With Ortega gone, listeners ask: Whom can we turn to?

ABORLAN, Palawan – His printed shirt was originally blue, but it had turned into a drab shade of brown after the autopsy. When he is buried in the cemetery of his hometown Sunday, the well-loved civic leader and media personality Gerardo Ortega will be in the same bloodied shirt and other clothes he was wearing when he was assassinated in Puerto Princesa last Jan. 24. “It was my decision. I want people to get angry, so they won’t forget what happened," his wife Patty said. The veterinarian-couple have been my good friends for 20 years, and I told Patty I could not bear to see Gerry this way. Ever practical, Patty comforted me, “That’s only a shell now. His spirit is everywhere." On a quiet Saturday afternoon, a constant stream of visitors filed into the living room of the Ortega family home to view the remains of the man everyone called Doc Gerry. There were camera-toting media people from Manila, barangay officials, family friends, even a half-blind old man who asked the police guards where the casket was (it was right in front of him). A sense of controlled outrage pervaded the leafy neighborhood. On the fence, there were posters calling for justice for the slain 47-year old Ortega, who had always taken pride in his Aborlan roots. His father was once the town mayor, a post that has now been passed on to Gerry’s older brother Jaime. In November 2010, former Bandillo ng Palawan editors Robert Bagalay and Sergio Pontillas interviewed Gerry Ortega for a case study on the role of the media in empowering indigenous peoples. Excerpts from that interview are shown here, along with file photos taken by Oggie Ramos for Inflight magazine. Video produced by Paterno Esmaquel II. Aborlan has a sizable indigenous Tagbanua population, a marginalized community that Ortega has frequently defended on his radio programs. His friends glimpsed the roots of his advocacy during a dinner last December, when he recounted how his barefoot Tagbanua classmates would refer to him using the local term for shoes, because he was the only one who had them. With his booming voice and larger-than-life personality, Gerry often took the cudgels for people who felt they had been unjustly treated. Such was his popularity that during the wake, Patty said many of Gerry’s radio listeners would come to her and ask: “To whom can we turn now?" That is a question Patty is hoping the younger generation of leaders in Palawan can answer in the future. In the meantime, she will be temporarily taking on the community tourism projects that Gerry had left behind. On our way here, I showed my friends from the Center for Community Journalism and Development one of the livelihood projects that Gerry helped organize – the Iwahig firefly tour. The modest cottages and sprawling garden beside the Iwahig River bridge seemed forlorn, as if the place was in mourning too. Due to security concerns, we made our way back to the city before it got too dark. Traveling along the verdant acacia grove near kilometer 50, we saw a flock of white birds flying in neat lines to roost on the treetops. This was one of Gerry’s favorite places in Palawan. Whenever he passed this area, he would always repeat the story of how animal droppings created this acacia forest. His spirit is probably wandering those forests now, soaring as high and free as those white birds. For sure, others will continue Gerry’s environmental mission, and whoever ordered his ruthless killing will someday get his comeuppance. Note: The author was based in Palawan from 1993 to 2006. She is currently one of the managing editors of GMANews.TV