BIOGRAPHY OF PROMINENT PEOPLE DURING MARTIAL LAW

8 Young Martial Law Martyrs and Heroes We Should Never Forget Young Martial
Law Victims We Should Never Forget (8list.ph)

The kleptocrat Ferdinand Marcos was in power for seven years when he declared
martial law in 1972, marking the beginning of a terrible decade of military rule
that not only ruined the Philippine economy, but also subjected its people to
horrific abuses. According to many historians, the Marcos regime saw:
• 3,257 known extrajudicial killings
• 35,000 documented tortures
• 77 “disappeared”
• 70,000 incarcerations
Some of the people who suffered and died under the Marcos regime were young
people, many still students who never made it to their 30s. Because we should
#NeverForget, let us look back at just some of these young martyrs whose lives
were tragically cut short under the Marcos regime.

Archimedes Trajano

On August 31, 1977, 21-year-old Archimedes Trajano — a student at Mapua

Institute of Technology — attended an open forum held at the Pamantasan ng
Lungsod ng Maynila, where Imee Marcos — then also 21 (despite her claims “ang
liit-liit ko pa noon” — was the speaker. There, Trajano questioned the selection of
Imee Marcos as the director of the Kabataang Barangay (National Youth Council).
“Must the Kabataang Barangay be headed by the president’s daughter?” he had
asked. “She would not have gotten the position if she weren’t the daughter of the
president.”
This irritated Imee Marcos, who had him thrown out of the open forum. He was
later taken away, blindfolded, then beaten by her bodyguards. His body was
found a few days later on September 2, 1977, showing signs of beating and
torture.
“He was covered in a white sheet, lying on a table,” said his mother Agapita
Trajano. “And when I opened the sheet… I saw him black and blue.”
Because media outlets were completely controlled by the government, his death
was not reported in the newspapers, save for Bulletin Today, which wrote him off
as a victim of fraternity hazings.
On March 20, 1986 — 9 years after Archimedes’ death and after the Marcoses
were ousted — his mother filed a lawsuit against Imee Marcos and Fabian Ver
(who was Chief of the AFP) in Hawaii. In court, Imee admitted that she knew
about Trajano’s fate but claimed that it was “none of [her] business”. The
Hawaiian court ruled in Trajano’s favor, awarding damages of $4.16 million and
attorneys’ fees. However, the Trajano family was not able to receive the payment
from Marcos because the Philippine Supreme Court barred the decision.
Luis Manuel “Boyet” Mijares

Primitivo Mijares was Marcos’ aide and chief propagandist, but in 1975, after a
quarrel with Imelda’s brother Benjamin, he defected from the administration and
testified against the Marcos regime’s systematic and widespread torture practices
in front of US lawmakers. This attracted international criticism and caused
tensions between the United States and the Philippines. In 1976, Mijares
published The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, exposing the
regime’s brutalities. He disappeared shortly after the publication of his book.
 Boyet and Luis
Mijares | via Batas Militar documentary
Later, his 16-year-old son Boyet was called and informed that his father was still
alive. Believing this, he left home to reunite with his father, and was never seen
alive again. His body was found in the mountains of Antipolo showing signs of
brutal torture — his fingernails had all been removed and his body was mutilated
with thirty-three ice pick wounds. His head was bashed and his feet and genitals
were mangled.
Police investigations — led by Panfilo Lacson — found that Boyet was a victim of
hazing, even though he was still in high school. The accused fraternity members
were sentenced to death. Two escaped from prison, while the third died of a
heart attack while in detention.
Maria Lorena Barros

Maria Lorena Barros was a University of the Philippines graduate and a UP

Writers Club officer. An accomplished poet, her works were published in
magazines and the Philippine Collegian, UP’s official student publication. As
political tensions rose, she joined the Samahan ng Demokratikong Kabataan (SDK)
and became a prominent figure of the First Quarter Storm and the Diliman
Commune. In April 1970, she became the founding chair of the Makibaka
women’s organization, which would later evolve to become Gabriela.
She later joined the New People’s Army, and in 1973, she — then pregnant — was
captured by the military and was tortured. This ordeal caused her to have a
miscarriage. Two years later, on November 1, 1975, she was able to escape, and
resumed revolutionary activities in the mountains of Quezon province.
However, in 1976, her hut was discovered. She tried to fight back but her gun
jammed after she fired three times. Though badly wounded, she ran away to a
deep ravine, but the military was able to follow her. Some accounts say that a
soldier fired her on the nape, while other accounts say that she died en route to
the camp on a military stretcher. She was 28.
Her corpse was subjected to lewd comments from the soldiers, and a movie crew
took pictures beside her body. To claim her body, her family had to raise a large
sum, so her friends from Makibaka helped raise the funds.
Today, she is seen as a symbol of the women’s movement, and has inspired
poems, songs, and plays.

