Atimonan massacre victim Lontok buried in his beloved Banahaw

DOLORES, Quezon – They called him Dignum here in the foothills of Mount Banahaw. It was the radio call sign of slain environmentalist Jun Lontok, who devoted his life to protect this sacred mountain, which dozens of religious sects consider their home. Dignum is a local hardwood that Banahaw residents carve into their fabled anting-antings, which some mystics believe protect them from danger. Lontok always wore one of those too, but it offered no protection from the 15 or so  bullets that penetrated his body the afternoon of January 6. Jun "Dignum" Lontok, 42, was one of the 13 men who died in what is now known here as the "Atimonan massacre." He is described clinically as collateral damage in a police operation to neutralize Lontok's friend, Vic Siman, an alleged illegal numbers kingpin. They were killed in the same hail of gunfire last Sunday at a checkpoint in Atimonan, Quezon manned by policemen in civilian clothes and military men in camouflage who had been called to back them up. Unlike the other men who were found lifeless inside two bullet-ridden SUVs with the windows closed, Lontok's bloodied body was outside in a ditch, his clothes muddy. Family members at his funeral today surmised that he must have jumped out of the SUV when the shooting started to run away. The gunmen made sure he would tell no tales. For now, Dignum's family is left to guess at exactly how he died, as the NBI continues its probe and interrogates the over three dozen armed men at the checkpoint, including their leader Hansel Marantan, a notorious police officer accused of at least three rubouts before this incident, which is now suspected of being a rubout as well. There are other burning questions about Dignum's last day on earth: what was he doing in the fateful convoy with several heavily armed men? Why had they gone to Bicol together? One media report speculated that he led a double life, hanging in the last couple of years with a shadowy crowd involved in turf wars and had bad cops as enemies. The NBI may soon arrive at more definite details about the company he kept. In the meantime, what his friends and comrades here are sure about is that he loved this mountain, knew its nooks and crannies, and fought hard to defend it. He and his environmentalist colleagues even succeeded several years ago in convincing the government to ban the annual Holy Week march by thousands of pilgrims up its slopes that trampled on vegetation, led to bush fires, and left heaps of trash. Many were shocked that police accused him of being a member of a gun-for-hire gang and a jueteng operative, among other things. “In the last 20 years, si pareng Jun ay kasama ko sa environmental and agrarian reform movement,” environmental lawyer Asis Perez told GMA News Online. Perez is currently the director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.  “Sa akin pong pagkakaalam, matagal na kaming magkasama, hindi siya nainvolve sa ganyang gawain. Hindi ko alam ang basehan po nun." A native of Dolores, Lontok was a long-time leader of the Luntiang Alyansa ng Bundok Banahaw (LABB), which included Manila-based devotees of the mountain in addition to local activists like Lontok. That was how he met Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman, who was a community organizer when she met Lontok in the early 1990s. She was among the many who visited his wake here. "Jun's greatest contributions were two things: first, he and his colleagues were able to close Banahaw to allow it to regenerate and bloom into life again," Soliman said via SMS. "The second is the social fence built around the skirt of the mystical mountain."   Lontok was also a leader of the “Quezon Laban sa Basura” movement, which blocked a landfill project in Quezon province.   Dolores resident Orlan Calayag recalled how Lontok helped convert his small mountaineering club into an advocacy group. “Nung binuo namin ‘yung grupo tinutulungan niya kami para baguhin ang direksyon. Doon nagsimula ang advocacy ng grupo namin sa environmental protection,” he said.  “We started a community initiative to help sa Bantay Banahaw. Mga tone-toneladang basura ang binababa namin.” To Kail Zingapan, a volunteer who assisted Lontok in environmental awareness actions on Banahaw in the 1990s, her fallen friend combined an awareness for the spiritual heritage of the mountain with its scientific and environmental importance. "By just being who he is and doing his work, he even taught Catholic priests the sacredness of nature and of Banahaw... To me, that was the coolest part," she said.   He was also a well-known agrarian reform advocate. His neighbors recalled how he was instrumental in the distribution of 163 hectares of land in this town to local farmers under the agrarian reform program. His experience and contacts as a community organizer were noticed by powerful people, such as Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, who enlisted his help organizing for the Liberal Party in Quezon. According to a Lontok relative, more than two years ago, Vic Siman, a Small Town Lottery operator in Laguna – and according to police, a jueteng lord – sought Lontok's help in mediating with the NPA after learning of his contacts with the rebel group. Mount Banahaw was a haven for the NPA until the 1990s. Recently, according to two family members, Siman had sought his help again with a small-scale mining project in Panganiban, Camarines Norte, which was where they were  reportedly traveling from when they were stopped at the Atimonan checkpoint. Lontok's cousin Ariel Saliva said he was vaguely familiar with the mission. “Wala akong isip na ito’y sensitibo. Basta ang alam ko ang gusto ni Kuya ay makatulong," he said at the Dolores cemetery soon after Lontok was buried. Around the fresh mound of dirt on Lontok's coffin on Saturday afternoon, his fellow mountaineers formed a circle while clad in white t-shirts with the face of their fallen comrade. They sang the elegiac "Walang Hanggang Paalam." Then it rained hard.   “Siya po ay isang napakalaking inspirasyon sa amin kasi po kung ano ang sinasabi niya, ‘yun ang kanyang ginagawa,” Orlan Calayag recalls. "Siya po ay nabuhay na may prinsipyo. Sa amin pong mga biruan ang bala ay sasanggahin niya 'wag lang kaming tamaan.” – ELR, GMA News