Remembering Lawyer Cailing and Other Mindanao Heroes

By:  CARLOS ISAGANI I. ZARATE


For quite some time now, as Filipinos visit cemeteries or memorial parks to remember and honor their departed loved ones on All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, I am again reminded of how, even in death, there is an apparent disparity in the way we honor our martyrs and heroes.


On several occasions in the past, we read stories that new names of martyrs and heroes were etched on the black granite Wall of Remembrance at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Park in Quezon City, as decided by the people behind the Bantayog ng mga Bayani (Monument of Heroes) Foundation. 


Accordingly, those named as “martyrs” were those killed before the 1986 People Power Revolution, while those names listed as “heroes” were those who survived martial law and continued their struggles for genuine political freedoms until they died.


However, a closer look at the names already etched in the Wall of Remembrance as martyrs and heroes would reveal that they mostly came from the northern part of the country—Manila and Luzon, especially—and, as always, apparently forgetting that the struggle for the restoration of democracy was a national one, intense in the other parts of the country, particularly in Mindanao. Maybe this was not a deliberate act of forgetting, yet it would be well perhaps if people behind the foundation will do further research, especially, on the southern part of the country.


Perhaps, in the next batches of honorees, the foundation may very well consider the following members of the legal profession who valiantly fought with the people and sacrificed their lives so that “justice and respect for human rights” will prevail in our society today: 

• Crisostomo Cailing, a lawyer from Balingasag, Misamis Occidental, who was killed on July 6, 1985 by unidentified armed men; 
• Romraflo R. Taojo, a labor and human rights lawyer from Tagum, Davao del Norte, killed April 2, 1985 inside his home; 
• Zorro Aguilar, a human rights lawyer from Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte, killed Sept. 23, 1984 in Dipolog City; 
• Luisito S. Villanueva, a human rights lawyer from Calamba, Misamis Occidental, killed Feb. 21, 1986 in Calacan, Calamba, Misamis Occidental; 
• Jose T. Gonzales, a human rights lawyer from Butuan City, who was included in the military’s Order of Battle, when he died in 1985; 
• Vicente Mirabueno, a human rights lawyer from General Santos City, killed Feb. 6, 1988 at the General Santos City Public Market; 
• Gil Getes, a human rights lawyer from Agusan del Sur, shot dead inside his home on March 4, 1990; 
• Ferdinand Reyes, a human rights lawyer and crusading journalist killed Feb. 12, 1996 in Dipolog City; and 
• Judge Eugenio Valles, killed April 25, 2002 in Compostela Valley Province.

The following lawyers may have escaped violent death during their lifetime, yet their demise from natural and other causes did not diminish the degree of their contribution to the struggle for the restoration of our democratic freedoms: 

• Laurente “Larry” Ilagan, the most prominent Mindanaoan lawyer imprisoned by Marcos, died of cancer on Nov. 15, 2001; 
• Alfredo Aquino, a human rights lawyer from Bukidnon, who also died of cancer; and 
• Judge Benedicto U. Hallazgo, a human rights lawyer from Misamis Oriental before he joined the judiciary, who died sometime in 2001. 

Other prominent Mindanaoan human rights lawyers that should also be remembered are: Rudy Agravante, Florante Garcia, Antonio Navidad, Felix Calatrava and Jake Zafra.


These are just some of the names, a mere handful of the names that we should always remember. 


The other sectors—youth, women, Moro and Lumad—definitely have also their own heroes, heroines and martyrs, like youth leader Ariel Yumang, labor leader Oscar Bantayan, women’s advocate and journalist Edith Eco. These are the names that should be etched not only in walls of remembrance but more importantly in our collective soul as a nation.


We honor our martyrs and heroes to remind us that they are not really “dead,” as they continue to live among us in our recollections, in our dreams, in our choices, in our current struggles.  Indeed, the conditions that these martyrs and heroes aspired to change are still the very conditions that we continue to grapple with at present long after a hated dictator was ousted, and, probably, even long after an administration founded on stealing, cheating and lying is already out of power.