MANILA, Philippines—Aquiles Zonio, Inquirer Mindanao correspondent, owns six wigs of different colors and length, wears a bullet-proof vest when he is in Mindanao, carries a gun and constantly looks over his shoulder. He never sticks to a routine.

With death threats allegedly coming from a group backing illegal mining and a family being tried for the Maguindanao massacre, these are among the safety measures Zonio takes every day to survive.

“I have been marked for death due to the series of stories I have written on the massacre and illegal mining,” Zonio said during last week’s forum at the University of the Philippines-Diliman to mark the first anniversary of the massacre.

Since 2004, the 43-year-old Zonio has been playing a cat-and-mouse game with the goons hired by those who want to silence him for exposing the illegal mining in Sarangani City.

He also escaped the Maguindanao massacre last year when, along with two other colleagues, he took a pit stop that separated him from the convoy that was attacked allegedly by Andal Ampatuan Jr. and his henchmen.

Which means Zonio has been living the life of a journalist under threat for the last six years.

It’s not even much of a life anymore.

As a father, Zonio misses small family joys, such as bringing his 11-year-old son to school, so as not to put the young boy’s life in danger just in case he is attacked.

Gym

He could no longer go to the gym as much as he wants so as not to establish a routine.

When the threats become palpable, Zonio leaves the home he shares with his elderly parents and lies to them about his whereabouts.

And he worries that if his enemies get frustrated, they might turn on his parents instead. His father is 71 years old and his mother, 70.

Choking back tears, Zonio said he owed much of his survival the last six years to his close friend, Bong Reblando of Manila Bulletin, who watched his back and gave him the heads up whenever the latter received warnings from his own sources.

Reblando was among the 32 media workers slaughtered in Ampatuan town on Nov. 23 last year.

‘On my own’

“Now I am on my own. And I lost a friend,” Zonio said.

He recounted that he and Reblando were always together, even when looking for stories.

That day, Reblando insisted on staying in another car even when Zonio told him they could ride in another vehicle.

Zonio said he and his colleagues believed that the filing of Esmael Mangudadatu’s certificate of candidacy on Nov. 23 was an event worth covering as it was the first time that someone would be going against the Ampatuans of Maguindanao.

That was the reason there were “so many” of them who joined the convoy led by Mangudadatu’s wife, he said.

Shattered

“We thought we had security in number and that the women were respected. The massacre shattered this. No one thought this carnage would happen,” Zonio said.

Despite the threats to his life, Zonio said it never crossed his mind to abandon journalism, his “first love” to which he has devoted himself for the last 24 years.

He did not even consider moving to a different bureau of the Inquirer, as suggested by his boss, just so those who want his head would lay off.

“I am not afraid to die. I believe I have been given a new lease on life so that I can continue my mission and vocation. I continue to sleep alone, eat alone, travel alone … I am not a religious man but I believe God has a plan for me,” Zonio said.

He does, however, wear a rosary around his neck and carries with him a medallion embossed with an angel, the same one he had in his pocket on Nov. 23 last year.

Survival tips

Having to live with two groups monitoring him and a hundred hit men roaming in General Santos City, Compostela Valley and Digos City in Davao del Sur, Zonio even shared with reporters survival tips he learned at a security briefing when he got his first death threat in 2004.

“Don’t panic. They are not brave men. They are cowards. They’ll shoot at the back; be observant of your surroundings, especially when you are among strangers; never lower your guard; and don’t stick to a routine,” he said.

But still, he could not hide his frustration that the government continued to be “helpless in protecting its citizens.”

“The culture of impunity persists and in fact, it’s even worse,” Zonio said.

He said restlessness would persist so long as the government was not freezing or recovering the ill-gotten wealth of the Ampatuans as they could still rule from jail “with their millions.”

“We will never have peace of mind unless justice is served to the victims … The resolution of the Maguindanao massacre case is crucial to democracy, the justice system and the survival especially of provincial journalists in this country,” Zonio said.