Experience

This piece is dedicated to those insensitive hypocrites who keep calling us out for our anonymity as if they knew any better.

The photo featured in the cover of this article is that of Emil Aguinaldo.

In case you do not know who he is, perhaps it would be in your interest to back read our earlier posts (he figured quite prominently in our first major release, Deception 1).

Emil was our friend.

No we did not know him simply by acquaintance, we WERE friends.

Emil was a simple man. A tricycle driver who became a City Councilor in our hometown of Naga who first joined Jesse Robredo's ticket but was quickly disillusioned by Jesse's corruption which gradually unraveled as he witnessed and experienced firsthand how Jesse tried to control everyone into submission most especially those in the City Council.

Emil could have sucked up to Jesse and rose into power. Who knows he could have ended up in a much better state if he did but Emil chose to fight. He openly opposed Jesse and exposed his corruption at a time when social media did not yet exist.

Emil did this out in the open. He did not enjoy the protection of previous presidents or any senator. For a time he sought refuge in Luis Villafuerte's protection but little did he know that Jesse and his Uncle Luis, while they were openly chastising each other in public, had a long-running deal that was kept secret from most Naguenos.

In public, magkalaban si Jesse at si Luis. But since they were related to each other, in truth nag-uusap yung dalawa and proof of this is that they never really directly ran against each other when Jesse was alive. Sabi nga mismo ni Luis, "Territorial imperative of the animal kingdom." A rather scientific way of simply saying, "Sayo ang Tondo, akin ang Cavite." Of course the two had disagreements, but it was a conscious political strategy that allowed both of them to survive. Luis even took this strategy to an all new level when he openly castigated his own son LRay which led to a much-publicized rift between father and son.

Saan ka nakakita na mag-ama na magkalaban sa pulitika at nagmumurahan in public? In the last election (2016), Luis even ran against his grandson Migz and lost. Ngayon balita namin, bati na raw yung mag-ama (LRay and Luis) and the Villafuertes will stand united once again come 2019. Medyo pangit tingnan but it was a successful strategy. The Villafuertes had a lot of political enemies in Camarines Sur and they were able to maintain their political clout and power by occupying both sides of the political divide. Ang epekto, nahati yung players sa Cam Sur into two factions pero may Villafuerte pa rin nasa pwesto kahit ano mangyari.

Going back to Emil, he may have thought that seeking Luis' protection will guarantee his safety. The day he went to Manila, he even went to Luis' house para humingi ng pamasahe. He was growing impatient sa mabagal na usad ng mga naifile nyang kaso sa Ombudsman against Jesse Robredo so he decided to go to Manila para mag follow-up.

He boarded the bus and was never seen since.

Another friend, Mr. Luis Ortega, who, like Emil, used to be aligned with the Villafuertes but was equally disillusioned with Luis' controlling behavior (yes Jesse and his Uncle were very much alike despite being "political opponents"), described to us how a witness went to him and told him about the circumstances that surrounded Emil's sudden disappearance.

We already mentioned this in Deception 2, na may nakakita raw kay Emil na bugbog sarado na nakasakay sa isang sasakyan which belonged to Jesse Robredo habang nagpapahangin yung sasakyan sa isang vulcanizing shop and that Emil's body was chopped into pieces before it was thrown into the deep waters of Ticao Pass in Masbate. Jesse had to import killers from Cavite to perform the grisly task and one of those who witnessed Emil's murder got attacked by his conscience and decided to tell this story to Mr. Ortega.

But nobody cared about Emil. He was a nobody. Jesse was a celebrated City Mayor. A Ramon Magsaysay Awardee and a Harvard alumnus who was rising fast in the political ladder because of his connections with the Liberal Party. And Emil's family was left clutching at straws penniless as they desperately tried to look for Emil. Eventually, they just gave up searching and simply accepted their sad and unfortunate predicament.

If Emil were alive today, we're quite sure he'd be part of our team. In fact, we do consider him a part of us right now even if he's gone. Emil was a fighter and he slugged it out in the open. But he was careless and cavalier about what he knew and he ended up where he is right now. Sleeping with the fishes in the open seas of Masbate.

And Emil's knowledge about the Robredos and what he had at the time of his disappearance does not even constitute one half or even a quarter of what we know about Jesse and Leni now. Mas marami kaming alam. At hindi lang naman sina Leni at Jesse ang napangalanan namin kundi napakarami pang iba na may kanya-kanyang lihim at katarantaduhan na pilit nilang tinatago sa publiko.

Emil was not anonymous. But he ended up getting himself killed. And the court cases he filed (80 plus graft cases against Jesse and his cohorts) are left rotting away in the Ombudsman's archives while no justice has been served to his family for his mysterious disappearance.

Tapos ngayon, ang lalakas ng loob nyong magsabing lumabas agad kami at magpakita? What for? So we'll end up like our friend Emil na nawalan ng saysay ang pinaglalaban at literal na naibaon dahil sa nalalaman nya?

Hindi ho kami takot. Kung takot kami mananahimik na lang kami at hindi namin gagawin to. Para saan pa? Hindi ba mas pabor samin na manahimik na lang at least hindi malalagay sa peligro ang buhay namin at ng aming mga pamilya? But this is our way of making a lot of you who do not know the real story about the Robredos aware of the truth beneath the seemingly spotless facade. The truth about what really happened. Siguro nga kung hindi dahil samin, wala sainyo ang makakaalam ng kwento ni Emil or that he ever existed.

Who knows? Baka may makapansin man lang at mabigyan ng hustisya si Emil at ang kanyang mga naiwan kahit papaano.

Anonymity does not always constitute cowardice. Kagaya ng paulit-ulit na sinasabi namin lalabas kami in due time and we even challenged you to petition the Senate to investigate all our exposes para lumantad na kami, kahit alam naming delikado pa rin.

We're simply being smart. There are valuable lessons to be learned from Emil's experience.

What good is an expose kung patay na o naglaho na yung mageexpose?

So before you open your mouths and presume to know our motivations at yung lahat na pinanggalingan namin, mahiya naman kayo sa sarili nyo at tutunan nyong pagnilay-nilayan na ang mga bagay-bagay ay hindi lahat black and white. Things are much more complex than what appears in the surface. Hindi lahat nakukuha sa Google at sa Internet.

Madaling dumaldal at manuro at manisi at maghanap ng diperensya sa lahat na nakikita at maniwala sa sabi-sabi ng iba. Lalo kung garapal ka at hindi masyadong nag-iisip.

Believe us, we are sharing this with you not out of conjecture or hollow speculation.

We speak from the heart and talk from experience.