An eyewitness account on the funeral of Romy Capalla

By Alex Corpus Hermoso

 

I took a taxi cab from the airport of Iloilo to join the motorcade

that was organized by the civil society organizations, NGOs, POs and

sympathetic political organizations to demand justice for the slain

leader, Romeo Capalla. Upon boarding the cab, I immediately started

conversation with the driver to ask about Romy. The driver was

knowledgeable about the events surrounding the assassination and made

a remark that Romy is indeed a good man that has helped so many

people in Panay for along time and during the latest event in the

relief operations in Leyte and Panay Island after the devastation of

typhoon Yolanda. He said that Romy was indeed involved with the NPA

during the Martial Law regime but that was a long time ago and he has

been involved with various social welfare projects that helped the

sugarcane workers since the time of Pres. Cory Aquino. He was quick

to say that it was the hit squad of the military that harmed him. The

same feedback was described by another taxi cab driver that I took

after the funeral. Both drivers were saying that there are bad people

out there that are left untouched yet the kind of people like Romy

are the ones getting hit by death squads that act with impunity.

 

I was met by Ms. Ruth Salditos, the lead founder of Panay Fair Trade

together with other community leaders and Fair Trade advocates. Later

we were joined by Ms. Gigi Labradores, founder and executive director

of the Southern Partners of Fair Trade Company based in Cebu and

representing the Fair Trade Association of Central Visayas and the

2nd Chairperson of the WFTO-Philippines . I represented the Fair

Trade organizations of Luzon and being the 1st chairperson of

WFTO-Philippines that worked with Romy and Ruth of Panay Fair Trade.

Together we joined the long caravan or motorcade around the City of

Iloilo with vehicles carrying tarpaulins and posters demanding

“Justice for Romeo Capalla”. Some people were wearing the same

campaign T-shirts and were passing information flyers.

 

The funeral hearse immediately proceeded after the motorcade arrived

in the town of Leon, Iloilo. It was not surprising to see hundreds of

people visiting to see their slain leader for the last time and

joined the long march to the Cathedral in the town of Leon where a

High Mass was officiated by Romy’s brother, Bishop Capalla with

another Bishop from the Visayas, the Vicar General and 5 other

Priests.

Thereafter, the funeral hearse proceeded to the cemetery with

hundreds of people marched amidst the slight rain as if the heaven is

shedding tears in sympathy with the mourners. More than 60 vehicles

followed including media groups from the National TV Networks and

Regional Radio Stations.

 

Our Fair Trade delegation met briefly with the wife of Romy who

arrived from the US with her daughter who is working as a Nurse in

Canada. Romy’s two other children were mature enough to understand

what their family is going through being social activists and working

with the people in poverty alleviation projects. The group assured

the bereaved family that the network will campaign for the speedy

investigation and make the issue on violence against the defenders of

human rights and pressure the government to get those responsible for

Romy’s death and those that were killed in similar situation.

 

On the way to the airport I met a lady who was middle aged. She knows

about Fair Trade and knows about what Panay Fair Trade is doing in

the island of Panay. She is also aware of what happened to Romy

Capalla and made a strong remark that justice must be served in order

to end the culture of impunity across the nation.

 

I returned to Manila immediately after the funeral.

Alex Corpus Hermoso

Programme Director

Preda Foundation and Fair trade consultant.