Ester Dolores Erquiaga Misa Paredes Jimenez (April 14, 1916 – September 4, 1997)
was a Filipina activist best known for her contributions to the resistance against the
dictatorship
A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...
of former Philippine president
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...
.
Activism
Already a widow when
Martial law
Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...
was declared, Jimenez began providing aid to anti-dictatorship activists when her youngest child decided to drop out of college and join the underground movement against Marcos. She was known as neither ideologue nor political leader, but acting on her conscience, she decided to actively fight the dictatorship by joining other middle class professionals in the urban guerrilla group known as the
Light-A-Fire Movement The Light-A-Fire Movement (often referred to as the "LAFM", "L-A-F", or "L-A-F Movmement") was a small guerrilla resistance group that fought against the martial law regime of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. The group engaged in symbolic acts ...
, along with her second husband Othoniel Jimenez.
Jimenez, her husband, and other members of the group were caught by Marcos forces in December 1979,
although she was released before the other members of the group, in 1981. A military court later sentenced the members of group, including her and her husband, in December 1984.
However, the dictatorship never had an opportunity to carry the sentence out. In 1986
People Power Revolution
The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, were a series of popular Demonstration (people), demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a ...
deposed the Marcoses and forced them into exile, and the Supreme Court nullified the death sentences, ruling that a military court had no business imposing sanctions on civilians.
Death
Ester Paredes Jimenez died at age 81 in 1997, after a prolonged illness.
Trivia
She was the mother of
Apo Hiking Society member
Jim Paredes
Jaime Ramon Misa Paredes (born August 30, 1951), better known simply as Jim Paredes, is a Filipino singer, songwriter, television host, writer and actor. He is known as one of the members of popular musical trio APO Hiking Society along with ...
.
See also
*
Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos
At 7:15 p.m. on September 23, 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos announced on television that he had placed the Philippines under martial law, stating he had done so in response to the "communist threat" posed by the newly founded Communist Part ...
*
Timeline of the Marcos dictatorship
References
Individuals honored at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani
1916 births
1997 deaths
Filipino activists
Filipino women activists
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