Liliosa Hilao

Liliosa Hilao was a student of Communication Arts in the Pamantasan ng Lungsod

ng Maynila. A consistent honors student, she was the student president of the
communication arts department and an editor of her university’s paper Hasik, and
was active in many other student organizations.
Because of her poor health, she never took part in student protests. However, she
made her stance on martial law clear through her writing for the student paper.
On April 4, 1973, members of the Philippine Constabulary broke into the Hilao
home, claiming to be from the Philippine Constabulary Anti-Narcotics Unit
(CANU). No warrant or search order was presented. When they arrived, Liliosa
was not home. When she arrived in the evening, she was repeatedly beaten by Lt.
Arturo Castillo, who was the team leader of the party. Her family could not
intervene. The next morning, she was handcuffed and taken away to Camp
Crame.
 Liliosa Hilao (right) was an honors student
and who wrote articles denouncing the Marcos regime for her student paper | via
WikiPilipinas
Three days after Liliosa’s arrest, her sister Alice received a phone call informing
that Liliosa was in critical condition. Liliosa was found in the emergency room of
Camp Crame Station Hospital, her face disfigured, and her body bruised. There
were several needle punctures on her left arm, as well as “an opening at her
throat.” No medical staff was attending to her, and the medical equipment used
on her didn’t seem to be functioning. After seeing Liliosa for a few minutes, Alice
was taken away to the CANU office. Later, she was informed that Liliosa had died.
The necropsy report by the CANU crime lab listed cardio-respiratory arrest as the
cause of her death. According to authorities, she had drunk muriatic acid to kill
herself. The Philippine Constabulary gave Liliosa’s family P2,200 for her burial. To
this day, the family has refused to spend the money.
Liliosa is now remembered as the first woman and first detainee murdered during
Martial Law. Before her death, Liliosa was running for cum laude honors. She was
awarded cum laude honors posthumously, and a seat was left vacant in her honor
during the graduation ceremonies.
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Trisha Arboleda | Sep 21, 2019
Resteta Fernandez

Resteta Fernandez was the daughter of a carpenter who had to give up college to
help support her family. For a time, she worked at a department store as a
saleslady, and also did some clerical work at the headquarters of the Philippine
Constabulary in Camp Crame. Then, she found work as a social worker with the
Protestant Pastoral Institute, a job that took her the slums of Cavite and Tondo.
Resteta’s brother Jose introduced her to activism when she was just a sophomore
at Ramon Magsaysay High School. After the declaration of martial law, she went
to Isabela to become a youth organizer.
In 1980, Resteta was arrested for rebellion and subversion, and she spent two
years in jail. After her release, she resumed her political work in the Cordillera
region. On August 24, 1985, she was killed in a raid in Bakun, Benguet, together
with Catholic priest Nilo Valerio and guerrilla Soledad Salvador. Witnesses say
that the three were decapitated, their heads paraded around several barrios
before being thrown into a single grave. Their families were never able to recover
their remains.
Noel Cerrudo Tierra

Noel Tierra was a typical teenager who came from a well-off family. But while
studying at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, his eyes were opened to
social injustices, and he knew that he had to do something about it. He joined the
Nationalist Corps and Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan, and soon, he was
joining and organizing protests, traveling to far-flung communities to engage the
community.
Soon, he dropped out of college to become a full-time activist. Shortly after the
declaration of martial law, Noel was arrested in Quezon and detained at Camp
Vicente Lim in Laguna. Later in January 1974, he was arrested again and was
heavily tortured. For two weeks, he was paraded around several barrios with his
hands tied to a pole, lugging a sack of rice. However, Noel refused to give any
information to his captors, and soon, he was shot dead at the constabulary camp
in Bagong Silang II, Guinayangan. His body was thrown in a basketball court in the
town center, where his parents recovered his body. He was 21 years old.
William Vincent “Bill” Begg

Born to an American father and Filipino mother in the Bicol region, William “Bill”
Begg gave up his American citizenship when he turned 21, saying that the
Philippines as his country. An excellent student, he graduated the salutatorian of
his high school class. Intending to become a priest, he entered the seminary in
Ateneo. In his junior year, he began working with depressed communities in the
nearby Barangka, Marikina. Working with the poor caused his political views to
become increasingly militant, and he was forced by school authorities to leave the
university and seminary.
He was arrested twice: first in 1971 for putting up posters in Marikina, and then
again in 1972. He was released in April 1973, and he went back to school, taking
up history at the University of the Philippines. However, he did not stay long. In
September 1974, he went underground in the countryside.
As a rebel guerrilla, he was teaching himself medicine through a medical
encyclopedia he had asked his parents to send over. He was learning acupuncture
and starting a clinic for a poor community. In March 1975, Bill had gone with a
team of guerrillas to meet a doctor in Isabela when they were ambushed by a
military battalion. Four of his comrades were killed, while he was hit in the leg. He
told the others to leave him behind, and he was captured alive.
When his body was recovered, it bore marks of severe torture. Many of his
fingers were broken, and his rib cage was shattered. He had 17 stab wounds and
11 bullet wounds. To commemorate his sacrifice, his family engraved these words
on his epitaph: “He laid down his life for his friends.”

Eman Lacaba

Emmanuel Lacaba was an award-winning poet, fictionist, essayist, and playwright.

He was also a brilliant magazine illustrator, stage actor, and production hand. He
became more politically aware during the First Quarter Storm of 1970, when he
began participating in rallies. Soon, he was arrested and detained due to his
participation in a labor strike, which caused him to lose his job as a teacher at the
University of the Philippines.
In 1974, he joined the New People’s Army (NPA) in South Cotabato. In March
1976, an informer led soldiers to the hut where he and his comrades were
staying. With no warning, the soldiers opened fire. Two guerrillas were killed
immediately, but Eman and a pregnant teenager survived, though both were
wounded.
They were then executed. The young lady was first shot dead. Then, Lacaba was
killed by the informer, who put a .45-caliber pistol into his mouth and fired. He
was also shot in the chest. He was tied at the ankles and dragged like a pig to a
common grave. His mother claimed her body later. He was 27.