Philippine Asian News Today Vol 19 no .14 | Page 8

OPINION

Tinig Migrante
By E. Maestro
“I made it. She didn’t.”
These lines would have made
good copy for a movie script except
that these were said in sadness to
describe a horrific event in Tabuk,
Kalinga, Mountain Province eleven
years ago.
With these five words, Dr.
Constancio “Chandu” Claver described
how the assassins, strongly suspected
to be government agents, ambushed
the car he was driving the morning of
July 31, 2006. He and his wife Alyce
were on their way to drop off their
other daughter at her school when a
van abruptly cut them off at a turn in
the road. Two people quickly stepped
out of the van and the barrage of
shots began. Thirty-eight (38) rounds
from automatic rifles peppered their
car, hitting all three of them.
Dr. Claver took three bullets on his
shoulder and one on his abdomen.
Alyce who had instinctively covered
his body with her own took seven
bullets near her heart. Their daughter
who got down on the floor of the
car just missed a bullet to her head
and suffered a grazing head wound
instead. Valiant efforts of the doctors
in the hospital where they were taken
were not enough to save Alyce from
her wounds. News of the ambush
travelled fast in the area and people
dropped what they were doing and
lined up outside of the hospital to
donate their blood and keep watch.
Alyce, Dr. Claver’s wife of 15 years,
died on the operating table. Dr. Claver
survived. The three daughters lost their
mother. Continuing threats against Dr.
Claver and his family persisted even
after this ambush.
Alyce and Dr. Claver were
known and respected for their active
involvement and participation on
social issues affecting the people of
Kalinga and the Cordillera.
The
ambush
against
the