Zamboanga del Norte, officially the Province of Zamboanga del Norte, is a province in the Philippines situated within the Zamboanga Peninsula region in Mindanao. Its capital is Dipolog and the province borders Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay to the south, Misamis Occidental to the east, and the Sulu Sea to the west.
Dipolog, officially the City of Dipolog, is a 3rd class component city and capital of the province of Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 138,141 people.
Haydee Bofill Yorac was a Filipina public servant, law professor and politician.
Calixto Oirola Zaldivar was a Filipino lawyer and politician who was a Supreme Court Justice from 1964 to 1974 best known in Philippine history for being one of only four dissenting voices against the constitutionality of the Philippines' 1973 constitution in the 1973 case known as Javellana v. Executive Secretary, despite pressure by the authoritarian government of Ferdinand Marcos to vote in the constitution's favor.
The Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) is a nationwide organization of human rights lawyers in the Philippines. It was founded in 1974 by Sen. Jose W. Diokno, Lorenzo Tañada, J.B.L. Reyes, and Joker Arroyo during the martial law era under former President Ferdinand Marcos. It is the first and largest group of human rights lawyers established in the nation. They work on countering varied abuses against human rights and civil liberties. Its current chairman since 2003 is human rights attorney Chel Diokno, the founding dean of the De La Salle University Tañada-Diokno School of Law.
The Bantayog ng mga Bayani, sometimes simply referred to as the Bantayog, is a monument, museum, and historical research center in Quezon City, Philippines, which honors the martyrs and heroes of the struggle against the dictatorship of former President Ferdinand Marcos.
Tullio Favali was an Italian priest who ministered in Zamboanga, North Cotabato and Metro Manila in the Philippines. He was the first foreign missionary to be murdered by paramilitary forces during Martial Law, provoking public outcry from the Vatican and Italian government. His death caused international attention to human rights violations and abuses to paramilitary forces during the Marcos dictatorship.
Antonio Maria "Tony" Onrubia Nieva was a Filipino journalist, union organizer, and activist. He worked to defend press freedom and the rights of workers, and campaigned to end authoritarian rule in the Philippines. He led the National Press Club as president and founded the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines. He was secretary general of the International Organization of Journalists based in Prague, Czech Republic, from 1995 up to the time of his death in 1997. His name is on the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Wall of Remembrance, for his contributions to the fight against injustices of the dictatorship under President Ferdinand E. Marcos.
Religious sector opposition against the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos included leaders and workers belonging to different beliefs and denominations.
During the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos, Filipino workers in the labor industry experienced the effects of government corruption, crony capitalism, and cheap labor for foreign transnational industries, One of the objectives of Martial Law was to cheapen labor costs, in order to attract transnational corporations to export labor to the Philippines. Marcos signed many presidential decrees beneficial only to his associates, while allowing for the forced relocation of indigenous peoples, decreasing workers' wages, and murders of labor activists. Minimum wage was a fixed PHP8.00 per day. Many workers were unemployed or underemployed. It was also during the Marcos presidency when the practice of contractualization began, enabling managements to avoid giving regular, permanent status to employees after six months of work. Strikes were banned and the government controlled trade unions, leaving workers without effective protection against employers who had unfair labor practices and regulations.
Alexander "Alex" Orcullo was a Filipino journalist, community leader, and activist known for speaking against the abuses of the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, and for being a seminal figure of the protest movement against the Marcos dictatorship in Mindanao, Philippines.
Edgar Catacutan Ang Sinco was a student activist from the University of Mindanao (UM) in Davao City who was active in the years immediately prior to Ferdinand Marcos' declaration of Martial Law. He was shot down while giving a speech in front of the University' Main building on February 16, 1971 – one of several students gunned down during the events of the First Quarter Storm, but the first from the city of Davao. As such, he is considered Davao City's first martyr in the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship.
Captain Danilo Poblete Vizmanos, PN, Ret. was a Filipino activist and retired captain of the Philippine Navy. He is best known for his resistance against the Martial Law regime of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. On November 30, 2016, Vizmanos' name was engraved on the Wall of Remembrance of the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, which honors the martyrs and heroes who fought against the Marcos dictatorship.
Rev. Magnifico Libre Osorio was a Filipino Methodist Pastor and human rights advocate best known for championing the rights of indigenous people in the province of Palawan and his murder during the waning days of Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship in the Philippines. He was not known to have political affiliations nor leanings, but his humanitarian work and the circumstances of his murder have led him to be considered a Martyr of the resistance against the dictatorship, and his name is inscribed on the Wall of Remembrance at the Bantayog ng Mga Bayani in Quezon City.
Armando "Mandrake" Ducusin Palabay was a Filipino student leader and activist from San Fernando, La Union. He is best known for his work in organizing anti-Marcos campaigns during the first quarter storm and the early days of Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos. He was killed for the anti-Marcos cause while doing community work among the indigenous Tingguian people of Sallapadan, Abra, in 1974, and was honored in 2001 by having his name inscribed on the Wall of the Remembrance at the Philippines' Bantayog ng mga Bayani, which honors the martyrs and heroes who fought the dictatorship.
David Triunfante Bueno was a Filipino human rights lawyer and radio show host from Ilocos Norte, best known his work as the most prominent human rights lawyer in Ilocos Norte during the later part of the Marcos administration and the early part of the succeeding Aquino administration. He was a member of the prestigious group called the Free Legal Assistance Group or FLAG, the oldest and largest group of human rights lawyers in the country.
The murder of Francisco Laurella, Fernando Pastor Sr., and Fernando Pastor Jr. in Cabarroguis, Quirino on February 8, 1986, were three of numerous violent incidents associated with the Philippines' snap presidential elections of 1986. Quirino province assemblyman Orlando Dulay, who was the provincial coordinator of the Ferdinand Marcos' political party, the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) was caught and found guilty of the murders in 1990.
Jacobo Sybico Amatong was a Filipino lawyer, politician, and newspaper publisher from the province of Zamboanga del Norte. He was best known for founding the Mindanao Observer, a community newspaper which became well-known for criticizing the martial law administration of Ferdinand Marcos, and for being assassinated by uniformed soldiers on September 24, 1984.
Andres Bonifacio College is a community college institution in the Philippines. Its campus is located at College Park, Brgy. Miputak, Dipolog. ABCollege offers course programs from kindergarten to postgraduate levels. Alumni and students of the college are referred to as Bonifacians.
Romraflo R. Taojo was a Filipino labor and human rights lawyer, activist, and educator best known for his work with the Free Legal Assistance Group, where he pursued human rights cases against military personnel who were implicated in torture cases. He was killed on April 2, 1985, when unidentified gunman entered his apartment in Tagum, Davao Del Norte, and shot him five times in the eyes and mouth. The gunmen were believed to be part of a paramilitary group acting on orders from the military.
