Fact Sheet: Angie Ipong

FACT SHEET

VICTIM: ANGELINA BISUÑA IPONG

CASE: Unjustified arrest, unjustified detention, sexual abuse, torture, violation of the rights of arrested person

AGE: 60 (at the time of arrest)

DATE OF ARREST: March 8, 2005

PLACE OF INCIDENT: Anastacia Mission Village, Barangay Lumbayao, Aloran, Misamis Occidental

CURRENT LOCATION: Pagadian Reformatory Jail, Pagadian City

PERPETRATORS: CIDG, Elements of the Southern Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines

Three Decades of Serving the People

Angelina Bisuña Vda. de Ipong, or Angie to her friends, was a former Lay Missionary who served and stayed in Tagum and Davao City. She is a Peace Advocate who devotes her life to the cause of peace and human rights. She is particularly concerned with the struggle for the rights of peasants and indigenous people.

Angie graduated from Ateneo de Naga University in Naga City with a Bachelor of Arts, Major in History. Afterwards, she taught at Maryknoll College in Lucena City.

Back in 1965, Angie became a member of the Mission Society of the Philippines (MSP) in Dumaguete City where the MSP was based under the auspices of the late Bishop Surban. She was one of the pioneers of the women’s lay missionary division under the MSP Secular Institute from 1966 to 1976. In 1968-1970, Angie was sent to study theology in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. While abroad, she passed through Europe and parts of Asia and she was exposed to different mission groups, lay institutes and the like. After two years, she was back to the Philippines and went straight to Cebu where the new base of the MSP was located and taught for a year at San Carlos University and St. Theresa’s College.

Her exposure to peasant struggle started when the Maryknoll Fathers in Tagum, Davao del Norte visited their group and appointed her as part of the Prelature Staff of the Christian Formation Center (comprising the provinces of Davao Oriental and Davao del Norte). Often described as a “vibrant lay missionary,” Angie also served as a trainor of cathechists for schools and basic ecclesial communities.

It was during this time that she became part of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines. The churches had become very active after Vaticum II, emphasizing thus its missionary role among the poor, deprived and oppressed people and the role of the laity in such task. Programs such as the GKK (Gagmay’ng Kristohanong Katilingban) and the KPK (Kapunongan sa mga Pangulo sa Kapilya), which emphasized the role of the laity, were developed. With the Theology of Liberation as the prime mover of the times, the churches then became very active in its liberation task among the peasantry and fully supported peasant and workers formations. The churches then actively participated in exposing and opposing the incursions of multinational corporations and how farmers’ land were grabbed and the workers exploited through the expansion of banana plantations. This development in the churches’ stand spread hope in the struggle of farmers and workers. This was also how Angie got her down to earth exposure to peasant and lumad struggle.

For three decades, Angie was tireless and relentless in serving the people. A teacher by nature, she particularly enjoyed teaching – whether on human rights or basic health skills or organic farming — among people from marginalized communities.

Other human rights and peace advocates sought her advise because of her long and exhaustive experience in the field of human rights. It was during one of these consultative meetings, on the 8th of March 2005, that Angie was abducted by armed men who identified themselves as members of the CIDG.