THE WILL TO SURVIVE

In my lifetime, I have heard so many stories of courage and exemplary will power.

But I believe that all of these stories of bravery and the will to survive will pale when placed side by side with the story of the survival of a young Maguindanao boy from Sitio Mainline, Liliongan, Carmen, North Cotabato..

Montasir Balah was 14 years when Muslim rebels attacked a village in Carmen town almost eight years ago.

In retaliation, Christian vigilantes went on a rampage and punished the first Muslim they saw.

Montasir, who grew up in the area, was walking home when he was accosted by the vigilantes who then hogtied him and brought him to a secluded place where he was stabbed 10 times.

“I felt so much pain every time the knife pierced my body,” Montasir would relate to me later.

Thinking he was dead, the Christian vigilantes then proceeded to slice off his right ear and dumped him in a ditch.

“The pain was unbearable when they cut off my ear but I did not even winch because I wanted them to believe I was dead,” he told me.

When the vigilantes left, Montasir picked up his frail and bloodied body and tried to walk a few meters before he dropped and passed out.

“I woke up the following morning and I searched for water but I continued walking,” he said.

Meanwhile, his father and his relatives who were alarmed that he did not come home the night before, searched for him and found him walking aimlessly at about noon of the following day.

With the help of former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) commander Andez Aliudin, who is his paternal grandfather, Montasir was brought to the Malaybalay hospital in Bukidnon where he was saved by the doctors.

Later, he was brought to Cotabato City Mayor Muslimen Sema, who is now the Chairman of the MNLF, and he was presented to the media.

Until today, I still could not imagine, or even believe, that a frail 14-year-old boy would survive such a barbaric attack and all the wounds in his body.

Montasir was able to marry a young Muslim girl, Mina, who now lives in my farm in Paco, Kidapawan City along with their three daughters and a young son named Datu Edrin, named after one of my boxers, Edrin Dapudong.

When he was finally brought to the Department of Justice to meet with Sec. de Lima in October of last year, Montasir asked the Justice Secretary’s help in bringing an end to his search for justice.

With the filing of the criminal cases against the suspects last week before the Department of Justice, Montasir Balah’s quest for justice may finally be over.

Putting that behind him, he could family raise his children away from the violence and the terror that he went through.

(photo caption: Proof of man’s brutality. Montasir Bala shows the extent of the mutilation he suffered from the hands of the vigilantes.)