I dare say that at first what kills the dream is doubt on the inevitability of war. Growing up, we realize that wars change or end not only the lives of those who aim artillery at each other but more so those who are caught at the crossfire.
Eventually, however, the dream is made repulsive by doubt on the military. An education tells us that the military is a repressive state apparatus, used to create and maintain injustice disguised as a semblance of order. More importantly, our jaded minds whisper that the military serves vested interests of the higher-ups and the commander in-chief and not the best interests of the public.
The independent movie “Rekrut” (The Recruits), tells the story of a group of 15 men enlisted into the military service from Mindanao. They were trained as a “special team” to be deployed on a “special mission.”
Aside from being subjected to arduous physical torture typical of military recruitment camps—hard and routine labor under superiors seemingly abusive of their power—they found anomalies in the training. They did not get the wages that enticed them into the serve in the first place and they were being fed dried fish for months while their superiors get to pay for prostitutes delivered to the island.
In time they also found out that the “highly confidential” mission was to barbarically attack a community in a territory disputed by the Philippines and other countries in order to rationalize military occupation of the area.
Convinced that something was wrong, they wrote a letter addressed to high-ranking military officials. But the one to whom they entrusted the letter betrayed them for a price and surrendered their complaint to the camp commander.
Following the order of a colonel, the commander had all the men—including the traitor—brutally murdered.
According to the opening credits, the film, an entry to the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival now showcased at the University of the Philippines Film Center, is inspired by true events. It is reportedly loosely based on the Jovito massacre in a disputed island near Sabah, Malaysia.
Director Danny Añonuevo said in an open forum after the film screening that he also did research on the conditions in military training camps and incorporated the accounts of hardship into what little is known about the massacre.
The military is historically a secretive agency. The United States Armed Forces, for instance, intended to hide the Pentagon Papers to conceal the unnecessary brutality they exercised over the Vietcong.
They were forced to make the information public, however, due to public clamour fueled by rumors and investigative reports on the issue. One of the most remembered would be Seymour Hersh’s 1969 story about the My Lai massacre where over 100 Vietnamese civilians were killed.
In the Philippines, despite rumors of wrongdoings, the military remains inculpable as accusations remain mere accusations. Only a handful dare look into the stories behind stories to reveal the truth behind the disappearances or killings attributed to the military by shaking fingers belonging to hooded faces.
“We are not trained to ask question but to follow orders,” a soldier in the movie told his comrades. Perhaps that is so. Orders from the chain of command must be executed, despite justice or conscience.
The challenge for the media and the public is to shed light on matters involving the military in hopes of demanding transparency and accountability.
Some if not most of those in the service, like the men who died in the movie, are trapped in a vicious cycle of violence and blind loyalty.
And since they cannot ask the essential questions—most importantly why—we must.
To be submitted for extra credit in Comm 140: Media and Society under Prof. Lucia Tangi.
Image from Jake Coballes’ Facebook page. Apologies.
That's why I quit AFP.
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