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Surprise reunion caps detainee’s first day of freedom

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Inday Espina-Varona

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/news-special1/metro/8/17/lolo-alcantara.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">National Democratic Front consultant Tirso Alcantara hugs granddaughter Nica, who learned of his whereabouts by accident. Photo by Kodao Productions</div></figcaption></figure></div>The high school senior had just gotten off a tricycle at 5 a.m. and was preparing to board a jeepney when red letters on a banner caught her attention. &quot;Welcome, Tirso Alcantara!&quot; Nica (surname withheld to protect her privacy) stared at the cloth held up by several persons. She didn&#x27;t know why people were milling outside Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. But she knew the name. “Naiyak na ako.” (I started to cry.) The student went up to the person holding a megaphone.Nica pointed out the banner.&quot;Lolo ko &#x27;yan.&quot; (That&#x27;s my grandfather.)&quot;It took some time to convince them (supporters),&quot; Nica told ABS-CBN News, smiling as she shook her head. None of the paralegal and support group members knew her. She didn&#x27;t know any of them.Nica left paralegals confused.&quot;I didn&#x27;t even know anything about the peace talks,&quot; she said, laughing. Release process<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/news-special1/metro/8/17/alcantara-gamara-lorenzo.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">Tirso Alcantara walks out of Camp Bagong Diwa with his pet cat and fellow political prisoners Renante Gamara and Ernesto Lorenzo, also consultants of the National Democratic Front. Photo by Kathy Yamzon</div></figcaption></figure></div>Nica did not know that her grandfather, who carries the nom de guerre of “Shane Sangria” in the list of National Democratic Front (NDF) consultants covered by an agreement on safety and immunity guarantees, has the most number of cases – 46 – among some 500 political detainees.So far, eight of 22 detained NDF consultants, and holders of immunity guarantees have walked free in the last two days: Alcantara, Alan Jazmines, Renante Gamara and Ernesto Lorenzo were released late afternoon from Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan.Released Tuesday and early Wednesday were Kennedy Bangibang, Ruben Saluta, Jaime Soledad.Couple Alex and Winona Birondo were released on humanitarian grounds. Iloilo-based NDF consultant Concha Araneta Bocala was also released late afternoon.The releases are aimed at jumptstarting the resumption of peace talks between the Philippine government and Asia’s longest-running communist insurgency.Over a hundred rights lawyers, paralegals and support staff have spent the last two weeks getting judges across most regions to sign release orders for the consultants.Tall and still straight and sturdy, the former NDF spokesperson for Southern Tagalog during the 1986-87 initial peace talks, was arrested on Valentine’s Day in 2011.For some time, he was detained in isolation by the Intelligence Security Group of the Philippine Army at the maximum security detention facility in Fort Bonifacio. Long absenceAlcantara, 62, had not seen his granddaughter in 12 years.Nica’s last sight of her grandfather, known as &quot;Ka Bart&quot; to activists, was on television.He was in handcuffs. Police were announcing the capture of the man they claimed was second in command to the late Gregorio &quot;Ka Roger&quot; Rosal.The family, she said, did not attempt to contact him or his allies. It was too dangerous.Other than sad image on TV, Nica has happier memories: &quot;vacations&quot; in the guerrilla front of Southern Luzon. She was four years old. &quot;Part of me knew it was a rebel camp. But it was all fun to me,&quot; she said. “We were too young to really understand war.”Alcantara later told ABS-CBN News, he didn’t know part of the family had transferred to Manila.“Nobody told me my granddaughter was just living in Taguig,” he said. “This is all an accident. She just heard my name.”<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pcooIUKBj4c" width="560"></iframe></figure>Nica told ABS-CBN News that stays away from politics, partly for self-preservation.She grew up with an aunt. Her mother, Alcantara&#x27;s daughter, also an activist, was jailed for eight years in Palawan. Growing up the daughter and granddaughter of hunted rebels honed Nica to be cautious.“I don’t go near anything political,” she said.But she could not resist coming back to the mass action at noon, right after school. Her first rally: she stayed for 30 minutes while rights workers interviewed her and sent word to Alcantara.“They asked me who my mother is,” Nica said.“They told me the name of her mother,” Alcantara later said. “I told them, yes, that is my child.”Nica went home, talked with her aunt, and then went back to wait for her grandfather&#x27;s release.When Alcantara and other freed detainees disembarked from their vehicle to greet supporters, Nica broke off from the crowd.“I just ran straight to him. I was running very fast. Someone tried to stop me. Of course, they didn’t know me.”“I just said, ‘lolo ko yan! Lolo ko yan!’”Then she was in front of him.“He looked startled. I told him, ‘Lolo, ako ito,’.” (Lolo it’s me.)She didn’t have to say her name.“He hugged me. He held me tight for ten minutes. We didn’t move, we just hugged,” Nica told ABS-CBN News.

The high school senior had just gotten off a tricycle at 5 a.m. and was preparing to board a jeepney when red letters on a banner caught her attention. "Welcome, Tirso Alcantara!"

The high school senior had just gotten off a tricycle at 5 a.m. and was preparing to board a jeepney when red letters on a banner caught her attention. "Welcome, Tirso Alcantara!"