Eva Estrada Kalaw’s courage remembered in Senate eulogy

Senate President Aquilino ‘Koko’ Pimentel III speaks during the necrological service for former-Senator Eva Estrada Kalaw at the Senate on June 1, 2017. PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER / LYN RILLON

At a funeral service for the late Senator Eva Estrada-Kalaw, her former colleagues talked about their memories of martial law under the Marcos regime.

“We were together in the last Senate which was abolished upon declaration of martial law. We pray that this is not the last Senate when the next martial law is declared,” former Senator Edgar Ilarde said in his eulogy.

“I can almost hear the honorable senators and Koko saying that is not funny,” Ilarde said, referring to Senate President Aqulino “Koko” Pimentel III.

Pimentel happened to be seated in the front of the session hall where the necrological service for Estrada-Kalaw was held. The Senate leader was one of 17 senators, who have expressed support for the martial law declaration  in Mindanao by President Rodrigo Duterte.

The late senator, meanwhile, was an active leader of the opposition when the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law. She passed away last May 25 at the age of 96.

Former Senator Tessie Aquino-Oreta talked about the late senator’s courage at the height of martial law during the Marcos regime.

“When we talked about courage, the comparison would always be kasing tapang ba ni Ate Eva,” Aquino-Oreta, sister of the late Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., said in her eulogy.

“The Marcoses were very much entrenched in power. People were afraid and the press was silenced and freedom, democracy and human rights were words used only by the opposition and so-called friends have abandoned leaving a few brave men who dared to be identified among them was this lady, Senator Eva Estrada-Kalaw. She was unafraid,” Aquino-Oreta added.

On May 23, President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in the whole of Mindanao after Islamist terrorists attacked Marawi City, killed unarmed people, burned buildings and took hostages.

Duterte said martial law was to stop terrorists from taking over Marawi and other places in Mindanao.

Among those who attended the necrological service at the Senate were Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, Senators JV Ejercito, Nancy Binay, Gringo Honasa, Cynthia Villar, and Risa Hontiveros.

Former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr., former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., ex-senators Rene Saguisag, Ramon Magsaysay, Wigberto Tañada, among others, were also present. CBB/rga