By MAVERICK AVILA
Bulatlat.com
CEBU CITY – A day after the arrest of five human rights defenders dubbed as Tacloban 5, a passenger asked the tricycle driver why there were a lot of soldiers and police officers lining up the road. “They abducted members of the NPA [New People’s Army],” answered the driver.
“They are not members of the NPA, Kuya,” said Kyle Domequil to Bulatlat, sister of Marielle “Maye” Domequil, as she responded to the driver of the same tricycle driving to Palo police station in Tacloban. She remembered shaking during the ride standing up to strangers. Unsure if her mother heard her, that was the first time she spoke about her sister since the arrest.
Kyle initially thought Marielle and the rest of the Tacloban 5 would be released the day after the arrest as their legal counsel pointed out discrepancies on the documents and evidence. With the rejection of legal counsel’s request to quash the evidence, Kyle and her mother went home without Marielle.
“It was all silence at home,” shared Iris, the youngest of the four siblings, next to Kyle. “No debriefing of some sort happened and that’s why until now, her arrest feels like a fresh wound,” she added.
Marielle Domequil of Rural Missionaries of the Philippines and the rest of the Tacloban 5 were arrested during the February 7, 2020 simultaneous raids in Tacloban City. The group was accused of possessing illegal firearms and explosives, and of “terrorist financing.”
Human rights groups asserted that the evidence found was a part of the tanim ebidensya (planting of evidence) scheme of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under the Duterte administration. There were at least 150 fully armed men who enforced the raids to arrest Marielle, Frenchie Mae Cumpio, Alexander Abinguna, Mira Legion and Marissa Cabaljao.
Almost five years has gone by since the arrest, Marielle remains behind bars and her sisters continue the fight outside.
A favorite
At a very young age, headstrong Marielle grew certain of herself. She was a consistent academic achiever and active in several extracurricular activities since primary school.
Iris and Kyle shared their Ate Marielle is a favorite and well-loved by their parents as the eldest of the four Domequil siblings.
“Ate Marielle is a big hit to the friends of my mother as she is an achiever since primary school and was even a college scholar in UP Tacloban studying business management,” Kyle said. Their mother would often encourage the two girls, Kyle and Iris, to be just like Marielle.
Iris recalled that not only Marielle is a golden child but also a protective sibling. “I remember when we were playing and we encountered fights with the neighboring kids, she would defend us,” recalled Iris.
“She’s a popular student in high school which frankly was the reason our family name got recognized,” Iris shared. Even in college, Marielle served as the vice chairperson of the UP Tacloban Student Council in 2017. Oftentimes, she thinks they are living beneath Marielle’s shadows.
For the sisters, Marielle paved the way for them to be involved in academics as she was the first to enter University of the Philippines (UP). “When we’re just kids, our parents would tell us to have Ate (Marielle) as our role model. Look at us now, we’re all in UP as well,” Iris recalled.
Iris studies social work in UP Diliman, and Marielle, in her ways, helped her shape her interests. “…Conversations with my ate helped me further reflect on my interest in working for causes like relief operations during calamities and non-profit organizations,” said Iris.
Kyle, a painter, studies biology in UP Tacloban, the same campus Marielle graduated from. She also chairs the organization Pulso Han Mag-aaram, a progressive student alliance in Eastern Visayas.
Kyle was never close to Marielle growing up. “Ate Marielle is closer to our youngest sister, Iris.” The moment she was born next to her brother, John Emmanuel, Kyle said Marielle felt like she stole her thunder being the only girl in the Domequil tree. It comes with a sense of entitlement with Marielle being the eldest according to Kyle like how she behaved “like a queen” and would not even talk to their relatives back then and would rather focus on academics. But that drastically changed, shared Kyle.
“The first two years in UP, I can feel there is an overwhelming air from Ate (Marielle), that she is in the prestigious university,” expressed Kyle. Two years into UP, Marielle became soft-spoken and caring. Around that time, Marielle committed to being a full-time activist.
Before Marielle’s arrest, Kyle has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety during her early years in UP. She felt like no one truly heard her until Marielle intervened. Marielle would ask her peers studying psychology for suggestions on mental health resources.
“She convinced my parents to understand my situation because back then they wouldn’t believe about mental health issues,” Kyle recalled. Marielle also paid for Kyle’s psychiatrist-prescribed medications with the little allowance she received as a full-time activist.
“If the Tacloban 5 arrest didn’t happen, I think she would have still continued paying for my medications,” said Kyle.
The news of the Tacloban arrest caused strain and trauma to the Domequil family. One that caused them to default to silence. Their mother in public service, Marieta Domequil, would rather not talk about it. Stress got to their Manuel Domequil, a former OFW, whose blood pressure rose when he learned about the arrest.
Out of the shadows
Silence was not always the case. Manuel, as an activist himself who joined the People Power uprising in 1986, would often encourage political discussions at home. That was how his daughter, Marielle, initially grew an affinity for the cause.
Discussions were often different with Marieta, her mother who once served as an assistant to some congressmen, as she had some reservations. After the arrest “[Marietta] fears what happened to Ate Marielle might happen to us,” shared Iris.
This push and pull were hard for Kyle and Iris.
“It was difficult to talk about it (arrest). I was very young at the time and there is a lot of anger within me why it happened to our family,” said Iris. It was a first in her speech course where she was able to talk about Marielle’s arrest openly.
