Claver, rights lawyer; 75

BAGUIO CITY—Cordillera activists and elders on Wednesday recounted stories about Igorot rights lawyer and former Kalinga representative William “Billy” Claver when they launched a book compilation of his thoughts on indigenous Filipino rights during the North Luzon Mining and Human Rights Summit at Teachers’ Camp here.

The following day, Claver died in Tabuk City at the age of 75.

Claver helped found the Free Legal Assistance Group (Flag), along with former Senators Jose Diokno and Lorenzo Tañada. He had served as chair of the Flag chapter in Cagayan Valley when Kalinga was still part of that region.

He was also the founding chair of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, the largest activist network in the Cordillera that is dedicated to indigenous rights.

During the 8th Congress, then Kalinga representative Claver chaired the House committee on national cultural communities from 1987 to 1992.

Since 2009, Claver had been bedridden and wheelchair-bound after he suffered a stroke.

The book, “William ‘Billy’ Claver: Towards Genuine Implementation of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Law,” collects Claver’s speeches and letters which illustrate his long historic fight for Cordillera rights.

The book includes this often-quoted verse:

“Even as we speak here to defend their claims and their historic rights, the country’s indigenous peoples are being subjected to the most intense and mindless cruelty. It is as though they were vermin or criminals to be extirpated through bombings, shellings, strafings and massacres. But we know they are not. They are Filipinos who have nurtured this earth in ways better and nobler than the predatory elite have done.”

The book was edited by Giovanni Reyes and Kathleen Okubo, and was published by the Tebtebba Foundation.

Reyes, Claver’s biographer, said: “He was the only lawyer who offered free service for the indigenous peoples from the time of martial law in 1972 until 1986, which was arguably the darkest period in Philippine history.”

Claver was born on July 16, 1936, to Ludivico Ofo-ob Claver and Maria Funa-ay of Bontoc, Mt. Province. He married Jane Abeya of Sagada, Mt. Province. They have seven children: Ayangwa and Endenna (both deceased), Balag-ey, Cabnah, Dwahgan, Farnaw and Gkachay. Desiree Caluza, Inquirer Northern Luzon