Farewell to a Caged Pigeon
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Photo by Alma Cruz Miclat
It was in this connection that I met Mila in 1991. She was in Los Angeles to receive the Freedom to Write Award from PEN USA West. As a PEN director and member of the Freedom to Write Committee, I more or less took care of her. It was a thrilling time for me and members of the Freedom to Write Committee because not all the writers we were lobbying for had been released. But there was Mila, in person, talking to us and weeping at the Awards ceremony.
Born in 1949, Mila became part of the Philippine movement protesting Ferdinand Marcos’ growing autocracy in the late 1960s. In 1971, when the Marcos regime became more ruthless, Mila went underground. During her years of hiding, she married one of her comrades, Magtanggol Sayas Roque. They had a son whom they had to entrust to Mila’s mother to raise because of their dangerous life. Mila’s husband was killed by the military in the mid-1970s.
Mila in high school
On August 6, 1984, Mila, Cynthia Nolasco, and Willie Tolentino were in a jeepney near St. Joseph’s when plainclothes police arrested them. They were blindfolded, taken at gunpoint to Camp Crame, and forced into isolation in windowless rooms. The three joined thousands who were jailed by the Marcos government; Amnesty International estimated 70,000 incarcerations.
While Mila was in prison, there were international efforts by PEN, Amnesty International and other groups to protect her. She was released in 1986 by the Cory Aquino government after being imprisoned for a year and half.
Despite the hardship she had endured, Mila maintained a gentle demeanor and was always soft spoken even while being fiery and firm in her beliefs. She was very smart but humble. She was a poet, and she credited her writing with sustaining her during difficult times. While in jail, she wrote a book of poems, Why Cage Pigeons? She also published: A Comrade Is as Precious as a Rice Seedling; Pall Hanging Over Manila; Journey: An Autobiography in Verse; Chronicle of a Life Foretold: 101 Poems; The Nine Deaths among other books. Some of her books were under the nom de guerre “Clarita Roja,” which she used when she was in the underground movement.
She also wrote essays as a member and head of the Regional United Front Commission of Mindanao, and as head of the National United Front Commission of the Communist Party of the Philippines. She resigned from the party in 1984.
Mila came from an intellectual family. Her father, who was Mila’s model, was an educator and a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee. Mila was considered a precocious child who illustrated her first book while in first grade. She began writing poetry at the age of nine. In high school she wanted to become a great writer. She added that one could not become a great writer “unless one is steeped in one’s culture and history.” Still later she declared, “I finally got it. Without a vision, the people perish!”
She had degrees in English and the Humanities, and taught English and Comparative Literature at the University of the Philippines. She also taught at St. Joseph’s College.
Mila and I became friends after that 1991 meeting, and I used to see her when I was in Manila. My mother, who met Mila, was very fond of her and made her a recipient of the Mariano F. Manguerra Award (an award in honor of my father). When I was in a bind, needing a property manager in Manila, Mila helped me. We shared some hilarious adventures as two writers doing realty business.
In 1990, when she became a Born Again Christian, she said her name Clear Red came to mean the Blood of Christ. She used to talk about the turn-arounds in her life because of God’s interventions. She continued her political activism for the rest of her life, protesting extrajudicial killings and other injustices. She never stopped working to right what she believed was wrong, even if this crossed other people. Her son, Magtanggol (Doy) Roque Jr., said Mila did things her way, with integrity and in the best way she could muster.
Mila in 2011
Mila had visited her doctor friend the day before she passed away in her sleep on October 13, 2023, according to Doy.
Mila D. Aguilar will be greatly missed.
Poems by Mila D. Aguilar: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14672715.1986.10412608
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the author and editor of over 20 books, including her Selected Short Stories, which was awarded the 40th National Book Award for Best Book Short Fiction in English. She also edited three volumes of the popular anthologies for young adults: Growing Up Filipino, Growing Up Filipino II, and Growing Up Filipino 3. Her official website is ceciliabrainard.com.
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