The announcement of martial law on September 23, 1973 caught us in the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) by surprise. We had talked about the possibility of President Marcos staging a coup against himself but that was not really our concern. We were more focused on winning gains for the farmers in their struggle for land, preparing for the 1973 elections, and gaining more appreciation within the FFF for political efforts.

In fact, I was on my way home in a jeepney early morning of that day when I heard the announcement. I had just come from a meeting in the apartment of Noel Mondejar in Cubao. We had discussed how we should maneuver within FFF to secure more attention and resources for political activities and alliances. We felt that helping farmers secure farm land and develop themselves required capturing a bigger share of political power for those who shared this view.

The division within FFF was not all that clear, but there was indeed a group of older leaders led by Dean Jerry Montemayor, the Federation’s President, and younger leaders led by Charlie Avila and Noel Mondejar, who were both Vice Presidents. I was the elected National Secretary at that time and tended to side with the younger leaders.

It was the latter group that took on most of the work of the political campaigns and coalitional efforts in 1968-1971 – the campaign to have the second district of Laguna declared a land reform area, the Agrifina Circle picket, the camp-out at the Department of Justice which started as a protest against the incarceration of FFF Lawyer Camilo L. Sabio in Davao, and the 73-day picket of Congress which ended with the passage of R.A. 6389 creating the Department of Agrarian Reform and improving R.A. 3844, the Agricultural Land Reform Code of 1963.

The period coincided with the growth of the youth movement and the First Quarter Storm of 1970. Drawn to help the FFF were the more “reformist” student groups often called the social democrats or democratic socialists. In terms of electoral politics these forces tended to gravitate around Raul Manglapus and other “Third Force” personages rather than the Nacionalista Party of Ferdinand Marcos or the Liberal Party of Gerry Roxas.

Martial law changed that by removing the options of meaningful electoral contestation and pressure tactics to win policies more favorable to farmers, farm workers, and fishers. Shortly after its imposition, leaders like Weny Cabrera (Agusan del Norte), Glicerio “Boy” Tan (Bukidnon), and Renato “Boy” Navata (Organization Department, National Office) were detained for extended periods without charges filed against them.

The split in FFF became clearer after the arrest of seven FFF and Junior Free Farmer leaders in Palo, Leyte on June 28, 1973: Fr. Zacarias Agatep, Cesar Mascariñas, Manuel “Noel” Mondejar Jr., Jose Ledesma Jr., Fr. Bienvenido “Ben” Aniceto, Lot Miranda and me. We were arrested at Bishop Urgel’s palace in Palo, Leyte where we had been meeting as the National Policy Board of the FFF. Separate interrogations by the NBI (without the aid of legal counsel, as was commonplace then) revealed to us a common thread. We were suspected of plotting to assassinate the First Couple when they would inaugurate the San Juanico “Bridge of Love” on July 2, 1973. It was a preposterous accusation. We were released after a week.

Instead of welcoming us back to FFF, Dean Montemayor arbitrarily dismissed us and about 40 other FFF leaders suspected of being close to us. This strengthened the suspicion – always denied by Dean Montemayor and never firmly established by ourselves – that it was he or someone close to him that had planted this idea in the mind of the arresting unit (Military Intelligence Group or MIG 8).

The detention center, as I recall it, was crowded. The toilet smelled so bad I refused to use it for several days until I could no longer hold it in. I no longer remember what the food was like. But I recall having to line up every morning for roll call and how a number of detainees would be made to cut grass every day. Somehow, they never made us do this. But Noel volunteered once because he felt he needed the exercise.

Upon our return to Manila, we organized an NGO called PUNLA to continue to help FFF members who trusted us. After a while, though, I gave up and went to work with the Jesuit Bureau of Asian Affairs which sought to put together an Asia-wide conference on human development in rural Asia. The three-week conference in Bangkok in August 1974 led to the formation of NGOs like AsiaDHRRA and PhilDHRRA.

