Nelson
Javellana
professed priest,
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
born:
11 November 1941 in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental (Philippines)
died:
03 November 1971 in Tambunan,
Maguindanao (Philippines)
Javellana joined the
Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1957 and professed perpetual vows in
1964. An illness delayed his theological studies but he was
eventually ordained priest on 11 April 1971. He started his ministry
in Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat, at a time when the continuing trouble between Moslems and Christians in the area had flared up
again. Elections were due, and
there was genuine worry, based on past experience, about
irregularities in the election process. A group of Christian leaders
of Esperanza, including Javellana, was concerned about the fairness
of the elections. They prepared a petition to the chairman of the
Commission on Elections seeking new procedures to ensure a just
result. Javellana set out on 3 November 1971, with a busload of
twelve people to meet the government officials at the airport. The
chairman arrived on the 17:00 plane, and the group presented their
petition. This done, they set out to return to Esperanza. On the way
back, the bus suddenly got attacked by an unidentified armed band.
Taken by surprise they were sprayed with heavy automatic gunfire.
Many, including Javellana were killed instantly. The others were
attacked and hacked to death. Local authorities have never
identified the murderers. Javellana had been a priest just
short of seven months.
Hendrikus
Van Vilsteren (Engelbert)
professed priest,
Carmelites of the Ancient Observance
born:
09 April 1935 in Boerhaar, Olst-Wijhe, Overijssel (Netherlands)
died:
16 January 1973 in Tagapwa, San
Francisco, Agusan del Sur (Philippines)
Santiago
Arce
layperson of the diocese
of Bangued; married
born:
01 May 1937 in Agtangao, Bangued, Abra (Philippines)
died:
04 September 1974
in Bangued, Abra (Philippines)
BARTOLOME
Tayag (Carlos)
professed deacon,
Benedictines (Subiaco Congregation)
born:
24 August 1942 in Angeles, Pampanga (Philippines)
disappeared:
17 August
1976 in Quezon City, Manila
(Philippines)
Purificacion
Pedro
layperson of the diocese
of Quezon City
born:
22 September 1948 in Laoag, Ilocos Norte (Philippines)
died:
23 January 1977
in Balanga, Bataan (Philippines)
Originally from Ilocos
Norte, Pedro moved to Quezon City to study social work at the
University of the Philippines. She graduated in 1969 and
placed tenth in the national board examinations for social workers.
After briefly working for the government, in 1970 Pedro became a
social worker in the parish of the Immaculate Conception in Quezon
City, administered by the Society of the Divine Word. She organized
a cooperative, day care center, and a cottage industry for the poor
members of the parish. Four years after, she began working among the
indigenous peoples of the Kalinga-Bontoc region. She wrote to her
parents about her experience in this work: “I am aware of the
difficulties and risks it involves but I have learned a lot by now
that I am taking all in stride. I am glad that I am finding
fulfillment in the career I have chosen; surely not because of the
monetary benefits professionals are after, but rather because this
allows me to be among the people, both poor and middle class...
who aspire and are working for true human development.... I am
doing what to me is right knowing very well that what I do is for
the good of the majority who happens to be composed of the poor and
the deprived, the least of our brothers.” At the end of 1976, Pedro
was offered a job with the Church-sponsored Luzon Secretariat for
Social Action (LUSSA). Before assuming this work, she decided to
spend time in the province of Bataan and learn the plight of its
farmers. The following January, she was shot “by mistake” during a
military operation. On 23 January, while recovering from her wounds,
a group of soldiers barged into her room and strangled her, claiming
later that she was a communist rebel.
Lolito
Olimpos
layperson of the diocese
of Kabankalan; married
born:
(Philippines)
died:
25 October 1979 in Oringao, Kabankalan,
Negros Occidental (Philippines)
Olimpos was a farmer and
lay leader of the parish of Nuestra Señora de la Cadelaria in
Oringao, Negros Occidental, an area that was largely a feudal
society controlled by a few landowners supported by the military.
He was actively involved in the local Basic Christian Community
(BCC) organized by the Columban Missionaries. At that time, a
millennialist cult called salvatores was terrorizing
Oringao by killing those who, in their eyes, were not allied to
them. Meanwhile, a local landlord wanted to appropriate the
seven-hectare land owned and cultivated by Olimpos. This landlord
commissioned the leader of the salvatores to do his
bidding. On 25 October 1979, while talking to another BCC organizer
of Oringao, Olimpos was grabbed by a group of salvatores
and marched off with him. Olimpos was killed shortly after and the
terrorized citizens of Oringao dared not to go near his body. The
parish priest, Rev. Brian Gore, later organized BCC members and
other citizens to retrieve the remains of Olimpos and give him a
proper Christian burial. His death served as a catalyst which
strengthened the resolve of the poor of Kabankalan and the faithful
of the diocese to fight against injustice and repression.
