A Wedding, A Divorce, A Profession and Two Funerals
By Karl M. Gaspar, CSsR

Sweet Heart had a distinct characteristic. Maya loved to dance... Tanciang was the nerd...Cora was the athletic one...Mila was the group's leader... Inday-Letty was the comedy queen...

The year before Ferdinand Marcos declared martial rule, I was teaching Economics and Sociology classes in a college located in South Davao, the Sacred Heart College.

There, I met a barkada of 5 young women who were the closest of friends. All were sixteen years of age. They were perhaps the most boisterous and vivacious among the many barkadas on campus. They had a name for their group—the Sweet Hearts!

When I announced in the classes that I was going to set up a new student organization named Kahugpungan sa mga Gawasnong Estudyante sa Sagrado Corazon (GESC or Organization of Free Students of the Sacred Heart), the Sweet Hearts volunteered to join and came to the organizational meeting. The GESC then got involved in organizing rallies, staging agit-prop plays and supporting the farmers in their demand for land reform. The farmers were members of the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF).

Each Sweet Heart had a distinct characteristic. Maya loved to dance and she did a mean Hawaiian hula whenever there was a cultural program in the school. Tanciang was the nerd; she devoured all the fiction novels available in the library even as she was the only one in the group consistently reading assigned textbooks. Cora was the athletic one; she belonged to the college volleyball team and had the nerve to drink beer in public. Mila was the group's leader as everyone looked up to her as Ate; she was also elected as secretary of the Student Council. Inday-Letty was the comedy queen; she had jokes that could get everyone giggling all day long.

They were inseparable. Even though Tanciang and Inday-Letty had boyfriends, the five of them could always be seen together. They made sure they were enrolled in the same subjects and joined the same extra-curricular activities. In those carefree days before the Marcosian reign took away the people's rights, the Sweet Hearts gave more attention to having fun than be bothered with social issues that were increasingly attracting other young people's engagements throughout the land.

Before the end of that l971-1972 school year, a transformation took place in the lives of the Sweet Hearts after each one of them went through radical changes in terms of their perspectives on life. Through the militant activities of the GESC, they were exposed to the realities of poor peasants, experienced harassment by the police and realized the thrill in being student activists. They got hooked on activism and, one day, they informed me that they were joining the Kabataang Makabayan chapter organized in Sagrado Corazon. Mila was the first recruit and in a few months, the four others followed. Inday-Letty made it known that she did so because she had a crush on the leader of the KM group.

Some of my colleagues, including myself, and other peasant leaders were arrested. There were a hundred of us jailed; three months after, most of us were released.

On April of 1972, after the school year ended, I decided to quit my teaching job at Sagrado Corazon to work for a farmers' cooperative in North Davao. The Sweet Hearts were disappointed when told of my decision; they wanted me to still be in school as they were graduating the following year. I was able to convince them that it was better for me to move on. Even as there were tears in their eyes, they said goodbye. We promised to remain in touch.

Marching with the Peasants

By May I was working full-time with the farmers' co-op, even as my work involved organizing the farmers to join the FFF. The working hours were long; even my weekends were booked for meetings and rallies. In those months just before martial law was declared, there were marches and demonstrations almost every day.

I lost touch with the Sweet Hearts, since it was difficult in those years to remain in touch with friends and family. The only telephones available were those in big cities, and letters sent through the post office took months even between the north and south of Davao.

Martial law was declared and there were arrests all over the country. There were also peasant organizers and student activists who fled to the nearby mountains and began organizing themselves there. Some of my colleagues, including myself, and other peasant leaders were arrested. There were a hundred of us jailed; three months after, most of us were released.

Immediately after my release, I had a chance to visit Sagrado Corazon. Two of the Sweet Hearts were no longer there; Tanciang and Mila had gone underground. I met with Cora, Maya and Inday-Letty. While there were some other students arrested, the three of them managed to evade arrest and they were lying low for a while. They had no information as to the whereabouts of Tanciang and Mila but were sure that they had gone to the mountains to join a growing movement of dissidents.

At the end of March the following year, Cora, Maya and Inday-Letty joined 56 other fourth-year students at Graduation. They had invited me to attend but I was in Manila teaching in a university and attending to my graduate studies. I would have wanted to attend their graduation but I didn't have the money for the plane fare.

The Passing of Years

Pretending to be a sister of Tanciang, Inday-Letty accompanied Tanciang's mother and was able to enter the room occupied by Tanciang and the other Amazonas.

For a while I corresponded with Inday-Letty who decided to remain in Sagrado Corazon as a high school teacher. She was the one who updated me about her closest friends and happenings in that place.

In June of l975, she wrote that Cora was getting married to someone she met at the Governor's Office where she worked. It was rather ironic; the most tomboyish of the group was the first to receive a marriage proposal serious enough to be considered. I would have wanted to attend the wedding, but the campaign to stop the construction of a dam in the Cordilleras was in full swing and I was with a group engaged in this issue.

The following year, Inday-Letty informed me that Maya was thinking of going to the U.S.A. Her aunt who resided in California since the 1960s was able to petition for her. I saw her off at the Manila International Airport. She assured me that she was going to stay there only for a short while.

Sometime in early 1979, there was a long-distance call from Inday-Letty. As she was crying over the phone, she informed me that Tanciang was in the hospital, fighting for her life. There was an encounter at the foot of Mt. Apo between a group of Marines and the unit she belonged to. Three soldiers and two NPA members were killed; five NPAs were wounded. The wounded were at the hospital in Davao City and heavily guarded. Only immediate family members were allowed to visit them. Pretending to be a sister of Tanciang, Inday-Letty accompanied Tanciang's mother and was able to enter the room occupied by Tanciang and the other Amazonas.

