his recollections of a time when he was convinced he was doing his patriotic and Christian duty, when he had felt a deep sense of fulfillment in spite of the attendant terrors. He could tell his story and give a full and balanced account of everything he could recall. He also welcomed the chance to finally confront the sorrows and traumas of those years, the worst being those occasions when he would learn that comrades he had worked with had been killed by the armed forces. Perhaps by telling or retelling that part of their life stories that intersected with his, he could give them some recognition. To Norman, these kasama, who had worked selflessly in the mass movement, were the true leaders of the nation, even though they never had the chance to do more than just kindle the spark of popular protest against injustice and oppression.
Ryan contributed his tales and his knowledge of the movement because he wanted to leave a legacy for his children, grandchildren, and generations of Quimpos to come. He wanted them to understand the history of the family and why his sons and grandchildren had grown up in France. He also thought it was a way to pay tribute to his dead brothers and to very dear friends who were no longer with him.
Not everyone found it easy, or desirable, to revisit the past. When Susan had started interviewing her siblings and writing stories about the family’s experiences for her journalism classes, Lillian, who had migrated to Australia, told her that it was difficult to recall events in her past activist life. Since she had left the movement, she had mostly wanted to forget. On a visit to Perth, Susan interviewed Lillian and managed to elicit information for a brief account. Years later, asked whether she wished to contribute more actively to a family memoir, Lillian was reluctant. She feared the work would celebrate the “courageous, noble, romantic, and glorious” sacrifice of activists, when all she could see was wasted lives. She cringed at the possibility of a Dickensian tear-jerker. Still, as the book grew in heft and she could read more of her siblings’ stories, Lillian eventually came round.
Emilie admits that she cried after reading early drafts of Susan’s, Nathan’s and Ryan’s chapters. She wanted to contribute to the family book, though she had separated herself from the family in those years by her decision to join the religious group Opus Dei. She struggled in her writing, as the words no longer flowed as they had in the days when she wrote for Ayala’s The Filipinas Journal of Science and Culture. She knew little then about the inner workings of the CPP and did not realize there could be parallels with the Opus Dei. She felt it a privilege to be able to make her own small contribution to the book.
After reading early drafts of the book project, Lys was touched to realize how much of her siblings’ lives she had not known about. She felt the need for a family reunion. For the first time since they had been scattered to four different countries, all eight remaining siblings did hold a reunion. Joining them in Siquijor in 2009 were 20 spouses and descendants—all but four of the descendants of Ishmael R. Quimpo and Esperanza Ferrer.
Our family’s story is just one of many of families that suffered in the course of the struggle against the dictatorship. At the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, we have scrutinized the names in the displays and on the Wall of Remembrance, checking ourselves when we see familiar names and remembering what little we know of their stories. It is a humbling experience. After the failed revolution and its price in fragmented lives, here stands a Wall with the names of young heroes and martyrs who were among the best and the truest of their generation.
As Susan resumed writing and editing the manuscript, the names on the Wall became more and more real to her. Beyond the stories of our brothers Jun and Jan were names that would haunt her. She wondered what Liliosa Hilao looked like, how Sonny Hizon died. She often stared at the picture of Jessica Sales and thought she was really pretty. Did the military really need 32 bullets to kill Dante Perez? What were the dying thoughts of a wounded Lorena Barros as she desperately tried to put some distance between herself and her military pursuers?
We hope our family memories serve to commemorate a generation of kasama, who, out of unfettered love for the country and its people, gave all that they had.
Acknowledgments
Waiting for a family of ten and their spouses to finally get their stories and act together, then getting the accounts to flow into a seamless narrative required both the sympathy and expertise of friends and relatives. We owe a debt of appreciation to the following:
Rodolfo Bulatao and Paulynn Paredes Sicam for copy-editing the book manuscript;
Lorna Kalaw-Tirol for a finesse reading of the book;
Vicente L. Rafael for the foreword and the suggestion that the Quimpo siblings together write a family memoir;
Melinda Tria Kerkvliet for her comments and suggestions on the manuscript;
Reine Marie Melvin for helping Ryan edit his chapters;
Nora Sayre, Patricia Westfall, William Frederick, Hugh Culbertson, and Richard McGinn, who were Susan’s writing and academic mentors;
Rody Vera for translating Jun’s letters; and
Herb Fondevilla for making the collages of clippings and photos.
A family history needs documents against which to authenticate dates, places and events and photographs to evoke a sense of the actual incidents related. We are most grateful therefore to the following:
The Henry Luce Foundation and the John Houk Award for providing seed money for travel, research and documentation;
The Rizal Library of the Ateneo de Manila
University for the use of its archives;
The Ohio University Library for the use of its resources, particularly its Southeast Asia Collection;
Filippijnengroep Nederland (FGN) in Utrecht, the Netherlands; Philippine Documentation Center (FIDOC) in Dordrecht, the Netherlands; Philippinenburo in Cologne, Germany; and Philippine Resource Center (PRC) in London, United Kingdom – for the use of their resource materials (Note: Of the four, only FGN continues to operate.);
Lopez Memorial Museum, Bantayog ng mga Bayani, FGN and the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines Museum, Roland Neveu, Fr. Jack Walsh and Fidel Nemenzo – for the use of their photos; and
Jet Birondo-Goddard for helping look for photos.
Finally we thank
Karina Bolasco for her unfailing support and saintly patience in seeing to it that the book manuscript would be finalized and published.
Contents
VICENTE L. RAFAEL
PART I: In the Shadow of the Palace
SUSAN
