FEATURES | Tie a Yellow Ribbon

On September 21, 1972, former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. announced Proclamation No. 1091, declaring Martial Law. With the rebellion of the people after the 1969 Philippine balance of payments crisis as a reason for the proclamation, Ferdinand Marcos gained complete control and authority of the Philippines’ military and the people’s civil liberties. The implementation of the Martial Law that completely took away the rights of millions was all a ploy for Marcos to stay in power despite the two Presidential terms that the 1935 Philippine Constitution limits. What was supposed to be no less than sixty days turned into 99 months or 8 years. 

 

In under four days, Filipinos fought for freedom against regime violence and electoral fraud under the cruel administration of the Marcoses. From February 22 to 25 in 1986, millions of Filipino protested against the government to begin a new era marked by true freedom and democracy. The EDSA People Power Revolution, also known as the February Revolution or the Yellow Revolution,  achieved Filipinos the freedom and justice that has been long overdue ever since the proclamation of Martial Law. The nonviolent revolution sparked nationalism among Filipinos that resisted against the administration that ended the twenty-year dictatorship of Marcos.

 

Although the march of the hundred of thousands of Filipinos in the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution concluded the period of violence and abuse of the Marcoses, thousands of Filipinos had to get imprisoned, tortured, and killed before true freedom could be achieved. These Filipinos bravely fought for their country despite knowing what the consequences of resisting against their government would be. Because of their noble and valiant sacrifices, it is important that they are honored and remembered. 

 

Here are some of the many victims that died in the hands of the Marcos regime and deserve to be remembered. 

 

1. Liliosa Hilao 

 

Liliosa Hilao was a student activist from Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila who outspokenly voiced out her opinions and wrote essays about the death of democracy in the Philippines under the declaration of Martial Law. She expressed her political beliefs through her work as an associate editor of her school publication, and even went out of her way to wear black everyday to signify her mourning for the death of democracy. 

 

In April 1973, Liliosa Hilao’s home was broken into by drunken soldiers from the Constabulary Anti-Narcotics Unit looking for her brother. As the bright student that she was, she demanded for a search warrant, in which the soldiers responded to with brutal beatings and sexual violence. Hilao was already dead when her older sister Alice came to the Camp Crame Station Hospital. Liliosa Hilao was the first victim of extrajudicial killings during Martial Law. 

 

 

Lorena Barros was an empowered and outspoken activist from the University of the Philippines, where she graduated with cum laude and worked as a teacher. She is a local feminist icon that advocated for the involvement of women in society. In July 1969, Barros—still as a student—formed MAKIBAKA (Malayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan) aimed to fight for women’s liberation. Because of this,  her name was listed among the 63 student leaders who were charged with subversion. 

 

She moved around like a fugitive, escaping to rural areas, while still immersing in active reforms. When Martial Law was declared, Lorena Barros knew in herself that she had to do something about the cruel dictatorship. The cause of her death is not confirmed, but there are claims that she was wounded and captured in an armed encounter. Bribed with medical treatment for information, she allegedly refused to give in, so she got shot in the nape of her neck.

 

 

Dr. Juan Escandor was a cancer specialist, radiologist, and rural doctor who often involved himself in activism and volunteerism. He is among the founding members of Kabataang Makabayan, an underground youth organization that was later banned by former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. when he declared Martial Law.

 

On March 30, 1983, Dr. Juan Escandor was last seen having dinner with his friend in Caloocan. According to the accounts at the time, he was shot dead during a firefight on Bohol Avenue. However, his autopsy revealed that his brain had been removed from his head and forced into his abdominal cavity, filling his skull with trash—rags, plastic bags, and even pairs of underwear. 

 

 

As a seminarian in Northern Luzon, Fr. Zacarias Agatep served as the chaplain of the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) to advocate for land reform and campaign for the reduction of land rent. On August 28, 1980, his convent was raided by the Philippine Constabulary forces, and he was arrested for having a fully-loaded pistol in his room. He was then interrogated by the same stranger that seeked accommodation in his convent days before the raid and was framed for showing him his gun and bragging about his marksmanship. 

 

On October 10, 1982, the Defense Ministry announced that rewards for the capture of the rebels in their new list would be given. Fr. Zacarias Agatep was among the rebels in this list, and he was among the top 16 communist officials on the government’s most wanted list. Not too long after, Fr. Agatep was killed by the Philippine Constabulary in Salcedo, Ilocos Sur. 

 

 

Resteta Fernandez was a lady at a department store in Avenida that also worked as a code-verifier for the Philippine Constabulary’s Firearms and Explosives Unit in Camp Crame. She was also a social action worker for her church. She organized work in the slums of Cavite and Tondo, reaching out to the repressed margins of society. This later on became the reason for her arrest. 

