It was a baptism of fire that not only tested her mettle, but ultimately changed the political equation in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental.
Then 28-year old Maria Rowena Villena Guanzon had been mayor of Cadiz only a few weeks that day in 1987 when she faced off with Armando “Armin” Gustilo, a spoiled brat of a warlord who had been appointed governor of the short-lived province of Negros del Norteby the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Guanzon, then a feisty young lawyer from the University of the Philippines, had reported to work on a holiday to put in some extra time to learn the ropes of local governance. She had been appointed to the position by then President Corazon Aquino after many before her had refused the assignment, scared to death of the province’s powerful warlord and his private army. No one had the guts.
Guanzon, now a controversial member of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), used to sarcastically describe Gustilo as the province’s “best tourist attraction,” but the man is more notoriously associated with the bloody Escalante Massacre of September 20, 1985.
On that date, about 5,000 protesters had gathered in the town plaza of Escalante, Negros Occidental to stage a protest to mark the 13th anniversary of the Marcos martial law. A volley of gunfire from automatic rifles and a caliber .60 machine gun suddenly rained on the demonstrators, killing at least 20. Today, their names are etched in the Bantayog ng mga Bayani in Quezon City.
None of the surviving kin of the victims have been indemnified. No ranking state officials have ever been summoned or tried for the crime. But when she was mayor of Cadiz, Guanzon came forward and accused Gustilo’s men of being responsible for the Escalante Massacre. Anecdotal memories from some Negrenses today say Gustilo himself was watching the bloodshed from the balcony of city hall.
The August 22, 1987 issue of The Gazette in Montreal, Canada has archived its article on Guanzon,Gustilo’ nemesis, entitled “Facing down warlord is part of job for young mayor.”
The article describes the events of that fateful in 1987 when Guanzon went to work accompanied by a secretary and some constituents.The mayor’s mother soon joined her in the Cadiz City hall.
“Then the telephone rang.
“Ma’am,” said the voice of a supporter, “Don’t go outside…Gustilo’s in the plaza with some of his boys and they have guns.”
Quoting Guanzon herself, the article said that Gustilo had surrounded City Hall with 50 men, at least 20 of them carrying firearms.
“What a mess,” Guanzon recounted. My mother wouldn’t calm down, the secretary was in the bathroom crying and a teacher was reading from the Bible.”
“Guanzon bolted the door, posted her body guard at one window with an M-16 and covered the other herself with a .38 pistol. She handed her uncooperative mother a hand grenade,” the article continued.
Any threat of violence was averted, however, when a priest appeared on the plaza followed by unarmed supporters of the mayor whose older brother also arrived with a band of friends.
“Gustilo was forced to retreat,” The Gazette said quoting Guanzon who, according to the article, believed that “new politics triumphed that day over the traditional rule of guns and goons.”
That singular incident in the post-martial law history of Cadiz was Rowena Guanzon’s big bang. The bravado she displayed in taking on Gustilo continues to this day with the announcement of her vote to disqualify Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos from the upcoming presidential race because he is a “convicted criminal.”
It is now Comelec commissioner Aimee Ferolino-Ampoloquio, born in 1983 and raised in President Rodrigo Duterte’s Davao region, who faces her own baptism of fire with her handling of the consolidated Marcos disqualification case. Amid accusations of delaying the decision on the controversial case, Ferolino-Ampoloquio has been challenged by Guanzon to resign with her before February 2.
The beleaguered Comelec official needs a crash course on Political Science of Dynasties 101. Her position, handed to her by Duterte, requires the highest virtues of honesty, unassailable integrity, and impartiality.
Ferolino-Ampoloquio needs to be keenly aware that the Filipino people are watching her every move.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.