Iris’ speech opens with “Iris, uli na gin dakop sira ate sa mga sundalo,” (Iris, come home. Armed forces arrest, Ate), with her sibling, Kyle, delivering the news. She said that the least she could do is tell her sister’s story and what she stood for.
“Ate (Marielle) is a human rights defender and was one of the student activists who actively lobbied for free tuition during her times in the university,” shared Iris.
The Tacloban 5 arrest opened up Iris’s political consciousness as she started speaking outside university on a bigger political cause and rallies.
Currently in Tacloban, Kyle wears a lot of hats with her involvement in the case of her sister and the rest of the Tacloban 5. She serves as the paralegal and contact person in and out of the jail.
Prior to the arrest, Kyle said she warned Marielle about the rising surveillance reports on progressive group members and journalists like then Eastern Vista Executive Director Frenchie Mae Cumpio while conducting a field research on December 13, 2019. “Don’t worry! I’m not that popular,” jokingly remarked Marielle as narrated by Kyle.
While it was a natural instinct for her to fight for her sister upon the arrest, Kyle said it wasn’t an easy start. She said she often finds herself stuttering while speaking in public as she’s experiencing anxiety and depression. Despite that, she knew she had to do it.
“It is always ate’s reminder not to focus campaigns about them alone, but for all political prisoners, journalists, and human rights defenders,” Kyle said. “That sticks to me in everything I do,” she added.
Just a week ago, Kyle spent at least three hours to produce copies of legal transcripts. There was even a time where she had to come back the day after as the office closed in the middle of her taking pictures of combined 973 pages legal documents with the whole Tacloban 5 members in mind.
Last month, November 11, 2024, was the first time in four years community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio sat at the Tacloban Regional Trial Court witness stand where she debunked the claims of the police.
Cumpio identified affidavits and registration papers of the organization against the non-bailable offenses involving the unlawful possession of firearms and explosives, along with charges of financing terrorism. Marielle is yet to testify.
Human rights defenders, journalists, and church workers continue to call the release of the Tacloban 5. These efforts have not gone unnoticed.
“We garnered international attention as UNSR Irene Khan visited Tacloban 5 early this year,” Kyle said.
Later this year, United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression Irene Khan Khan asked for updates from the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration regarding the case of Tacloban 5.
“Please indicate the measures taken to review this case as promptly as possible and, in the absence of substantial evidence of the crime committed, to dismiss the charges as unfounded and to release Ms. Cumpio, Ms. Domequil and Mr. (Alexander) Abinguna immediately,” Khan’s letter dated September 27 reads.
Prior to this widespread attention, launching campaigns was hard for Kyle and the people involved in the Tacloban 5 case. Conversations for Marielle have to be in closed-door meetings.
“Maaram ak the past few days triggered memories I know you would rather forget but you managed to surpass your internal struggles para san mga butang greater than you,” (I know the past few days triggered memories I know you would rather forget but you managed to surpass your internal struggles for things greater than you) reads Marielle’s personal letter to Kyle last August 17, 2024.
For Iris, the reach the Tacloban 5 case garnered is only but a small win. They’re still in jail after almost five years.
“At this point in time, it’s tiring. I have too many questions in my head. How many years until we get justice? How many years does my sister have to spend in jail to be free?,” expressed the youngest. For now, “…the least I can do is to continue to fight for her and continue telling her story as she (Marielle) shares fear of being forgotten,” said Iris.
Service beyond bars
Surveillance never stops even when Marielle and the rest of the Tacloban 5 are already in jail. “Logbooks during visitations, often containing names of law students helping the Tacloban 5 case, were sent over to the NTF-ELCAC [National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict],” shared Kyle. Outside the regional court, they also noticed suspected intelligence operatives monitoring them during the hearings.
Lay worker Marielle’s service does not end. She teaches for the Alternative Learning System along with Cumpio.
Domequil and Cumpio, apart from teaching, also bond over baked goods. Kyle would sell these baked goods during org fairs and other benefit cause events. “Not only will you be satisfied but you will also be able to help with their legal fees,” she wrote in her Facebook post.
True to her high-achiever fashion even behind bars, Marielle participated in a painting competition in jail, guided by her artist sister Kyle, who taught her how to paint. This marked a full-circle moment, as Marielle was the one who had given Kyle her first set of acrylic paints at the beginning of her life as an artist.
“When they were arrested, I never bothered to pick up a brush again. On my 23rd birthday, she told me to start painting again as she gifted me a set of oil paints,” shared Kyle.
Domequil sisters at home. (Photo courtesy by Kyle Domequil)
Domequil sisters are no different than any other normal girls. They fangirl over the One Direction band and their songs. They used to giggle over the KathNiel love tandem.
Marielle was shocked to learn about Liam Payne’s death. She was not shocked she learned Daniel cheated on Kathryn. “She already knew that there were rumors of cheating even before,” Kyle told Bulatlat.
There is, however, one thing not normal for Iris. “When I see Ate (Marielle) in handcuffs, Ate Frenchie in a helmet, both in vests. That’s what I hate the most. It makes me angry,” said the youngest.
“Almost five years of no justice with nothing for us. The minimum we ask for is her to be free. That sounds like a maximum to ask for now because we really just want her home,” Kyle said. (RVO)
