Alamon: Welcome home, Jerome

THERE is no greater indication of the state of social malaise and how fragmented we are as a nation than the tepid reaction of the authorities and the general public about what happened to a Filipino in the hands of US Customs and Border Control. Given the supposed height of nationalist fervor where we catapulted a president to office who claims to have the best interests of the nation in his heart, who in turn has inspired Filipinos including bloggers and has-been actors and singers, to prop up this new nationalism which include a revisionist-take on our nation’s dark dictatorial past, a Filipino interrogated, tortured, and then deported from a US airport should have all us marching in the streets.

Imagine this. You were granted a 10-year multiple entry visa by the US Embassy in Manila where you declared the purpose of your travel. You have been invited by a consortium of US- based churches to speak before them about what your people, the Moro, experienced in the newest war front against terror opened up in Southeast Asia. You are also going to tell them about the costly war on drugs in terms of lives lost, thousands of petty drug users and small- time pushers gunned down in a national cleansing that deprive families of their beloved fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters.

The land of the free, and the home of the brave should have no problem with the narratives that you intend to share because their government proclaims themselves to be defenders of democracy in the world. But then you remember that they call anything a democracy even if it is run by dictators as long it serves the interest of their government. The bid to end the Marawi siege that flattened the only Islamic City in the country was in fact sanctioned by the US government using their bombs.

The war footing of the US government against the Filipino people, and specifically the Muslims of Mindanao, was all the more confirmed by what happened to you at the San Francisco Airport. You were held incommunicado for 28 hours, denied the right to speak to a lawyer or the consul, and basically treated like a terrorist and criminal while being interrogated inside the Customs and Border facility inside the airport. At one point, you were asked to strip naked while a huge industrial fan was trained on you.

Just like the psywar tactics that you thought were only real in movies, you were left alone in the interrogation room with a gun and a grenade on the table. It was strangely reminiscent of the tokhang tactics of the Philippine military and police so you know better. You understand now that they meant what they said that they wanted to kill you. They just needed the pretext and justification for it. The “nanlaban” ploy may be in the counterinsurgency handbook of the CIA after all and exported throughout their allied military institutions all over.

Confirming this Islamophobia that has been sweeping America after 9-11 and the numerous wars against terror since, you were offered with a meal during the 28-hour ordeal. The problem was that it was a ham sandwich. Your Christian Filipino compatriots were never this insensitive, except for a few. But this false gesture was obviously to taunt and demean your religious belief.

Now that your tormentors have satiated their lust for power over a hapless individual after 28 hours, they made you sign a blank document and sent you promptly back to your home country.

However, upon your arrival, did the government and the new nationalist set issue howls of indignation? The problem is this new nationalist set who have become this administration’s avid supporters, quickly came to the defense of the customs and border officials, besting even the Americans themselves. It is a principle learned and took to heart in TV shows that lionize these fascists in international borders. First world countries have every right to turn away any prospective visitor on the flimsiest of justifications, it is emphasized in these cable shows. It is a principle that this administration has also twistedly taken to heart in deporting Australian missionary Sister Patricia Fox.

Because in the matrix of accepted identities that form part of the inventory of the Filipino nation, Jerome Aba, 25 years old, Moro activist, and others like him occupy the suspicious and unfamiliar fringes. And we actually know all too well what that means in Mindanao rural areas where the landlords, military, and paramilitaries act just like American border guards. Welcome home Jerome to the same recurring nightmare.

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