LILIOSA R. HILAO,

her life and martyrdom – a potential Philippine leader
by Alice R. Hilao-Gualberto

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Tel.: (02) 568-3439

At a time when the Philippines was taking off to a bright economic independence, ex-president Ferdinand Marcos, called a DICTATOR, whose paranoia for power would not want to leave Malacanang Palace, and in order to justify his stay – declared martial law, September 21, 1972; placed the whole country under a tyrannic, abusive, military rule. His plan was to rule for life. The country saw hundreds of statesmen, thousands of university scholars in the academe, businessmen, the media, the labor group, men and women in various religious fields and even ordinary citizens who spoke ill of his dictatorial rule were imprisoned without charge; thousands were tortured to death, executed and a lot whose bodies can no longer be found even to this day, the so-called desaparecidos. This was the darkest era, the Philippines ever had, to think that he, a homegrown Filipino leader would rule the country with so much tyranny, greed and cruelty beyond compare. Fear and silence ruled over the land, even in the very corners of each Filipino home, talks of martial law atrocities were spoken of in coded dialects and in whispers. Everywhere walls seem to have ears.

LILIOSA, in her early twenties, was not lucky enough, she was one of the thousands of victims who died mysteriously barely less than 24 hours in the hands of brutal, military men inside Camp Crame , Quezon City . But she was the first victim to die inside a camp in the heart of the city of Manila. On that questionable night, the military composed of the raiding team under Col. Bienvenido Felix; Lt. Arthur or Arturo Castillo, head of the raiding team; Lt. Reynaldo Garcia, a WAC Ester Aragosa and a PC Informer, George Ong said she died April 6, 1973; the family did not believe them and did not accept the date of her death given.

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