 

In 1980, Resteta Fernandez was arrested for alleged rebellion, insurrection, and subversion as said by her brother Ding. She was released after two years and went to the mountains to join the armed resistance despite the plead of her family to stay to be able to continue her passion for helping the oppressed. Two years later, Fernandez was killed alongside two of her comrades—Fr. Nilo Valerio and Soledad Salvador—by troopers of the Philippine Constabulary. A letter from a “concerned Igorot” revealed that the three guerillas were not only slain, but also beheaded. Their heads were then displayed on a pole and paraded through the nearby sitios. 

 

 

Soledad Salvador was an aspiring teacher, seeking for a life of comfort after growing up poor and experiencing the struggles of poverty firsthand. This dream was later put down when she failed her licensure exam. She eventually returned to Ilocos Norte where she taught catechism at the Badoc parish church and became inspired to be an activist for the betterment of the lives of Ilokanos. 

 

In 1983, she joined the guerilla network where she was tasked to pass messages between town centers and villages. While eight of them were seeking refuge and accommodation in a nearby village because one of their comrades fell ill, soldiers fired on the houses that they were resting in. At an attempt to escape, Salvador was shot in the forehead, along with two other comrades, while the other five were able to escape. It was also reported that Salvador’s head was used as a target for practice by soldiers because it was “too ugly.”

 

 

Archimedes Trajano was a student activist at the Mapua Institute of Technology. On August 31, 1977, Trajano attended an open forum held at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila where the invited speaker was Imee Marcos, the eldest daughter of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. 

 

Archimedes Trajano asked Imee Marcos, “Must the Kabataang Barangay be headed by the president’s daughter?” He then proceeded to say that Imee would not have gotten the position if she weren’t the president’s daughter. He was kicked out of the forum and was then blindfolded and beaten to death by the Marcoses’ bodyguards. Two days after, his body was found dead, showing signs of beating and torture with his face mutilated from the abuse.

 

 

Luis Manuel Mijares was the son of Primitivo Mijares, the former whistleblower of the Marcos dictatorship and the author of the Conjugal Dictatorship that revealed the dirt of the Marcos family, and Priscilla Mikares, a judge in Manila. Four months after the disappearance of his father, Luis Mijares was also abducted. 

 

Luis Mikares was kidnapped, and his body was found in a dump in public in Antipolo, showing signs of torture and abuse. He was found with his eyeballs protruding, his chest stabbed and punctured, his head distorted, and his hands, feet, and genitals mutilated, while his father’s body was never found.

 

 

As an elder of the Butbut tribe in the mountain village of Bugnay in the Cordilleras, Macli-ing Dulag was greatly respected as he served three terms as the barrio captain of their village. He is best known for his fight against the Chico River Dam Project planned by the Marcos regime that was supposedly funded by the World Bank. The project would have destroyed their ancestral lands and left thousands of indigenous people homeless. 

 

His people saw Macli-ing Dulag as their spokesperson that was able to find the right words to defend them against oppressors even though he was not formally educated. Because of his resistance, soldiers surrounded Dulag’s home and showered it with bullets, killing him in the process. His death reached international news, which led to the World Bank withdrawing from funding the Chico River Project. 

 

 

Senator Ninoy Aquino was a prominent dissident of the Marcos regime and its injustices which led to his imprisonment, his self-exile, and later on his assassination. He stood by his belief of the importance of criticism to be truly free. He had dreams of running for President against former President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr., but was stopped by the declaration of Martial Law. 

 

The day after Martial Law was declared, Ninoy was arrested and detained in Camp Crame and then transferred to Fort Bonifacio. He was charged with murder, illegal possession of firearms, and subversion, but he refused to attend the trial. He was then found guilty of his charges and was sentenced to death by firing squads, but was never executed. He was released from prison after suffering a heart attack in his cell, where he went to Dallas, Texas to seek medical attention, and then settled down in Boston, Massachusetts in self-exile. 

 

On August 21, 1983, Ninoy Aquino returned to the Philippines with the hope of negotiating with Marcos despite the warnings and arguments of his family. He acquired travel documents under the name Marcial Bonifacio. Marcial for Martial Law and Bonifacio for Fort Bonifacio where he was detained. As he deplaned, he was shot dead, both igniting and inspiring the hearts of the Filipinos to continue his fight against the dictatorship. 

 

Never forget. Never again. On the 52nd anniversary of the Martial Law, we remember the sacrifices of the 70,000 incarcerated, 35,000 tortured, 3,257 murdered, 77 forced disappearances, and the countless Filipinos who had to witness and live with the trauma of being under the cruel administration. To live in the present is to acknowledge the past, and these heroes who died fighting for what they believe is right is the reason for our present. As their lives are celebrated and their deaths are honored, tie a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree and walk the march of life for the country you love and the people you stand with.