Fr. Rudy, Judge Menmen, and the work before us

Last Saturday, July 11, 2026, marked the 41st anniversary of the disappearance of Cebu activist priest Fr. Rudy Romano. Although I was only a nine-year-old child on July 11, 1985, his name was already familiar to me.

It was a tense and dark time in Cebu, as it was throughout the country, in the later years of Marcos Sr.’s rule. Protests, labor actions, and transportation strikes were common. Even as children, we often heard adults utter words such as “suyak”, “strike”, and “rally”, as well as names like Fr. Rudy Romano. His name was particularly memorable --not only because of his reputation, but also because it rolled so easily off the tongue.

Last Saturday also brought the sad news of the passing of retired Judge Meinrado “Menmen” Paredes, one of Cebu’s steadfast human rights defenders and a fellow FLAG lawyer. He was 79.

The timing was hard to miss. He died on the 41st anniversary of the disappearance of Fr. Rudy Romano.

FLAG, or the Free Legal Assistance Group, was founded during the martial law years by Jose W. Diokno and Lorenzo Tañada. In 1985, Paredes, then a FLAG lawyer, joined church workers and civil society groups in filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the search for Fr. Romano.

Judge Menmen’s death on July 11 called to mind a generation of lawyers and citizens who bravely stood against repression. It also made me reflect on the state of human rights, our political system, and the country’s future.

In their prime, Judge Menmen and his contemporaries in the human rights movement, including lawyer Democrito “Mocring” Barcenas and retired Judge Kit Enriquez, did much to advance human rights in Cebu and throughout the country. In their twilight years, they continued to teach the young and helped build a culture of human rights among them.

The question now is how we carry forward what they built. Many of the injustices they confronted remain unresolved. There is still no definite answer as to what happened to Fr. Rudy Romano. Eyewitness accounts pointed to his abduction by state agents in broad daylight on July 11, 1985. Yet he remains officially missing to this day, even as he is presumed dead.

In other words, a disappearance left unresolved for four decades points not only to an individual crime, but also to a social and political order that continues to shield those responsible and bury accountability within its institutions. It remains an open wound in the country’s history.

How do we heal such a wound?

From this, I see two tasks before us. One is to remember our human rights workers and mentors by documenting their work and legacy, not only to honor them, but also to guide those who come after. The other is to continue the work of strengthening the institutions that uphold the rule of law and human rights --so that those who come after us are spared the price our mentors paid.

One helps shape the other. Documenting the past builds institutional memory. It reminds people that nation-building must rest on the values and principles exemplified by those who fought for justice and human rights before us.

The last time I visited Judge Menmen at his home in Busay was on August 21 last year, the anniversary of Ninoy Aquino’s assassination. With fellow FLAG lawyers, I spent that day going through old documents and published works for our project on the history of FLAG and human rights lawyering in Cebu and Central Visayas.

Judge Menmen was an excellent writer. It would have been an honor to write that book with him. With his passing, it now falls to us, the younger ones, to continue what he began.