Within a year, I was to learn that two lawyers of the Free Legal Aid Group (FLAG) handled Tanciang's case. Somehow they were able to secure her release on condition that the Archbishop of Davao vouch for her. She was also required to report every week to the guards at the military barracks. To take advantage of her stay in the city, she enrolled in a private university to study Law.

Just before Christmas, I got a frantic call from Inday-Letty. Returning home to the south for the weekend, Tanciang's bus jumped off the cliff at the boundary between the city and the southern province of Davao. When found, Tanciang was already dead.

Maya was getting married to a Filipino doctor she had met at the hospital near her aunt's house. She was ecstatic about this marriage; but what also made her very happy was joining an amateur theatre group composed of Asians.

Fortunately, I had savings at that time so I was able to take the plane and flew down to Davao. I was there at Tanciang's funeral along with Inday-Letty, Cora and the other members of GESG. During the wake preceding the funeral, we had some kind of a reunion, updating ourselves with what had happened to the rest of the student organization, and talking about the state of martial rule and the people's resistance.

After the funeral, Inday-Letty handed me a letter she received from Maya. Maya was getting married to a Filipino doctor she had met at the hospital near her aunt's house. She was ecstatic about this marriage; but what also made her very happy was joining an amateur theatre group composed of Asians. They staged dance-theatres culled from myths and legends of different ethnic groups in Asia. She was very excited about being on stage once more and to be able to dance again.

The Advance of the People's Resistance

As the 70s advanced to the 80s and as martial rule became more oppressive, the people's resistance to the Marcos-military dictatorship intensified. I continued to be involved with legal institutions in Manila in promoting human rights and civil liberties.

Inday-Letty and I continued our correspondence.

In February 1980, Inday-Letty had a surprise for me as she informed me that she, finally, was joining the Religious of the Good Shepherd. I had no inkling she was thinking of becoming a nun; she had kept this a secret even among her closest friends. Unknown to us, she had applied to join them earlier but it took a while before she got her parents' permission. She was going to Cebu City to enter the formation program.

Three years later, she invited me on the occasion of her First Profession, which was held in Davao City That gave me a good reason to go home. She had also invited Maya to finally come home for a vacation. Cora, of course, would be there.

To our delight, Maya was able to come home for Inday-Letty's profession. So there we were—Cora, Maya and myself seated beside Inday-Letty's parents to witness the ceremony where she would pronounce her vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.

Mila's body was found at a riverside and dumped in a morgue. It was there that Mila's mother identified her body.

I thought it would be a happy reunion for the Sweet Hearts until, towards the end of the reception, Maya shared what had happened to her marriage. The marriage was on the rocks even before Maya and her husband celebrated their first year anniversary. It turned out that her husband pressured her to give up her theatre work. He was the jealous type and didn't want Maya to have a life of her own. Having already imbibed a feminist orientation, Maya would not allow him to impose his rules on her. So she filed for a divorce.

What added to the gloom of that occasion was the news we received that Mila contracted malaria up in the mountains and had lost a lot of weight. But her commitment to the armed struggle remained undiminished so there was nothing anyone could do to get her to take a break for medical treatment.

Within a day after Inday-Letty's profession, we went our separate ways.

On Christmas of that year, the cards came my way with photographs. Cora enclosed a family picture and there she was with her husband and three children. The eldest was now ready to go to Kindergarten. Maya also sent a photo of her group doing an excerpt from the Ramayana epic. And from Inday-Letty was a card made by political prisoners; she had been assigned to the Task Force Detainees chapter in Cagayan de Oro.

Holy Week of the following year was to be a particularly wrenching week for all of us.

Mila along with 7 other NPAs were killed by the military who raided their guerilla base at the foot of Mt. Apo There were 5 soldiers who got killed in this military operation. Mila's body was found at a riverside and dumped in a morgue. It was there that Mila's mother identified her body. The first news was actually printed in the government-controlled papers. Cora who first read it immediately phoned Inday-Letty who got in touch with me.

Cora immediately went to the house of Mila's parents but they were still in the city. It was three days later that the funeral took place. Cora went with a few other friends. She said there were quite a number of military men who monitored the funeral service. She told us later that it was a very gloomy day; in fact it was Holy Thursday. The cemetery was very quiet, she said, except for the lamentations of Mila's mother.

People Power Erupts

When we managed to have a reunion Christmas of l986, we told stories as to where we were when Marcos was flown by a helicopter to the North, and from there exiled to Hawaii.

Maya was glued intently on the CNN news coverage; by her side was her new husband who was a member of the theatre group.

Cora was preparing a children's party as her second child was celebrating her birthday. Excited about what was happening at EDSA as she listened to the news coverage, the birthday celebration became a second priority.

Inday-Letty was at the Divisoria Park in Cagayan de Oro City where a lot of people gathered to join in the spirit of People Power.

I was in the hinterlands of the Bicol area at that time on a fact-finding mission. We had no access to any information and were cut-off from the rest of the country, we didn't know about the EDSA event. It was only three days after Marcos had fled, when we came down to Legazpi City, only then, did we know what had happened.

Still, it was not too late to celebrate! And our group did at a beer garden!

That night before sleeping, I paused in remembrance of the Sweet Hearts. Flashes of a wedding, a divorce, a profession and two funerals flooded my mind.

© Karl M. Gaspar, CSsR

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