Angie’s Story: Letters from Prison

LETTER FROM PRISON
October 15, 2006

Dear Friends,

Warm greetings from prison!

I am Angie Bisuna Ipong, a political prisoner detained at Pagadian City Jail in Mindanao, Southern Philippines. I have been here for one year and seven months now, charged with rebellion. I was arrested without any warrant, brought to military camps, sexually harassed, tortured and declared missing for 14 days until the military surfaced me in jail.

The 14-day ordeal haunts me to this very day. Perhaps if I were younger I would have greater energy to cope with this trauma. But I am 62 years old. The pain and indignity I have gone through is more than I can bear.

Once again I would like to raise a voice of protest against the injustice inflicted on me and my person. Once again I would like to raise a voice of condemnation against the perpetrators of these inhuman acts. And I would like to raise a voice of solidarity with other victims who have suffered a similar fate in the hands of the Philippine military.

Right now my case is in court. More and more i realize the utter futility of these court hearings, the turtle-paced handling of the case, the trumped-up charges and fabricated witnesses thrown against me. I know all these have been designed to break me, to destroy me, to make me rot in prison.

Now I am one year and seven months behind bars. Life in prison has been the most agonizing and unproductive years of my life. The pain of isolation, the boredom, and the anxiety of a political prisoner in the midst of an odd mix of inmates charged with common crimes have been hard for me.

To cope up, I have been making and growing all kinds of things- indigenous cards to inspire people, organic vegetables and beautiful flowers within the prison compound. I have also in my own small way, facilitated livelihood projects for our women inmates. I have tried to become productive in this dark and limited world. It is the only way I could keep my spirit of life burning and the struggle alive in my heart. Otherwise I could be totally weighed down with the desperation of prison life.

But how long would I live my life behind bars? Please don’t make it so long! As I grow older (I’ll be at 62 at the end of this year) my only wish is to spend the rest of my life in more productive ways.

As a teacher, I would like to continue teaching and helping our peasant women to be self-reliant. I would like to encourage children, especially of the indigenous people to be more literate and express their creative powers and be empowered.

As a peace-advocate, I would like to continue helping people enjoy their rights, break the ‘culture of silence’ and let them stand with honor, dignity and pride as a people.

As a woman and a citizen of this country, I would like to live the rest of my life in peace and dignity. I do hope the authorities would see and understand there is no sense and no humanity in keeping an old woman like me in jail.

My dear friends, I need your help. And you can do so much to help me. One is to write a letter to the authorities, to the courts, to the military and to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to release me on humanitarian grounds. You can also write a letter of concern to all peace loving groups and individuals for concerted action on my release. Your active, prompt support could spell my freedom.

Through the FREE Angie Movement you could also send in your moral, financial and material support like vegetable seeds, paper materials, beads and the like. Or you could visit me at the Pagadian City Reformatory Center in Pagadian City, Mindanao. I will be very happy to see you and share with you my experiences. Your warm presence would strengthen me in the days ahead. Your continuing concern and affection will keep my soul intact.

And let me end this letter with a short poem, my greatest hopes:

To see light and the dawning of a new day-
The bright hope that someday I’ll be free
Free to continue the task that we have started
Free to touch the heart of the downtrodden
Free to teach our children and learn from them
To find meaning in these prison walls
To keep on the fight to the very end!

Affectionately in the Struggle,
ANGIE