THE LONG WAIT FOR JUSTICE

Shortly before the elections of 2007, when I was on my way out as Governor of North Cotabato and I endorsed the then Vice Governor, Jesus Sacdalan, to replace me, a Maguindanao-Muslim family from Carmen town came to me bringing along a frail and pale teenager.

Montaser Balah, then about 17 years old, was a victim of a gruesome barbaric act perpetrated by armed Christian vigilantes in Sitio Mainline, Barangay Liliongan in Carmen, a town in firm grip of a moneyed political family.

Four years earlier, following an attack by Muslim rebels on a village in Carmen, Christian vigilantes, reportedly under the top political leader of the town, went on a rampage and exacted revenge on any Muslim they saw.

Montasir Balah, then 14 years old, was walking home when he was accosted by the Christian vigilantes. He was hogtied and then brought to a secluded place by the highway where he was stabbed 10 times.

When the vigilantes thought he was dead, they sliced off his right ear in a fanatical ritual. It is said that many Christian vigilantes believe that the ears of their Muslim victims would give them more power.

When the vigilantes left, however, Montasir, with his body pierced by 10 knife wounds and his guts popping out of his body and his right ear cut off, managed to stand up and walk.

By noon of the following day, he was brought to a hospital in Bukidnon where he was given immediate medical attention.

He survived to tell his story.

Miontasir’s case became a burning issue in the 2007 elections where Sacdalan, who did not have enough resources, became the Governor defeating Carmen Mayor Rogelio Talino whose men were believed to have been behind the attack on and mutilation of the young Muslim boy.

After the 2007 elections, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) was called in to investigate but the cases prepared against the suspects, including Mayor Talino, were shelved for some many years.

In the meantime, I took custody of Montasir and made him work in my farm receiving modest wage as a farm worker. Later, when he married, he brought his wife and children to the farm where they remain until today.

But the Montasir Balah case, while temporarily shelved because of political influence and money, remained a hot issue.

The other party based in Carmen town knew this. In fact, on Oct. 3, 2012, a Maguindanao employee who is designated as the Deputy Governor for Muslim Affairs, Edris Gandalibo, lured Montasir into going with him to the Talino mansion in Poblacion Carmen.

There, Montasir was coerced into signing a document which absolved Mayor Talino of the crime. He was given P5,000 afterwards.

But Montasir came home to the farm after that and related what happened to him.

Alarmed, I immediately informed President Noynoy Aquino of Montasir Bala’s case. He advised me to coordinate with the Department of Justice.

I immediately brought Montasir to Manila and presented him to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima who immediately ordered that he be placed under the Witness Protection Program.

A new team of NBI investigators, two of them Maranao-Muslims, were tasked to handle the case.

Last week, almost eight years after he was stabbed 10 times and his right ear was sliced off, the NBI team of Atty. Basset M. Sarip, Atty. Abdul Jamal D. Dimaporo and a Christian agent, Nestor C. Pascual, all of NBI National Capital Region filed the criminal charges against the perpetrators of the brutal and gruesome crime against Montasir Balah.

For this young Muslim man, who is now away from his family and kept by the WPP because of his search for justice, the long wait may finally be over.

It took the intercession of the President, the commitment of the Secretary of Justice and the dedication of two Muslim lawyers who are NBI agents and a Christian agent, to make sure that money and political influence will not stand in the way of the search for justice and the truth.