By: CHERYL L. DAYTEC-YANGOT
(This was a message I wrote on the occasion of the 73rd birthday of Atty. Romy T. Capulong in 2008. Today is the 3rd death anniversary of Ka Romy, first President and founding member of the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers.)
This
is not intended to be a eulogy but it probably sounds like one that will be delivered at Atty. Romeo
Capulong’s burial fifty years from now. It is our belief that it is better that
it is articulated while he is alive to appreciate it today on his 73rd birthday.
A life consecrated to the defense of the
oppressed, to challenging the status quo
when it is antithetical to the interest
of the masses, is a life that will never
end. As Andres Bonifacio breathes out the inspiration we keep drawing from for his great example of dedication to the cause of revolutionary struggle, so
will Atty. Romeo Capulong remain alive long after he gives up the ghost.
Romeo Capulong spent his years on earth
in selfless service to the people. In the best of times, in the worst of times,
and in the times in between, he has been a standard bearer for the rights of
the oppressed, the marginalized, the downtrodden, the rejected. In being so, he
has been compromising his and his family’s well-being and even his very life, a risk well within his grasp. But to him, to choose a life of comfort
without regard for the welfare of the masses is wrong, if not outright
disgraceful. And so overriding his own fears, he kept marching and still
marches with the enlightened masses to
confront with unwavering courage the
goblins and evil forces that shrive human
life of essence and meaning.
Atty. Capulong’s record is a torch that shatters the deepest darkness.
It is a torch that brightens the path of us who, inspired by exemplars of
greatness and heroism, have chosen to
tread his trajectory, the trajectory less traveled but the right one
nevertheless. We realize that in the context of things in the here-and-now, the
only noble life is one of consequence to
the liberation of the masses from the dungeon of poverty and tyranny. The only
noble life is one that bears close semblance to Atty. Capulong’s.
Since Martial Law, never has our country been as shrouded
in darkness as it is now. We live under a reign of
terror, a reign that nurtures no reverence for human life. Freedom itself languishes inside walls, liberties
are obstructed by fences and barbed
wires, the forces of greed are at their strongest, guns are pointed to heads
that entertain thoughts of dissent, our
mouths are clamped to deter us from speaking the truth. Our days are as dimmed
as our nights. Silence and sleeping are very
safe, very convenient. Sadly, many have embraced convenience as the hands of
tyranny operate under the cover of
darkness to push the nation to the pit of wretchedness. But hope does not die
when there are people, like Romeo Capulong, who elect to stay awake, struggling in the dark to impede the slaughter of the essence of life:
freedom – from hunger, from oppression, from bondage, from terror, from
anything that diminishes humanity. That there are persons of courage like him at such a time as now is itself a
miracle, like a determined bud shooting from the bone dry, barren earth. It is a miracle worthy of celebration.
What we do for ourselves die with us,
but what we do for others will endure even after our death. In a country plunged in obscurities, this much
is certain: Atty. Capulong will live beyond his years on earth.
We in the Cordillera are one with the
Filipino masses in wishing this great champion of the oppressed a very happy
birthday and many more to come.
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