DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 18 September) – Davao Historical Society will take Dabawenyos down memory lane with women leaders sharing and looking back on their experiences during the Yellow Friday Movement, one of several groups that opposed the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
Patmei Ruivivar, vice president of Davao Historical Society, said during Kapehan sa Dabaw on Monday that Luzviminda Ilagan and Dr. Rizalina Pangan, both Datu Bago awardees and advocates for women’s rights, would talk about their experiences during the “Thursday Throwback Talk Series” called “Before there was EDSA, there was Claveria” from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Ilagan’s husband, the late Larry Ilagan, along with fellow human rights lawyers Antonio Arellano and the late Marcos Risonar Jr., were detained by Marcos Sr. from 1985-1986 for their alleged links to the communist movement.
Marcos Sr., first elected in 1965 and reelected in 1969, imposed martial law beginning in September 1972, shortly before his second and last term would end. He was ousted in February 1986 by a civilian-backed military mutiny called the EDSA People Power Revolt.
The late Soledad “Nanay Soling” Duterte, mother of former president Rodrigo Duterte, was one of the prominent figures of the Yellow Friday Movement.
BRIDGING THE GAP National Democratic Front chair Antonio Zumel chats with late human rights lawyer Larry Ilagan and Soledad Duterte, mother of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, in Davao City in 1988.
Ruivivar said the discussion would highlight the narratives of the women and their contributions that led to the success of the Yellow Friday Movement in the hopes of educating young Dabawenyos and making them remember the “darker period in our history where violence was normalized.”
“During martial law, one of the darkest periods in history, we were able to get out of it because we came together and we said ‘no, this cannot be anymore. Let’s do something about it,” she said.
She emphasized they are not out to criticize the current Marcos Jr. administration and do not intend to create a division among its supporters and the opposition.
“This is not to take sides because we have a lot of sides and there are a lot of stories… It’s not you or me, us or them, it is you and me, it’s we. We will talk about history and the stories of women and how they got involved,” she said.
Amalia B. Cabusao, President of the Davao Historical Society and Mindanao Times editor-in-chief, encouraged Dabawenyos to “look back at history and appreciate what happened during that time.”
“Of course, I know we know that there is what we call now ‘historical revisionism.’ They want to change history because they don’t believe that all these things happened in the Philippines but, of course, this is very well documented. In fact, in 1986, the Philippines became known to the world as the only country that had a very peaceful revolution,” she said. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
