Another Fe was the subject of the soldiers’ frequent home visits in Tondo in 2023.

Fe Crisostomo, 74, lives in one of the buildings in Vitas Katuparan in Brgy. 101. The village is just a few minutes walk from Brgy. 105.

On May 12, four soldiers came to her home to ask about the residents’ concerns. They told her about their plans for feeding programs and medical missions. They also offered her a wheelchair.

The soldiers asked if she was a member of any organization, and she said she was a member of Gabriela. They asked her why she joined the group. She answered it was because the government was fooling them with high amortization charges in her community. The soldiers also asked for the names of the Gabriela leaders and why they visited the community. They asked if she received any pay for joining protest rallies. She answered that she had never received any pay since joining Gabriela. The soldiers had more questions, and the chat lasted almost two hours. The soldiers asked to take her photo, but she refused.

Fe was the former chairperson of the Gabriela Tondo chapter. She suffered a stroke in 2019 and could not be as active in the organization following her illness. Yet, she continues to join their community’s fight for their right to decent housing.

The following day, March 13, the soldiers summoned Fe’s two grandchildren (one was 23 years old then and the other was 9) so they could take videos of the two, as this was to be the soldiers’ Mother’s Day greeting to Fe.

The next day, Mother’s Day, soldiers returned to Fe’s house and gave her flowers.

Two days later, the soldiers returned to her house to fetch her to go to their medical mission, but she did not accept their invitation.

The soldiers always brought gifts when they came, like slippers, soft drinks, bread, roast chicken, and rice. They also bought lots of drinks and snacks from her sari-sari store. She thought they had done this to win her over.

Another two days later, the soldiers returned for a longer chat, lasting almost three hours. They asked her questions that they had already asked before, like why she joined Gabriela, what they do in Gabriela, and why she joined rallies.

They asked her leading and seemingly innocuous questions, like the number of times she had sworn allegiance. She answered that she did not know what they were referring to. They asked her what mountains she had been to. She replied that her family lived in the mountains in her hometown in the Bicol region.

They asked her questions that she did not know the answers to. They asked her to give the names of the women leaders from Brgy. 103, Aroma, and Happyland. They even asked her to identify the Gabriela leaders in Navotas. She asked the soldiers their names, but they did not answer.

Two soldiers returned to her house on May 20 to ask her more questions. They asked her again to name the leaders from nearby communities. They asked if she also knew the Gabriela leaders in other cities like Caloocan, Navotas, and Valenzuela. They also asked her if she knew anyone in Congress. Like Ma’am Fe, she answered Gabriela and said that the group helped with their housing concerns.

Karapatan NCR filed the reports of harassment, intimidation, and surveillance that Fe experienced with the soldiers who frequented her home.

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