Last Friday, nine more names were added to the Wall of Remembrance at the Bantayog Memorial Center at Quezon Avenue and Edsa in Quezon city.
The nine were Menardo T. Arce; Juliet C. Armea; Leopoldo Y. Calixto, Jr.; Antonio S. Mijares; Jacinto D. Peña; Jaime L. Sin; Crispin S. Tagamolila; Raquel E. Tiglao; Haydee B. Yorac.
Their names were added to the 141 that include among others Edgar Jopson. Voltaire Garcia, Ma. Lorena Barros, ,Emmanuel Lacaba, Benigno Aquino Jr., Evelio Javier, Jose W. Diokno, Joaquin “Chino” Roces, Lorenzo M. Tañada, Fr. Zacarias Agatep, Macliing Dulag, Bonifacio Gillego, Jose Burgos, Jr.
The Bantayog ng Mga Bayani Foundation, with former Senate President Jovito Salonga as its chairman emeritus, was established in July 1986 , five months after the end of the Marcos dictatorship, out of the concern by a group of Filipinos that the people who had fought for the freedom we are enjoying now might be forgotten in our daily struggle to rebuild the nation.
A concept paper by Ledivina V. Cariño, dean of the UP College of Administration, capsulized the vision of the foundation: “As we enjoy our liberation, let us not forget those who fell during the night. Let us honor the Filipino patriots who struggled valiantly against the unjust and repressive rule of Ferdinand Marcos. Let us build a memorial to those men and women who offered their lives so that we may all see the dawn.”
In the beginning, the honorees, called “martyrs” were supposed to have been limited to those who died before the end of the Marcos regime. In 1993, the Foundation decided to include those who died after February 1986 People Power and called them “heroes”.
Vignettes from the lives of the martyrs and heroes give a glimpse of their sufferings. Most touching was the story of Jacinto Peña, a writer from Iloilo. Chit Estella, editor-in-chief of the Philippine Journalism Review, remembers Jack during their days at the Philippine Collegian in UP.
Bantayog’s narration of Jack’s life mentioned that during the repressive years of Marcos, Jack joined the BMP Balita ng Malayang Pilipinas which was the news service of the different progressive mass organizations. The body of writing produced was disseminated in several forms for large-scale distribution. “These expositions of the BMP became the springboard for many discussions among the anti-dictatorship forces. This information helped create the groundswell of public opinion against the dictatorship.”
Jack was killed in Gattaran, Cagayan in November 11, 1979.
Bobbie Malay, said she was with Jack a few days before his death. She accompanied him to Quiapo to buy rubber boots, because he said, where he was going was muddy. Jack went to Cagayan for an “in-depth integration among Cagayan peasants.”
Bantayog said at that time the Philippine Army was conducting operations. The house Jack was in was shelled and he was wounded, When the military elements got him, he was tortured to reveal names. He didn’t reveal any name. The then mayor of Gattaran reputedly holds a picture of Jack being pulled apart by a carabao sled. He was then just wearing a shirt and briefs. His body was recovered some months later and friends buried him at the Loyola Memorial Park.
Bobbie accepted the citation for Jack because Bantayog could not trace any member of his family.
Juliet Armea was a nursing student in 1970 when she joined the activist movement. She did organizing work among women workers. When her husband was arrested in 1979 for trade union organizing, she worked as wife of a detainee in Kapatid, an organization set up by Sister Mariani and relatives of detainees.
When her husband was released from prison, they decided to do union organizing in Mindanao. The decision was painful for her because she had to leave their children, the youngest of whom was only two years old. She avoided bidding the children goodbye afraid that she would change her mind.
In the early dawn of October 27, 1983, the Tadtad, a native paramilitary of Lumads, attacked Juliet’s place. Juliet and her aide fought to cover the retreat of their companions. She was captured. For four hours, Juliet was tortured and raped. She was then beaten dead.
The mayor of Gingoog refused to have her buried in the cemetery. Upon the insistence of Juliet’s friends including the bishop, Juliet was buried “sa gilid ng sementeryo”, outside the cemetery walls, among the people who came to love her.
Juliet’s husband and children were present to receive the citation for her.
Looking at the names etched on the Wall of Remembrance, I was overwhelmed by the greatness of their lives. I felt sad and befuddled that many of them had to suffer and die violently for their noble intentions for the country.
Honoring them is the least we, the beneficiaries of their struggles, could do for them. As Bantayog said, “In honoring our martyrs, we proclaim our determination to be free.”
The above photo is “The Awakening of Dormant Stones”.
500 handpainted stones were offered at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Memorial Center for Haydee Yorac, Raquel Tiglao and Juliet Armea so that they may be honored together with Gregoria de Jesus and Trinidad Pecson and our women heroes on this 100th year of women’s awakening in the Philippines.
It is a call to justice.
To Crispin Tagamolila, friend of many friends, trampled down as a seedling reaching up to the light, we shall look steadfastly in the direction that you found,– up, not down — even as the loss of your company is so feebly mourned.
