The news about the Filipino-American Major General Mario Taguba being asked by his Vice-Chief of staff to retire after 35 years of service to the US Military is disgusting.

It wasn’t too long ago when our collective Filipino hearts skipped  to a proud beat when we watched the US congressional hearings on TV. At the center of it all was this very Filipino-looking man in uniform, testifying about his report on the alleged abuses at the Abu Graib prison run by the American military in Iraq. It was an assignment given to him and like a good soldier, he did his work with thoroughness and dispatch.

He showed pictures of blind-folded prisoners, half naked being tortured by their American prison guards, testified as to his findings and pinpointed the blame squarely on the people responsible for running the facility saying they violated rules they themselves had set as a standard for proper behavior. 

I remember that as I watched, I felt a sense of pride–not in what he was testifying about but in the forthrightness, strength of resolve and the character of the man. I also remember thinking that the American sense of justice and accountability was at work and here was a clear demonstration of that fact.

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I first met Diana Limjoco three years ago. We were doing a story on Imelda Marcos’ jewels seized by the PCGG. While doing research for the story, we chanced upon her website where she had posted pictures of the so-called Romoulietos collection. We contacted her and made arrangements to meet her for an interview in Manila.

The interview turned out to be interesting. She was one of a few who were allowed to take pictures of the fabulous jewels before they were taken in for storage at the Central Bank. But what turned out to be more interesting was our conversation after the interview. While our crew was packing up, our small talk turned to why she had decided to live in the States. After all, she belonged to a privileged family and had no need to find a “better” life abroad.

But in fact, she did.

What she told us next put things in perspective. She decided to leave precisely because she wanted to move away from the memory of a traumatic experience that had shattered her life as a young teenager. People she knew raped her. Men she knew as “Tito,” men known to her family who had threatened to harm her if she spoke a word about her experience.

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Anne and KC are two 15 year olds who were trafficked by their aunt when they were barely 14, with the promise of jobs at a restaurant in Manila. Drawn by the “glamour” of the city lights, the two went with Dada Nina and lived in an apartment somewhere in Quezon City and offered to men willing to pay the 10,000-peso price tag of a virgin.

We met them here in Samar where they told us the story of how they and many other young girls here were drawn by promises of free cell phones, a 3,000-peso per month salary and the possibility that they could help rescue their families from the poverty that surrounds them.

Indeed, amidst the lush greenery, fresh air and idyllic surroundings, you can see the poverty. In Anne’s family’s one room shack made of yero and wood, the dirt floor of the kitchen is bare, save for a triangular-shaped steel bar to hold a pot over some wood. On the sides, a few ears of dried corn, and three pineapples. I ask about where the food is, and her mother points to the dried corn. We are setting up our camera in this one room with nothing to sit on except the floor. I want to ask her mother about her bold attempt to have Anne rescued from the house where her “employer” held her captive.

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