Fr. Vic Cullen, SJ asked us to help the Major Religious Superiors who wanted to set up task forces that would continue the kind of work we used to do as FFF but with a more critical stance in regard to martial law. That effort was called the Task Force Rural Conscientization. It had a counterpart called Task Force Urban Conscientization for the urban poor.

I was invited to join the major superiors of religious men after the DHRRA Workshop. They had been putting out “Confirmed Reports” and then “Various Reports” to inform their communities of developments. I helped collate these reports as a kind of managing editor among other things. We stabilized publication of the weekly later called “Signs of the Times,” which became known then as the bearer of news that got censored out of the “Daily Suppress” and “Bullshitin Today.”

Our tiny secretariat also helped organize protests like the “Via Crucis” in Intramuros and the prayer rally in Bustillos that marched to Plaza Miranda on December 6, 1975, the day that U.S. President Gerald R. Ford visited Mr. Marcos in Malacañang. Later it aided in the establishment of the Church Labor Center, which supported the strike movement initiated by the La Tondeña workers.

Meantime, the Task Force Detainees, started in 1973 and always closer to the major superiors of religious women, continued to provide support to political detainees and their families.

The Catholic Bishops’ National Secretariat of Social Action, Justice and Peace (NASSA) and its counterparts for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao – LUSSA, VISSA and MISSA – became more active around this time. One high point was the seminar on structural analysis run by Fr. Francoise Houtart. This provided tools for understanding social classes and structures of government and business better.

Likewise, the Cosmopolitan Church on Taft Avenue (known as Gen. Fidel V. Ramos’ church) of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines started to organize the weekly Wednesday Forum which tended to be critical of aspects of martial law and of martial law itself. The National Council of Churches in the Philippines based in Quezon City conducted its own activities critical of the Marcos regime.

The flurry of church activities led to the military becoming increasingly suspicions of church people. The AMRSP office was raided, my residence in Cubao was placed under surveillance, and my wife Sally and I together with our son Mulawin were forced to sidestep arrest by making ourselves scarce in December 1976.

My wife “surfaced” in 1978 (or thereabout) and became active in Ibon Databank. I “surfaced” on March 26, 1982 in Catbalogan, Samar. I write about this in the article “24 Days in Limbo,” which was published in The Manila Chronicle on July 7, 1986. The article was handwritten while in detention in Samar in 1982 and also appeared in other publications.

After 24 days in a military camp and a military intelligence safehouse, I was kept for a year in the PC-run stockade in Brgy. Maulong, Catbalogan. I was blamed for the escape of five detainees one night during a thunderstorm that caused a blackout. I was transferred to a 6’ x 6’ x 6’ cell with walls about 6 inches thick and forbidden to talk with other detainees. After some time in this place, though, the PC people relaxed. My family was allowed to visit with me and I was permitted to plant camote and to play chess with a retired major who lived across the street.

I probably could have escaped then but I thought I had a strong case and would be acquitted. After all, Tony Bolastig was my lawyer in Catbalogan — Tony was later appointed and then got himself elected Governor of Samar – and he had the able support of former Senators Pepe Diokno and Lorenzo Tañada and Atty. Joker Arroyo.

After three years of trial, however, the Court of First Instance as it was called found me guilty of “subversion” and sentenced me to a prison term of 12 to 20 years. I wrote about this in “My Conviction Is Outrageous”.

I was transferred to the PC camp in Bicutan, Parañaque after conviction while the case was on appeal. This felt like a Hilton Hotel compared to the detention center in Samar. I could associate quite freely with fellow detainees, had much more space for planting camote and alugbati, and played a lot of table tennis.

When the EDSA uprising happened, the pessimists among the detainees feared that we would be massacred while the optimists were convinced that freedom was days away. Fortunately, the optimists were right and it felt like heaven to be home again with my family in Paco, Manila.

I am now 66 years old. These events took place 28 years ago and earlier. Our country is so much better off now. I feel some satisfaction and pride in having contributed to the downfall of the Marcos martial law regime and a lot of pride and hope in being able to help the administration of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III usher the country into a period of peace and prosperity as we collectively pursue “daang matuwid” and “inclusive growth.”