In last Friday’s ceremonies, his nephew, Crispin Antonio, gave the response in behalf of the family. The name of the young Tagamolila’s father, Antonio, is also etched on the Wall of Remembrance.
In remembering Crispin, Bantayog summarized his contribution to the quest for a better Philippines. It related his defection from AFP to NPA: “From one army to another, from one cultureto another, from one world and motivation to the opposite…
“Crispin tagamolila was killed in an AFP-NPA encounter on April 16, 1972 in Echague, Isabela. Along with a number of other civilian victims, his body was displayed in the town, without the AFP realizing who they had killed. when some peasants that he previusly organized saw his body, they grieved over him. They informed the soldiers that the body was Tagamolila’s. He was then 28 years old.
“The AFP offered an AFP burial for Tagamolila. The family did not accept this and one sister, Isabelita Tagamolila, gracefully declined. ‘No, please get back the kabaong (coffin) and you will be using such things again and again.”
“It was a virtual prediction of the long war that ensued between forces of the AFP and the NPA.”
1971 na nung pinanganak ako puro news at chismis lang ang account ko sa martial law
pero ito ang naiintindihan na naidulot ng NPA sa buhay ko..
Pag ka graduate ng ama ko sa PMA ,bilang sa limang daliri nya ang paguwi nya sa Mulanay Quezon dahil ang daming NPA dun
tapos nung isang taon me tiyuhin akong kinidnap ng NPA pero nabalitaan ko na pinakawalan din
Salamat ke Jaclyn Jose at sa sineng Mulanay nag ka idea ako kung ano ang Hitsura nito….
While I was posted in Chile during and right after the
Pinochet Dictatorship, the Chilean Government formed the
“Commission on Truth and Reconciliation” better known as the
Rettig Commission. Rettig was a former justice of the
Chilean Supreme Court.
The Commission evaluated all the human rights violations
of the Pinochet regime. They accounted for over 3,000
such cases.
I made several recommendations to then Pres. Aquino to form
a similar commission in the Philippines. Nothing came of my recommendations. Reports of ambassadors are never read
I guess. But we missed a golden opportunity. Had we formed such a commission we would have a more or less
reliable tabulation of what happened during the dark years
of the Marcos Regime.
More important, some of the military officers who would
be identified as human rights violators would not have
reached the rank of general. FVR probably would not have been President since the Philippine Constabulary which he
headed during Martial Law, would have been one of the focus
of such an investigation. We never cleansed the military
for human rights violations during the Marcos Regime. We
are paying a high price for it to this day.
That’s why up to now, we have military officers who think brutality is the best means to win support for the government.
e-mail from Pina Javier:
The name of Jaime L Sin was included in the Wall of Remembrance. How was it justified?
Was his sacrifice equal to that of Jacinto Pena and Juliet Armea? Just wondering.
Best regards to you and make sure you take care your self.
Pina
I am tempted to agree with Pina’s sentiment. After all, it might be asked, what was it that Cardinal Sin did in 1986 that he could not have done in 1972 or any year in between? One might even say, it was People Power that saved him from hell, not him inventing People Power. But if his personal circumstances until he died were actually luxurious by comparison to those who were plainly martyred, Jaime Sin transformed the lives and thinking of perhaps many more than those others, especially among nuns and priests, for some reason. But what is the message to those whose lives and beliefs were transformed by him if he is excluded? Are their beliefs and motivations unworthy? May they not revere their hero or inspiration? For that alone, he deserves to be on the Wall with those that fell in the Night — even if he didn’t.
Marcos, like all dictators, destroyed all the institutions
of society so there will be no opposition to his authoritarian regime. In is only the Catholic Church which remained as a viable insitution during Martial Law. So it
is not unexpected that Cardinal Sin as head of the Church,
played a major role in toppling the dictatorship.
If the Cardinal could be faulted, it is the fact that he
did not return to the convent after EDSA I but continued
his political role. The same thing could be said of the military. When Marcos declared Martial Law he shifted the basis of his support. Instead of basing his government on the support of the people, he based his government on the support of the military. Having become politicized during
Martial Law, the military also never returned to the
barracks.
Democracy is easier to maintain if the priests remain in the convent and the military in their barracks.
That was the situation before Martial Law, we have an apolitical church and military. The question is whether
we can still revert back to the status quo ante and how soon.
E-mail from Cesar Torres:
Your column evokes such extreme sadness.
Cesar Torres
When it comes to destroying institutions, Gloria Arroyo can stand equal, if not higher than Marcos. Her assumption to the presidency without election in violation of the Constitution in 2001, which was condoned by Davide and company, destroyed the credibility of the Supreme Court. It is now seen as an extension of malacanang.
She destroyed the Comelec. The House of Representatives is seen as dominated by her lapdogs. She has castrated the Senate with E.O. 464. She has bastardized and humiliated the military and PNP by making the military and police officials her operators in the 2004 election.