Chad Booc, Jurain Ngujo honored at La Viña’s ‘Ransomed by Love’ Cebu book tour
CEBU, Philippines – Former Ateneo School of Government dean and human rights lawyer Antonio “Tony” La Viña recollected significant moments of his life with slain activists Chad Booc, Jurain Ngujo II, and fellow advocates at the launch of his Ransomed by Love book tour in Cebu City on Friday, February 28.
At the launch held at the University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu Campus, La Viña talked about the struggles and breakthroughs he experienced through his work as a cancer-affected teacher and rights defender.
Among the most significant moments, the lawyer shared, were times he spent with Booc and Ngujo. The two are volunteer teachers of the Lumad schools who, the military said, were killed in a series of encounter with soldiers in New Bataan, Davao de Oro on February 24, 2022.
“The killing of Chad and Jurain was a turning point for me,” La Viña said.
The lawyer recalled working as Booc’s legal counsel for the Lumad schools in filing a petition against the the Anti-Terror Law.
During the Rodrigo Duterte administration, the indigenous people of Mindanao fled their communities caught in the crossfire of the clashes between government troops and rebels.
Natives and activist groups collaborated to create makeshift facilities known as the Lumad Bakwit Schools or Lumad schools that would help affected children get educated despite the land grabbing, forced evacuations, demolitions, and other conflicts they faced.
This, however, was met with threats from Duterte himself who said he would bomb these schools in 2017.
From 2020 to 2021, La Viña coordinated closely with the teachers and the Save Our Schools network that helped organize the makeshift schools. In February 2021, police raided the Lumad school in the University of San Carlos in Cebu and arrested Booc and his fellow volunteers.
The promise
The lawyer made a promise to Booc’s father right after the detained activist was released in May 2021: To keep his son safe in the sanctuary they had secured for him at UP Diliman.
La Viña personally picked up Booc from the airport and kept the latter safe for nine months at the university.
But this could not stop Booc and Ngujo from deciding to go to Mindanao to continue their work as advocates for the Lumad youth — a decision that would seal their fates and cause La Viña to dedicate the rest of his life to seeking justice and advocacy work.
“A part of me wanted to convince them to stay in Diliman for their own safety. But I realized, as they did, that Diliman is not the world and certainly not the Philippines,” La Viña said.
Soldiers killed Booc and Ngujo in what they claimed was a “series” of encounters, which groups and even the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) labeled a lie.
La Viña shared that he accompanied Dr. Raquel Fortun, one of the country’s top forensic pathologists, who examined Booc’s body and found that the teacher was “pelted with bullets fired with an intent to kill.”
Persist
According to La Viña, the aftermath of what happened to Booc and Ngujo pushed him to stop all plans of retiring.
“Because of my experience with my sadness and anger with what happened to Chad [and Jurain], that’s when I decided to start a law firm that would focus just on human rights and environmental and climate justice,” the lawyer said.
La Viña added that a portion of the sales from his new book would go to a “Lumad scholarship” fund to help support the volunteer teachers and Lumad students after the closure of the Lumad Bakwit schools.
“The truth is that Chad and Jurain were very happy people. They really were happy serving the people and that should be the memory that we should remember them for,” the lawyer said.
Copies of La Viña’s Ransomed by Love are available for P750 for soft cover and P1,500 for hardbound copies. – Rappler.com