Youth activism in Ilocos Norte in the 70s

The nation remembered the other Saturday, September 21, 2013, the 41st year of declaration of martial law in the country. Perhaps, many post-martial law babies in this present generation may not have first-hand information about the good and evil of martial rule under the Marcos era. What they learned were more raps on the evil side which were retold repeatedly through the tri-media, hence, the negative side eclipsed the positive side of martial rule. It was on Sept. 21, 1972 when then President Ferdinand Marcos signed the declaration of martial law in the country. The State claimed martial law was the only solution in order to crush the imminent danger of communism in the country during that crucial years.

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It was two days later, on Sept. 23, 1972, when the martial law declaration was announced to the public sending the oppositions, communists, politicians, businessmen, journalists, government scalawags and plain trouble makers in panic. What came next was the mass arrest and incarceration of the anti-government personalities. The youth activists and militant labor union leaders/followers were not spared because the military claimed they were left-leaning and many of them were used, wittingly or unwittingly, as propaganda tools by the Reds. Luckily, no political opposition leaders in Ilocos Norte like Atty. Castor Raval, et al were apprehended and jailed.

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Again, for the sake of local history, I deem, now is the time for us to list down the Ilocos Norte-based youth activists who resisted the State before the imposition of martial law in the 1970s. I remember the days when these placard-bearing activists would march in the streets of Laoag and chant anti-government slogans. To highlight their protest rallies, they would deliver strongly-worded speeches at the half-cone-like stage at the Aurora Park in the Laoag plaza. The stage used to be the favorite venue of ‘moro-moro’ entertainment during the annual city fiesta in honor of Laoag’’s patron saint, St.William The Hermit…..Now, to protect the interest and reputation of the concerned erstwhile youth activists and their respective families, this writer opted not to mention their complete names because I got no permission from them or their families to divulge the activists’ full identities.

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As my contemporaries, whom I rubbed elbows regularly in the 1970s, those still fresh in my mind were the popular Laoag-based activists, namely, Jimmy, Pepito, Tante, Vasiong, Dave, Sam, Art, Juliet, Marietta, Sammy and Orly. Most of them were arrested and later incarcerated in Camp Aquino, Tarlac for months or years. Others escaped arrest and went into hiding. A Laoag college campus editor named Cesar and another hardcore activist named Reynaldo both went underground and later became rebel chieftains in Abra and Cagayan provinces respectively upon the declaration of martial law. Many other un-named student activists from the colleges in Laoag were apprehended and jailed. Owing to my close link as young journalist with the said activists, I was nearly arrested and imprisoned. Thanks God for the power of my prayers to Him was heard, hence, I was spared.

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Of these political activists from Laoag, an intellectual named Lenville was probably the most “tortured detainee” based on his personal revelation to this writer. When Lenville was tried in court for rebellion charges, human rights lawyer Castor Raval (former OIC governor of Ilocos Norte), defended him through thick and thin until his acquittal.

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As I write this historical article about the vibrant youth activism in Ilocos Norte in the 1970s, it pains me to say that some of the said activists were already dead after they succumbed to chronic ailments. Some have gone abroad as immigrants. Others are still alive and kicking as senior citizens.#(JUN R. GUIANG)