MARAG VALLEY - Paradise lost, paradise regained?

"This is dedicated to our rebel

soldiers who returned back to the

folds of the law and the soldiers who

did their best to bring peace to

Marag Valley. We are proud of you. We thank you for your

efforts to bring peace to this place.''

THE INSCRIPTION was written by an Isneg elementary student

in a brass marker in Marag Valley, a once war-ravaged tropical

forest and former stronghold of the New People's Army in Luna,

a hinterland town of Apayao.

The screaming headlines

about atrocities committed

in Marag may have faded

like most disposable news

items and whittled down to

an occasional brief phrase

on the inside pages of

national dailies. After all,

there are scores of more

recent stories of atrocity,

human tragedy and crime.

But residents fear the headlines may return again soon if the

government does not address the seeds of insurgency and

almost two decades of war starting in the late 1970s.

Militarization

Militarization in Marag won't just go away. The Inquirer found

this out during a visit to this ''Valley of Dreams'' last month.

Residents said they still feel the trauma, pain and hardship of

the war years. But more than 10 years of being chased around

the mountains in the tri-boundaries of Apayao, Cagayan and

Kalinga by contending forces have taught them precious

lessons in survival and resilience.

Earlier declared by the military as a ''No man's land,'' Marag is

now considered as a ''Paradise lost, paradise regained'' by

government officials. That may be farthest from the

truth.Underneath Marag's peaceful, idyllic exterior and lush

greenery is a seething revolutionary and environmental time

bomb. And the NPA rebels are just waiting in the wings to

regain their former stronghold.It was in Sitio Bucao where the

residents told their story--how the military drove them away

from their farms and how they jumped from their homes when

the loud volleys of gunfire pierced through the cool, quiet night.

They also told tales of how they were branded as insurgents,

with their relatives getting killed for resisting land speculators,

government and military men from exploiting their rich natural

resources and from grabbing their ancestral lands.What the

residents are concerned about now are recent developments

which they said are fomenting the seeds of discontent among

the people, which may erupt into a full-blown

insurgency.Millions of pesos had been poured in by the

Aquino and Ramos administrations for the military's ''weapons

of destruction'' like guns and bullets to drive away the rebels in

Marag.

Later, they tried to implement projects to entice residents to

trust the government and make them return to the fold of the

law.Despite these, they said, poverty among the people, lack of

social services, land-grabbing, harassment and illegal logging

by outsiders or land speculators are again making the people

restless.Marag barangay captain Nelson Oamil summed up their

sentiments: ''We don't want to return to that period in our lives

during the war years which had traumatized us. We hope the

government and those who would want to exploit us should

remember the high costs of the insurgency war.''

Pieces of evidence of the war years still litter the area--booby

traps, strafed or burned houses, man-made tunnels, caves and

even land mines still abound.But this time, Oamil said, only wild

animals like pigs and deer have been trapped or killed in the

traps intended by the NPA to maim, capture or kill government

soldiers.

Like Vietnam

''Marag was then the Vietnam of the Philippines,'' said Luna

Mayor Betty Versola. ''Soldiers were wary then of venturing into

Marag as they could even be ambushed.''

She said attempts by Army soldiers have failed to dislodge the

rebels as they used combat tactics of the Vietcongs in their

successful fight to drive away the Americans from Vietnam in

the 1960s through the 1970s.

Versola said the rebels had installed traps in the rivers to

discourage the military from venturing into the area. ''There are

still a lot of traps here and these could be dangerous to

unsuspecting hikers, mountaineers or visitors.''

Versola was a school teacher in Marag during the war years

while her husband, Bienvenido, was mayor of Luna.

Back to normal

''Everything is back to normal in Marag now. And anybody can

visit the area without fear of being harmed,'' said Versola, who

replaced her husband as mayor last May.

Officials of a detachment of the Army's 50th Infantry Battalion

based in Marag, however, said they are not taking any chances

as the rebels could attack anytime.

''We know some NPAs are still in Marag or its outskirts. But we

are prepared in case they will try to overrun us,'' TSgt. Fermin

Jacinto, squad leader of the Army detachment, told the

Inquirer.The soldiers had set up a 30-foot wooden tower in

Bucao. The tower is manned on a 24-hour basis to detect NPA

presence. To be continued...