Chel Diokno on Sen. Jose W. Diokno

De La Salle University recently held the 2019  Ka Pepe Diokno Human Rights Awards ceremony. The awardees were Bishop Virgilio David and Maria Ressa. The opening speaker was DLSU Law Dean Chel Diokno, son of Senator Jose W. Diokno. Here is the core of his speech:

“My family and I thank you for joining us today. Allow me to read my father’s words because he best explains the reason for the award that the De La Salle University has so graciously given in his name. Dad wrote this piece in his few months in prison, in 1972. Speaking on behalf of martial law detainees, he said (and I quote):

‘The essence of freedom – and I think of the human condition – is the right to make decisions on the matters that are really important to us, and to act on our decisions. For more than two months, we have been denied this right; and to that extent, we have been stripped of our humanity, reduced … to non-persons, impotent to solve any problem, even the most personal and family problems that every man has, dependent on our families whom we once supported, allowed to dream but denied the means to make our dreams come true.

‘Five factors have made our burden bearable:

‘The thought that our people, and particularly people like you have not forgotten us or lost faith in us. The devotion of our families who every day undergo the ordeal of bringing us our needs, subjecting themselves to the degradation of being frisked and searched, riding an uncomfortable army pick-up, just to comfort us for an hour. The knowledge that someday, in some way, the madness that holds this nation in its grip must end; that, as Bernstein put it in his “The Mass”

O you men of power

O you men of power

Your hour is now

You plan to rule forever

But you never do, somehow

 ‘The conviction of our innocence and the belief in the ultimate justice of God; and

‘The realization that the injustice perpetrated upon us and our people degrades the perpetrator rather than his victims, for man is not demeaned by the harm done to him, but only by harm he does himself.’ “

My father would have turned 97 today (Feb. 26).  Tomorrow, the 27th, will be 32 years to the day since he left us and met his Maker. On days like this, one can’t help but wonder how it would be to have him with us still. Surely it is men and women of his kind that we need during times such as ours. And yet this is also outweighed by the knowledge that it would be immensely painful to see Ka Pepe having to live through times such as ours – during times such as ours, when our leaders would gleefully shackle  themselves yet again to the absolute rule of one man, and surrender our territory without thought, and never even blink at the sight of the institutions we built out of tears and blood and sweat, now in ruins;

during times such as ours, when life is cheap, when what passes for justice roams our streets at night and takes our young and supplants the supremacy of law with smoking lead;

during times such as ours, when to speak the truth is to invite the wrath of the powerful who would prefer that Filipinos remain in the shadows of deception and misinformation;

during times such as ours, when human rights become a matter of life and death – or, more accurately, that is to say, when we are forced to see, with painful clarity than ever, as the toll mounts, as the body count rises, that human rights inherently are a matter of life and death.

To you he was the staunch defender of human rights, whatever the cost. But today, on his 97th birth anniversary, we also remember him as Dad. To us children he was and always will be the father we loved and miss. Dad was always very busy, but he never failed to be there every time you needed him. Dad always seemed to know all the answers. Dad told us we had to learn to decide what life would mean to each of us and that choosing the right thing to be and that required courage. I quote:

“If you choose as I hope you will, you will need fortitude, which does not mean accepting evil or suffering submissively nor, on the other hand, seeking danger for the thrill of it. It is the readiness to do battle for good and to fall, to die if need be, in that battle. It is not being fearless; it is not letting fear force you into doing what is wrong, or keep you from doing what is right. It is being afraid when the situation is fearful, yet walking up to the source of your fear, facing it, and then doing what you should.

“A certain amount of physical courage helps and so does self-confidence… But fortitude implies more than these. It implies the hope of victory, if not in the particular battle, at least in an ultimate victory; and above all, it implies belief in someone greater than one’s self: for the essence of fortitude is to abandon one’s self; to let go one’s tense, egoistic hold on life – and once can do rationally only for something or someone more important than the life itself. So in the end we go back to the beginning: to be brave, you must have love and hope and faith; and having these, you have courage.”

Creative writing classes for kids and teens

Young Writers’ Hangout on March 2, 16 (1:30 pm-3pm; stand-alone sessions) and an Adult Series session on Creative Nonfiction on March 30 (1:30-4:30 pm)  with Susan Lara at Fully Booked BGC.  For details and registration,  email [email protected].

Email: [email protected]