and
power. For 10 years, the family has
suffered isolation, loneliness, illnesses and virtual indignities. The father, 70, years old, and the son, 40 years
old, are in the National Bilibid prison in Muntinlupa City while the mother, 68
years old is in the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City.
Jesus Adolfo Alegre, the father named after the son of
God, is a simple man who, together with his family, nurtured and savored the
gifts of God, the natural resources around them—the sea and the piece of land
planted to coconut trees. They lived by
fishing and selling copra and tuba (native wine), by products of their
plants. Jesus could barely read and write while his wife Moreta is
illiterate. But they have raised their
children to be schooled with the income they got from fishing and tilling their
land. Aside from this, the fruits of their labor on this land have also been a
lot of help to other needy people in the community.
But like the days of kings and Pharisees, in the years
of Christ, there are people who want to perpetuate power and wealth and
sacrifice those who appear to be a threat to them. Out of envy and greed of
their beautiful place by the sea, the then landlord town official of their
place, Sagay City, Negros Occidental, tried to grab their land.
The landlord attempted to get a land title, which
included the portion that the Alegres occupy, to be able to lease it to a
Japanese who was interested to turn it into a resort. The Alegre family filed a protest with the
Bureau of Lands. The landlord offered to
buy their land but they refused.
This earned the ire of the landlord and on September
8, 1994, goons assaulted the Alegres killing the son, Romeo. It was fortunate that the rest of the Alegres
were able to escape unscathed by the attack.
Despite the death of the son, the Alegres stood firm in keeping their
land from which they are earning their livelihood with dignity.
However, the harassments on the Alegre family did not
end with the killing of his son. In
2001, the hired goons fenced the land of the Alegre family and threatened them
that blood will flood the seashore should there be any dissension. True to their
threat, the goons shot at Jesus and his son, Danilo, who was with his wife and
child, when they approached the goons to talk with them.
One day, because of the impudence of the goons, a
firefight ensued between the goons and some unidentified men. One of the goons,
Rogelio Tipon, was killed. The killing
of Tipon was imputed to the Alegres who were falsely charged with murder.
The main complainant, Helena Tipon, wife of the
deceased, later during the trial, executed an Affidavit of Desistance. But due to the insistence of the landlord,
the Court continued the prosecution of the case. It was learned later that the Affidavit of
Desistance was never formally filed and instead diverted the complainant to the
People of the Philippines.
After four hearings, Jesus, his wife, Moreta, and son,
Selman, were convicted and sentence to reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment
in 2005. They were detained for four years (2005 – 2009) at the Sagay
provincial jail before they were transferred to Metro Manila.
Ten years of incarceration in that dingy, hot confines
of jail, would surely break anybody physically.
At their age, Jesus and Moreta are both suffering from arthritis and
hypertension. Moreta’s weak heart is
also giving her chest pains.
Ten years in that dingy, hot confines of jail, six
years in isolation from loved ones who could not afford to visit due to
distance and nil resources, would surely break anybody emotionally. Selman has not seen his wife and children
since then. Worst, husband and wife, Jesus and Moreta, who are both in Metro
Manila are in separate jails.
Jesus laments, “We are suffering for sins we did not
commit. Is it because we do not have
money and power? We only want to live
simply, to till our small piece of land so we can live. Where is justice? We lost our son, Romeo, in defending that
small piece of land. Our family just
cried in silence. I know this was their way
to get rid of us from that small piece of land.
To them, my son’s death was not enough. They wanted our whole family in
prison.”
Yes, they may have been broken physically and
emotionally but not spiritually. Hope
springs eternal. Justice may still find its way for the faithful. As Selman says, “We do not want to spend our
whole life so unproductive.” Moreta, aged
and ailing, likewise, says they do not want to die without seeing their
children and grandchildren again. ###