Melissa Roxas speaks at Press Conference from Anakbayan Seattle on Vimeo.

Watching Melissa Roxas tearfully recall her abduction and torture at the hands of the Philippine military last week in this press conference (watch the entire video feed archived posted above), I felt at once inspired and angered. More than I already have been at the over 1,000 extra-judicial killings and countless abductions that have happened under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s US-supported regime. The indignation grows once you realize that this pattern of repression is something that has been going on in the Philippines for generations, and not just during the Martial Law era.

Though now over 20 years old, Lino Brocka’s Orapronobis (1988) becomes more relevant than ever. A film about paramilitary groups in the Philippines who abduct, kill and torture suspected “rebels” while the government turns a blind eye (or more likely, clandestinely supports and funds these operations), it’s Brocka’s most articulate and scathing political expression. And a damn good film. It’s still banned from public screening in the Philippines, though some people have mistakenly tried to convince me otherwise. Presently, the Philippine government has refused to acknowledge responsibility for Melissa Roxas’ ordeal, even arrogantly claiming that her abduction and torture was “stage-managed” (whatever the fuck that means) before even launching a formal investigation and despite overwhelming evidence that only the military could have launched such an operation. Their callous response mirrors the government’s response to the same accusations made 20 years ago by Brocka’s film. One which cultural critic Emmanuel Reyes criticized eloquently:

“If Orapronobis has upset the Aquino government so much, they have no one to blame except themselves for giving Brocka and [screenwriter] Lacaba stories of atrocities to tell their countrymen… Instead of accusing the filmmakers of lack of patriotism, they should address the question of whether the issues raised by Brocka are true.”

(Geopolitics of the Visible, ed. Rolando B. Tolentino, p. 31)

I pose the same argument today to those who accuse Melissa Roxas, myself and the masses of folks advocating for human rights in the Philippines of being unpatriotic. But I can think of nothing more patriotic than wanting justice for a people who have suffered enough at the hands of those who have claimed to be our leaders. In this light, folks like Melissa Roxas and Lino Brocka, for having the courage to speak at the risk of death, are the truest patriots among us.

Read my review of Orapronobis/Fight For Us (July 2008), and download the film here. For more information on Melissa Roxas, visit www.bayan.ph or www.bayanusa.org.