AlexANDER
garsales
layperson of the diocese
of Kabankalan; married
born:
27 May 1943 in Tayabas, Negros Occidental (Philippines)
Herman MOleta
layperson of the diocese
of Kabankalan; married
born:
11 October 1936 in Kabankalan, Negros Occidental (Philippines)
died:
07 April 1980 in Saisi, Tan-awan, Kabankalan,
Negros Occidental (Philippines)
Godofredo
Alingal
professed priest, Jesuits
born:
24 June 1922 in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte (Philippines)
died:
13 April 1981
in Kibawe, Bukidnon (Philippines)
Alingal joined the
Society of Jesus in May 1940 and was ordained priest on 21 June
1953. He first served in the province of Bukidnon, subsequently
moving to Naga, Cagayan de Oro City. In 1969, he returned to
Bukidnon, assigned in the Parish of the Immaculate Conception in
Kibawe. He came there at a time when the Jesuits in the Philippines
and the Prelature of Malaybalay were realizing the social doctrines
of the Second Vatican Council in their ministries. Alinga helped
local farmers to start a credit union and found the Kibawe chapter
of the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF). Always advocating on behalf
of the poor and marginalized, Alingal started a community
organization program and spoke out against electoral fraud through
the Blackboard News Service, a service he created to broadcast
suppressed news through a giant blackboard outside the local church.
However, his active role resulted in a number of death threats:
“Stop using the pulpit for politics... your days are numbered.” On
the evening of 13 April 1981, Alingal heard two of his parish
houseboys cry out in front of the rectory of the parish. Opening his
front door, Alingal was confronted by five men, one of whom shot him
in the heart with a .45 caliber automatic. He died minutes later in
the arms of a local physician.
Rudy
del Carmen
layperson of the diocese
of Kabankalan; married
born:
1950 in Hinoba-an, Negros Occidental (Philippines)
died:
30 August 1981 in Labao, Hinoba-an,
Negros Occidental (Philippines)
Rodrigo
Mordeno
young layperson of the
diocese of Butuan
born:
in Santa Josefa, Agusan del Sur (Philippines)
died:
07 August 1982
in Santa Josefa, Agusan del Sur (Philippines)
Isagani
Valle
professed cleric,
Carmelites of the Ancient Observance
born:
28 December 1959 in Mahayag, Zamboanga del Sur (Philippines)
died:
14 May 1983
in Buenavista, Agusan del Norte (Philippines)
Trifonio
Andres
deacon of the
archdiocese of Davao
born:
18 October 1953 in Koronadal, South Cotabato (Philippines)
died:
17 August 1983
in Digos, Davao del Sur (Philippines)
ROMEO
SARENTAS
young layperson of the
diocese of Kabankalan
born:
1958 in (Philippines)
died:
20 August 1983 in Hinoba-an, Negros
Occidental (Philippines)
Tranquilino
Cabarubias
layperson of the diocese
of Butuan; married
born:
06 July 1938 in Ubay, Bohol (Philippines)
died:
09 October 1983
in Sangay, Buenavista, Agusan del Norte (Philippines)
Born in poverty, Trank
Cabarubias migrated to Mindanao hoping to find new opportunities.
He eventually got married, settled in Sangay, Agusan del Norte, and
sustained twelve children through farming. Despite years of hard
work, he never managed to have the land titled in his name. Settler
communities like his came under threat from Manila-based logging
corporations who wanted to take over these lands with the support of
the Marcos regime. As a community leader, Cabarubias organized his
fellow farmers to resist the coming of a lumber firm into
their area. Although shy by nature, he was consistently at the
forefront of every community resistance against greedy capitalists
who sought to amass profits at the expense of the poor. He even
rallied his community to boycott the 1981 presidential election,
believing that it had been rigged to make the Marcos regime appear
legitimate. A man of deep faith who read without fail the signs of
the times, he was an active member of his parish and coworker of the
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Because of his fearless
denunciation of abuses and corruption, he found himself at odds with
local politicians and military officers. On the evening of 9 October
1983, armed men, pretending to be members of the rebel New Peopleʼs
Army, came to his house asking for medicine. When Cabarubias refused
them, he was shot in front of his terrified children and wife, who
had just given birth.
