The streets were empty. Not one kid can be seen playing on the streets. Then I heard their voices. They were playing inside a building being used as a chapel on Sundays. I was on my way to Transect 5.
My eyes scoured the ground. I was acutely aware of someone following me. I tried not to let this bother me. For ten months, we’ve been doing our transects alone; Jeric and I in separate transects, sometimes, not even meeting each other on our way to our next transect for the day. Now, I had to have someone walk with me. And Jeric has his walking buddy.
One would think that conducting fieldwork in a farm relatively close to the big city will not present dangers. Wrong. We’ve had our share of threats to safety as well. Never mind the usual fieldwork safety issues. The one we’re dealing with now is almost unheard of, at least when someone tries to study an animal in the ‘wild’.
About a week ago, we received news that some children have been kidnapped for organ harvest. We never really believed it until one Saturday morning, a niece of one of the farm staff was found dead next to a culvert in Brgy. San Miguel, the barangay next to Ara-al going down to La Carlota. They have gauged out her eyes, and taken her kidneys. The kidnappers, whoever they are, left PhP30,000 ($695 US). Was it supposed to pay to her parents’ grief over the loss of their child, so brutally murdered? The local police won’t move, apparently because no one has filed a complaint. Meanwhile, two unidentified vans with heavily tinted windows went inside the hacienda by way of the main road a few days ago.
Parents are terrified. So are we. But I am not calling off fieldwork, so I resorted to having us walk with someone during our transects. Safety first. +
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