Tita Lina: At Heart, a Rights
Activist
“Walang hirap na ‘di
n’ya sinuong” (She faced every hardship), a sister wept as she
delivered her tribute. "Tita Lina" to young activists or "Lita" to her
contemporaries, Myrna is considered a great loss to the rights movement
but, as people who extolled and reflected on her role said during her
wake, she would remain an inspiration.
By Aubrey AC
Makilan
Bulatlat
Myrna "Tita Lina" Fajardo |
Born during the Marcos dictatorship, the
human rights movement today continues to make a difference in the fight
against repression and the defense of human rights. The movement's mission
has been pursued by activists and volunteers, church people as well as
lawyers and civil libertarians - not a few of them sacrificing their own
lives.
Last Jan. 2, one of the movement's leading
lights - Myrna Fajardo - died unexpectedly. She was 46. "Tita Lina" to
young activists or "Lita" to her contemporaries, Myrna is considered a
great loss to the rights movement but, as people who extolled and
reflected on her role said during her wake, she would remain an
inspiration.
Born on Sept. 7, 1959, Tita Lina was the
third eldest among eight children - but the eldest among five girls.
|
Little Lina was a bright student, Nanay
Bebeng, her mother of 78, said as she would often invite friends to their
house in Bagong Barrio, Caloocan, for a group study.
As an active church volunteer, Nanay
Bebeng would often bring her eldest daughter to medical missions and
community meetings. It was through these that Little Lina would would be
exposed to the issues of the urban poor, including demolitions and lack of
basic services.
Later after classes, Lina would go to the
community and immerse herself with the urban poor. As a student at the
former Gregorio Araneta University Foundation (GAUF), she would continue
to deepen her political awakening. Her footsteps were followed by her
other siblings like Jocelyn, Gloria, and Peña.
It was at GAUF where Lina would meet
Gilbert, also an activist. Their marriage would later be blessed with six
children: Roz Victoria (or RV), 18; Rosa Guia, 16; Liberty Emmanuelle, 11;
Armando, 8; and the twins Christine Ann and Felisa Joy, 5.
Human rights
Lina got her heart involved in human
rights under SELDA, a group of former political prisoners, in the
mid-1980s. She became deeply involved in clarifying the human rights
mission at the time when the movement was riven by internal political
conflicts. Then she also became a key person in pushing for the celebrated
class action suit against the Marcos dictatorship for human rights
violations.
Volunteers of SELDA say that Lina was also
partly instrumental in building and rebuilding the group's chapters as she
took efforts in "knowing by heart" the stories of nearly every political
prisoner she would meet.
Nanay Bebeng recalls Lina's bravery
particularly during protest rallies where she was always on the frontline
bombarded by water cannons. One of such protest rallies would lead to a
three-day detention in 1994 with police charging her with "obstruction of
justice."
The constant risks and threats of human
rights work did not dampen Lina's enthusiasm in her work, however. “Malayo
pa lang, nakangiti na s’ya” (You can see her smile from a distance),
fellow human rights workers would attest. “She smiles a lot and her laugh
reverberates in the office,” says Girlie Padilla, also a human rights
worker and secretary general of the Ecumenical Movement for Justice and
Peace (EMJP).
Ailment
Last Dec. 20, Lina left her four younger
children under her mother’s care as she had to prepare for the yearly “Paskuhan
sa Munti” (Christmas in Munti) at the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) in
Muntinlupa the following day. Lina stayed overnight in the SELDA office to
finish everything for the activity, said Padilla. But she was unable to go
to NBP anyhow after a bout of fever on Paskuhan day itself.
For four days, Lina did not see her
children and Nanay Bebeng was wondering. She was unaware that Lina was
hospitalized at the Quezon City
General
Hospital until granddaughter Roz Victoria
told her by phone.
Saying she wanted to spend Christmas at
home, Lina was released from the hospital on Dec. 24. Following stressful
days, she was again hospitalized Dec. 27 this time at the Calalang General
Hospital near their home in Valenzuela. The doctor, who suspected a heart
ailment, warned that her condition was deteriorating. She died of a
cardiac arrest six days later.
Tributes
Despite her age, Nanay Bebeng was calm in
her daughter's wake. “Malungkot sana ako sa paglisan ni Myrna ko pero
hindi, naaliw ako sa dami ng taong nagmamahal pala sa anak ko”
(Myrna's death makes me sad but I'm also happy to know that many people
love her), she said.
Lina’s house, garden, and parking space
overflowed with mourners, including many SELDA members who were dressed in
their orange organizational shirt.
Nanay Bebeng said a former political
detainee went to her house in Caloocan looking for Lina to thank her for
helping him process his release papers. To his surprise, Nanay Bebeng led
him to Lina’s wake.
The tribute for Lina on Jan. 6 by fellow
activists, friends, relatives and family became not only a moment of grief
for her loss but also a time to salute someone who apparently touched many
people's lives.
A vendors' group from the University of
the Philippines
in Diliman, to whom Lina extended help, also paid tribute to her. A letter
of condolences coming from the National Democratic Front of the
Philippines (NDFP) was read by lawyer Edre Olalia of the Joint Monitoring
Committee (JMC) of the Government of the Philippines and the NDFP.
Imelda Continente, a fellow human rights
worker, sang Lina’s favorite song, “Awit ng Mortal.” While she sang
, a power-point presentation showing Lina as an activist, mother, wife,
and friend was played as friends and other mourners watched fighting back
their tears.
“Walang hirap na ‘di n’ya sinuong”
(She faced every hardship), sister Jocelyn wept as she delivered her
tribute.
This coming March will mark the 20th
wedding anniversary of Gilbert and Lina. The family plans to celebrate it
in the cemetery with a visit to her tomb. Bulatlat
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