Sofronio
Roxas
layperson of the diocese
of Kidapawan; married
born:
12 April 1938 in Ormoc, Leyte (Philippines)
died:
29 August 1984
in Lamapayan, Matalam, North Cotabato (Philippines)
The family of Sofronio
Roxas left Leyte and settled in Cotabato at the end of the Second
World War. On 3 January 1959, he married Visitacion Cano and
together they raised eight children in La Esperanza and later in
Lampayan, both towns of Kidapawan, North Cotabato. Roxas effectively
convinced and led farmers and indigenous Manobos living in his area
to organize compact farms, cooperative farming, and joint marketing.
From 1978 until his death, he served as the Social Action Coordinator
for the Prelature (now Diocese) of Kidapawan. He won the respect of
clerics and lay people alike with his leadership, organization
skills, and profound Christian commitment. Among his work was to
organize Basic Christian Communities, lead Bible studies, and
conduct seminars. A Christian who could not keep quiet in the midst
of injustice, Roxas openly criticized military abuses and corrupt
government officials. Consequently, he was branded as a “subversive”
by his powerful enemies and was twice arrested and detained. On 29
August 1984, Roxas was shot to death while riding his horse on his
way home. Evidence indicates that his assassin was a member of the
Civilian Home Defense Force, a paramilitary body which assisted the
Philippine military in their counter-insurgency campaigns in the
countryside.
Tullio
Favali
priest of the Pontifical
Institute for Foreign Missions
born:
10 December 1946 in Sacchetta di Sustinente, Mantova (Italy)
died:
11 April 1985 in La Esperanza, Tulunan,
Cotobato (Philippines)
Raised in a working-class
family, Favali became a student of the minor seminary of Mantova in
1957. He continued his studies until the third year of theology in
1970 when he left to verify better his vocation outside the
seminary. After years of work and discernment, in 1978 he was
accepted in the formation house of the Pontifical Institute for
Foreign Missions in Busto Arsizio and was eventually ordained on 6
June 1981. Initially appointed to Papua New Guinea, he was sent
instead to the Diocese of Kidapawan in southern Philippines. In
1984, he was appointed assistant parish priest of La Esperanza in
Tulunan, a very poor and isolated area known as “the capital of
terror” due to land wars and the strong presence of the Philippine
army and communist guerrillas. It was also an area in the grip of
armed pseudo-religious cults who roamed around sowing terror among
the people. During the Marcos dictatorship, these cults were
recognized as paramilitary units under the name Integrated Civilian
Home Defense Force (ICHDF). On 23 February 1985, Favali was
appointed parish priest of La Esperanza. A mild and quiet man known
for his simple taste and unassuming ways, Favali exhibited
determination and courage in all his undertaking which endeared him
to all, especially the poorest. In the evening of 11 April 1985,
Favali responded to the call of families being harassed
by drunk and gun-toting members of the ICHDF. One of them shot the
priest point blank in the head, killing him instantaneously.
Eliseo
Dapog
layperson of the diocese
of Gumaca; married
born:
14 May 1951 in Guinayangan, Quezon (Philippines)
died:
07 June 1985
in Gumaca, Quezon (Philippines)
Rosaleo
[Rudy] Romano
professed priest,
Redemptorists
born:
26 September 1940 in Malate, Manila (Philippines)
disappeared:
11 July 1985 in Labangon, Cebu
(Philippines)
Although originally from
the Philippine capital, the Romano family moved to Villareal,
Western Samar, during the Second World War. In 1956, Rudy joined the
Congregation of the Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists) and was ordained
in December 1964. Until 1975, he was assigned to do mission work in
parts of Visayas and Mindanao while based in Cebu. Increased
military activities and atrocities in Samar, a deeper awareness of
the aggrieved socio-political condition of the country during the
Marcos regime, and the harassment of several of his confreres
transformed Rudy into a dedicated and outspoken religious activist.
Romano actively supported the struggles of exploited laborers,
organized multisectoral support for urban poor communities, and
sheltered victims of military harassment. Although twice detained,
he did not falter in his commitment to work and struggle with the
oppressed . On 11 July 1985, elements of the military abducted him
at Labangon, Cebu City. Despite international clamor for his
release, he was never resurfaced and is presumed dead by now.
Rizaldy
Jesus Maglantay
young layperson of the
diocese of Kalibo
born:
30 December 1965 in Ibajay, Aklan (Philippines)
died:
03 August 1985 in Kalibo, Aklan
(Philippines)
Albert
Enriquez
young layperson of the
diocese of Lucena
born:
02 October 1963 in Lucena, Quezon (Philippines)
disappeared:
29 August 1985 in Lucena, Quezon
(Philippines)
Mateo
Olivar
layperson of the diocese
of Pagadian; married
born:
13 September 1950 in Catmon, Cebu (Philippines)
died:
07 November 1985
in Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur (Philippines)
