Youth activists Guiller Martin Cadano, Gerald Salonga, both graduates of the University of the Philippines, and Edward Lanzanas, from a peasant family heeded the call of the times to serve the people. They offered the vitality of their youth to serve the poor farmers as they work for a bright future, a better country.
Youth activists Guiller Martin Cadano, Gerald Salonga, both graduates of the University of the Philippines, and Edward Lanzanas, from a peasant family heeded the call of the times to serve the people. They offered the vitality of their youth to serve the poor farmers as they work for a bright future, a better country.
Their desire to change the system made them targets of repression and abuses. The three were arbitrarily arrested in separate incidents in 2014. Cadano and Salonga are now detained in Nueva Ecija while Lanzanas is at Camp Bagong Diwa Special Intensive Care Area 1 in Taguig City.
The three are among the political prisoners who are on hunger strike. Lanzanas is now on his ninth day of hunger strike; while Cadano and Salonga started last January 15.
Mrs. Marita Cadano, Rowena Salonga and Nimfa Lanzanas, mothers of Guiller, Gerald, and Edward called on Pope Francis to help in the release of their sons. Mrs. Salonga said, “We hope they will be freed as well as all political prisoners. They are not criminals. They are only helping the farmers to understand, and fight for, their rights. Our sons don’t deserve to be in jail because the farmers and the masses need them.”
Mrs. Cadano, on her part, recalled what she felt when she learned that her only child Guiller is an activist, “You cannot suddenly tell your son that standing up for what is right is wrong, for it is not. You cannot simply tell him it is not his responsibility to fight for the rights of the poor because it is. Those were basic values we taught him, and we cannot take them back just because we were afraid of sharing him with the masses.”
Mrs. Rowena Salonga shared the same story. “I am a single mother of four boys. Gerald is my eldest. When I learned he is an activist, I told him I could not raise his other siblings by myself; and he needs to help me. But Gerald always uplifts my spirit and boosts my morale. He told me that I am strong and can do things by myself. He said the masses need him more.”
Mrs. Salonga said Gerald is a good son and they share a bond—that of being each other’s best friend. She went to see Gerald after a year of living with the farmers, hoping to bring him home. But she saw how happy Gerald was, along with other youth, helping the farmers. “I got it. I went home without my son but I know he was doing well. When I learned he was arrested, I told him that we are together in this struggle.”
Mrs. Nimfa Lanzanas, Edward Lanzanas’ mother, said she never had a hard time raising his son who never had vices. “He always headed for home straight from school. When he was younger, he told me he wanted to be with the farmers. But I told him is still too young. When he reached 18, he went to fulfill his desire to serve them (farmers). He has always been selfless,” said Mrs. Lanzanas.
Mrs. Cadano echoed what Mrs. Salonga and Lanzanas feel now that their sons are languishing in jail, “In my grief, I am not alone. I know the masses are behind me—enduring the same sense of loss I feel, crying for justice as I do, fighting for a victory we strongly believe will be ours soon. After all, he is their son too.” ###