The Philippines Rise of the Vigilantes

They go by names like Soldiers of Christ, Nation Watchers and the People’s Movement Against Communism. Some of their members are menacing-looking young men and women with headbands and bolo knives stuck in their belts or automatic weapons slung over their shoulders. The more bizarre groups are called Tadtad, or Chop, because they ritually slash their bodies during initiation. They believe in potions and amulets that they say make them invisible to their enemies.

The groups are collectively known as vigilantes, anti-Communist self- defense bands that have proved so strong a bulwark against subversion by the insurgent New People’s Army that they have gained immense popular support. They present a unique and prickly political problem for the government of President Corazon Aquino. Now firmly established on the large southern island of Mindanao, they are beginning to spread to other parts of the country. Though separate from the renegade warlords and private armies that still plague areas of the Philippines, the vigilantes are part of a tradition that Aquino’s government would like to stamp out. The new constitution calls for disbandment of all paramilitary groups not sanctioned by the government.

But the groups’ popularity has resulted in official ambivalence. In mid- March, Aquino announced that all paramilitary groups would henceforth be banned. Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Fidel Ramos strongly protested. “If there’s any group that should be dissolved, it’s the N.P.A.,” he said. Aquino backtracked, saying there would be “no immediate dismantling” of the groups.

As on many issues, Aquino is caught between the right and left wings of her fractious government. Her liberal advisers charge that the vigilantes threaten to become the Philippine equivalents of Latin American death squads. Says Haydee Yurac, a former member of Aquino’s Presidential Commission on Human Rights: “It’s a dangerous phenomenon that can easily get out of hand.” Conservatives, including many officials of the Roman Catholic Church, counter that the people have a right to self-protection. The vigilantes, says Jaime Cardinal Sin, the outspoken Archbishop of Manila, represent the “people reacting to the violence of the rebels.” Says Army Commanding General Rodolfo A. Canieso: “It is the inherent right of a citizen to defend himself. Everything else is politics.”

The vigilantes have proved an effective tool for counterinsurgency alongside the still ill-equipped and poorly paid Philippine armed forces. Nowhere is that clearer than in Davao City, the sprawling city-state in southeastern Mindanao. A year ago Davao City and its 1.4 million people were so firmly in the control of the insurgents that Manila officials called the city a Communist “urban laboratory.” But in the past eight months the N.P.A. has fled into the hills, and the city has been transformed into a government stronghold. The main agent of change: the vigilante group Alsa Masa, or Uprising of the Masses.

As late as last summer, when Lieut. Colonel Franco Calida took over as military commander and police superintendent in Davao City, Alsa Masa had only seven members. “I told this group to go forth and multiply,” recalls the colorful Calida, whose office is a veritable arsenal of guns and grenades. “In a week there were 22, then 40, then 70, then 100 . . .” Alsa Masa, now several thousand strong, imposed a system of checkpoints, armed patrols, covert neighborhood surveillance, “tax donations” and more than a little intimidation. N.P.A. members who have failed to present identification quickly at Alsa Masa checkpoints have been shot on the spot. Calida insists that Alsa Masa is law-abiding. He says he gives guns only to those who belong to the Civilian Home Defense Force.

President Aquino is believed to support a gradual phaseout of the vigilantes in favor of a citizens’ army based on the Israeli model. Says she: “The challenge is to mobilize people in the defense of their communities but with all the safeguards that will prevent the abuse of this great power.” The problem is that Alsa Masa and its counterparts have been effective in the battle against the Communists. Vigilante supporters say Aquino cannot afford to ignore their successes, whatever the long-term risks.