CEBU, Philippines – On September 21, 1972, the young Rex Fernandez was attending a seminar. He was then a fourth year high-school student at Colegio de San Jose- Recoletos (now University of San Jose Recoletos) in downtown Cebu City. Late that day, news came of the declaration of martial law in the country by President Ferdinand Marcos.
Upon hearing the news, everyone was afraid, Fernandez recalls. As the time of the imposed curfew approached, people were rushing to get home.
Himself a witness to life under martial law, Fernandez knew of numerous extrajudicial killings, desaparecidos or enforced disappearances, political prisoners, and human rights violations. He and his fellow seminarians at the Seminario Mayor de San Carlos began organizing the Anti-Marcos Dictatorship Movement inside their boarding rooms, amid the continuing arrest of anti-administration personages.
“At the height of Martial Law, people who engaged in political discussions had to keep it discreet,” he said. It was a time of great suspicion; it was hard to trust anyone. They had to be very careful and secretive of their activities, always afraid that military agents may have surreptitiously penetrated their ranks.
Now few of his fellow seminarians (some are now ordained priests) got arrested and were interrogated by state agents. If they didn’t say anything, they were beaten. It was really terrifying, Fernandez recalled.
He himself was arrested while serving his apostolate, giving medicines to patients and assisting medical personnel at a hospital. While doing his duties, fellow seminarians approached him, armed men behind them. They were suspected of leftist leanings, and were taken for interrogation.
Anyone who resisted was threatened with a shot of tranquilizer. He chose to go peacefully with the arresting officer. They were brought to Camp Sergio Osmena, on Jones Avenue, and subjected to long tactical interrogation.
It was almost10 p.m. when they were finally released. They rushed back to the seminary so as not to be caught by curfew. Those were really stressful moments.
His Martial law experience prompted Fernandez to pursue studies in law and become a human rights advocate. Since 1981, he has been active in working with people trying to reclaim their civil liberties. Atty. Fernandez is the lead legal counsel of the national human rights group KARAPATAN, an alliance of individuals and organizations committed for the cause of human rights.
He is an expert in the Writ of Amparo, a legal recourse for any person whose life, liberty and security are at risk. Since its inception in 2007, the Writ of Amparo has protected hundreds of possible victims of human rights violations, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances. Fernandez has since gained international renown as human rights lawyer, through the USA-Philippines Advocacy Network.
For 33 years, Atty. Fernandez has been defending the politically underprivileged in the Philippines against trumped-up charges, illegal arrest and abductions by state agents. A known “pro-bono” lawyer, he has so far assisted more than a hundred human rights cases in court.
His notable cases include the murder of his mentor, human rights lawyer Alfonso Surigao, in 1988. Surigao was a known people’s lawyer in the 80s, defending victims of human rights violations. The good lawyer was gunned down in his home in Minglanilla, Cebu, allegedly by members of Kadre vigilante group.
Fernandez was also once the counsel of the infamous Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno case. Cadapan and Empeno are two University of the Philippines – Diliman students who were conducting a research in a farming community in Bulacan when state forces abducted them for allegedly being leftist insurgents.
In describing his Martial Law experience, Fernandez says, “Martial law was terrorizing, terrifying. There was no freedom.” Based on that experience, he now challenges the youth to be active as the watchdogs of human rights. It is up to the youth, he says, to make sure it does not happen again. “Be vigilant forever.”