Martial Law Stories: House Arrest
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They searched our house thoroughly, asking me where our guns were. I told them we didn't have any, except for the duly licensed firearm of our security guard who was assigned by our contractor, the security agency of Gen. Fabian Ver's family. Their search corroborated what I said. We had previously contracted the services of the Ver security agency because of a spate of robberies in our neighborhood, and I knew one of his daughters who was involved in running it.
“They assigned a squad of PC soldiers to our house to watch me. We had to feed all of them while they were there guarding me.”
The men asked me who my visitor was the night before and I told them it was my friend, Anthony Castelo, the singer. I was then told by their team leader, PC Col. Saturnino Domingo, Jr. that I was to be subjected to house arrest.
They assigned a squad of PC soldiers to our house to watch me. We had to feed all of them while they were there guarding me. I was the only member of our family who couldn't leave the house. This lasted about a month.
In the meantime, my late father, Buddy, opened up a line of communication to Col. Domingo, and learned that Jose Ma. Sison of the CPP/NPA had recently been captured and that he had told his interrogators that our house was one of their safe houses, hence the surveillance and the subsequent raid. It was my father who recruited Mr. Sison to the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas in the early ‘60s. I remember him visiting our house for talks with my father on many occasions.
Years later, some friends told me that the CPP/NPA did indeed have a safe house in our neighborhood and that Mr. Sison had pointed me out so that the raid would alert his comrades in that safe house.
Anyway, I survived the experience and am still around to tell the story.
Vin Lava grew up in the University of the Philippines Diliman campus where he went to elementary school, high school, and college.