SAN JOSE, Antique – Today, Antiqueños commemorate the 34th death anniversary of slain governor Evelio Javier under what can only be described as a remarkable period — the Javier political dynasty that blossomed after his death is now gone.
Javier’s younger brother Exequiel or “Boy Ex” who benefited politically from the former’s assassination on Feb. 11, 1986 is not in public office anymore either as governor or congressman of Antique, and neither is the provincial martyr’s nephew Paolo, Exequiel’s son who served as the province’s congressman from 2010 to 2019.
Both Javier father and son – who enjoyed public support owing to Evelio’s good track record as governor and eventual martyrdom – lost in the May 13, 2019 midterm elections.
The elder Javier ran for congressman but lost to then senator Loren Legarda.
Paolo, on the other hand, ran for governor but was defeated by reelectionist Rhodora Cadiao.
Today is a special non-working public holiday in Panay Island to mark Evelio’s death by virtue of Republic Act 7601 signed by President Corazon Aquino in 1992.
Since 1986 after gunmen peppered Evelio’s body with bullets, sympathetic Antiqueños elected his brother Exequiel every election either as congressman or governor.
Exequiel served as member of the House of Representatives representing the Lone District of Antique from 1987 to 1998 (three terms of three years each), governor from 1998 to 2001, congressman again for three terms from 2001 to 2010, and governor from 2010 to 2013.
On the other hand, son Paolo was elected congressman thrice from 2010 to 2019 (three terms of three years each).
As this was being written yesterday, it was unclear if the politically-bruised Javier father and son would participate in the provincial government ceremonies honoring Evelio to be led by Cadiao and Legarda.
The assassination of Evelio, supporter of then presidential candidate Corazon Aquino in the February 1986 snap election, was one of the events that helped spark the EDSA People Power Revolution that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Evelio was born on Oct. 14, 1942 in Barangay Lanag (now Barangay Evelio B. Javier) in Hamtic, Antique. He was the eldest of four children of Everardo Javier, a prosecutor, and Feliza Bellaflor, a teacher.
Evelio spent his college years at the Ateneo de Manila University (Bachelor of Arts in History and Government, 1963) then finished his Law degree in the same school 1968. He passed the bar examination on the same year.
In 1971, Evelio ran for governor of Antique and won – becoming the Philippines’ youngest governor at the age of 28. He served that post until 1980.
When then President Marcos announced a snap election, Javier supported Corazon, widow of slain senator Benigno Aquino Jr.
On Feb. 11, 1986 around 10 a.m. while talking to Aquino supporters in front of the provincial capitol in San Jose, some three to four masked gunmen attacked him.
Javier fled across a park (now Evelio B. Javier Freedom Park), fell in a pond, and then continued to run to a comfort room of a shop where he was cornered and finished off. He was only 43 years old.
On Feb. 20, 1986 his funeral attracted thousands of grieving Antiqueños wearing yellow shirts and tying yellow bands to their wrists, the snap election campaign color of Corazon Aquino. They also played his favorite song, Impossible Dream.
Antiqueños, whose lives were touched by Evelio, remember his admirable concept of public office: “Bukut burugasan, bukut paranubliun” (Not a source of livelihood, not an inheritance).
In 1980, when he turned over the Antique governorship to Enrique Zaldivar, he rationalized his act by saying that public office is not something one holds on to.
He voluntarily left the post, despite his popularity under Marcos’ KBL party, to pursue a masteral degree under a scholarship at Harvard University. In 1984, he came home and ran against Arturo Pacificador, a known Marcos ally, for the position of Antique assemblyman.
Evelio lost in that election, but was posthumously declared winner in 1987.
His killers are presently detained at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila.
The mastermind, however, has never been identified./PN
