‘She relied on the law to give people justice’

For more than three decades, beginning with her days as a student activist, Mia Manuelita Mascariñas-Green believed in “active non-violence,” a colleague said.

“She applied what we learned in college about active non-violence, authentic Christian humanism,” said Judge Raul Barbarona, who now serves in Bohol but had known the lawyer since they were students in the Divine Word College in the 1980s.

Last Monday, Judge Barbarona recalled chatting with her and other lawyers after a hearing. The challenges of late middle age (like the graying hair she had started to dye) came up. They did not know that later in the week, a mass would be offered for Mascariñas-Green at the street corner in Tagbilaran where she had been killed.

Judge Raul Barbarona of the 14th Municipal Circuit Trial Court Dauis-Panglao shared a light moment with lawyers, including Mia Manuelita Mascariñas-Green, after hearing their cases last Monday.

They talked about the disadvantages of old age. Most of them were well past their 40s.

Two days later, two gunmen riding on a motorcycle killed Green, an environmental activist, while she was driving a car with her three young children onboard in Tagbilaran City, Bohol. The children were unharmed.

A mass was offered for the lawyer at the corner of H. Zamora and J. A. Clarin Sts., where she was killed.

Barbarona said he was told that an international environmental group based in Oregon, US will send a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Commission and President Rodrigo Duterte about the case.

Police identified as suspects Lloyd Lancer Gonzaga, manager of a resort in Panglao, and Romarico Benigian.

Tagbilaran City Police Chief Nicomedes Olaivar Jr. said that Green was caught in the conflict between her client and the resort owner.

Barbarona knew the lawyer when they were student-activ- ists at the Divine Word College (now known as Holy Name University) in the 1980s—a decade marked by social unrest under the martial rule of former President Ferdinand Marcos.

“She applied what she learned in college, the principles of active non-violence, authentic Christian humanism,” he said.

Barbarona and Green were members of Kristiyanong Alyansa Para Itaguyod ang Tao (Kapit) and advocated for social change through peaceful means.

They graduated in 1988, with Green and Barbarona earning their degrees in accountancy and political science, respectively. Green passed the Bar in 1995.