Eva Estrada Kalaw, freedom fighter
Former Senator and parliamentarian Eva Estrada Kalaw who died on May 25, at the age of 96, is remembered as one of the country’s fighters for democracy who was jailed twice during martial law.
The late Senator was born in Murcia (now Concepcion), Tarlac, on June 16, 1920 to Dr. Salvador Estrada and Demetria Reynada.
She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Education degree, major in Home Economics, from the University of the Philippines in 1940.
She also took up post graduate studies in social work. She taught at the Far Eastern University, National Teacher’s College and Centro Escolar University.
For her social work, she was awarded a citation for being the “Outstanding Volunteer Social Worker of the Year.”
Politics
In 1965, she ran for the senate under the Nacionalista Party and won. She would later move to the Liberal Party due to disagreements with then President Marcos and also to join her cousin and close friend, Benigno (Ninoy) Aquino Jr.
She was a two-term Senator from 1965 until martial law was declared on September 21, 1972. During her terms in the Senate, she was in the company of such political luminaries as Jovito Salonga, Gerardo Roxas, Ramon Mitra, Lorenzo Tanada, Arturo Tolentino, Emmanuel Pelaez, Dominador Aytona, Jose Diokno, Salvador Laurel, Sotero Laurel, Gil Puyat, Sergio Osmena Jr. and Diosdado Macapagal.
She had the distinction of being the first woman Senator to ever be re-elected.
Among the 41 bills she introduced during her two terms were an anti-smuggling bill, a salary standardization bill for Public School personnel, a bill fixing the minimum compensation for medical personnel, a bill to create a Department of Public Welfare, the Magna Carta for students, an Act to define the government’s policy on the development of the tourism industry through a Commission on Tourism, and an Act to institute a Charter for barrio high schools.
Plaza Miranda bombing
Her Senate years were tumultuous ones, coinciding with the rise of activism and a surging Communist insurgency. This, coupled with a rise of violence, culminated in the Plaza Miranda bombing of August 21, 1971 during a Liberal Party rally. She sustained a number of injuries due to shrapnel from the bomb, some of which remained forever embedded in her body.
Martial law opposition
During the martial law years, Senator Kalaw was twice imprisoned by the Marcos regime primarily because, since many of her colleagues were imprisoned or in exile, she almost single-handedly kept the opposition alive during those lonely years.
After the assassination of Ninoy Aquino, Kalaw ran for parliament representing the district of Manila and won with an overwhelming majority. She unsuccessfully ran for Vice-President during the 1986 snap elections. After the ouster of Marcos, she ran but lost in the Senatorial elections of 1987.
During the latter part of the Ramos administration and during the early part of the Estrada administration, Kalaw was appointed Chairman of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO), the country’s de-facto embassy to Taiwan.
Awards
Among her many awards, the most prestigious was the Mahatma Gandhi Freedom Award which was conferred to her April 2, 1985 by the Department of Anthropology of the College of William and Mary in Virginia, USA. The award was given annually to “outstanding scholars or public figures who, by personal example, have given meaning and substance to freedom.” Other recipients were her cousin, Benigno Aquino Jr., K. R. Narayanan, Jovito Salonga, H. R. Choudhury and K. S. Bajpai.
Kalaw was married to the late Teodoro Kalaw Jr., a businessman and son of nationalist Teodoro Kalaw Sr. and suffragette Pura Villanueva. She was the sister-in-law of Senator Maria Kalaw Katigbak, sister of her husband Teodoro. She leaves behind her daughter, Chingbee (married to Bobby Cuenca); sons Teodoro III (deceased, married to Trina Yujuico), Salvador and Tyrone (married to Jocelyn Quijano); 13 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
The wake for the late Senator will be held at Chapel 1 in the Heritage Memorial Park starting on Monday, May 29, from 5 p.m.to midnight, on Tuesday and Wednesday May 30 and 31 from 2 p.m. to midnight.
On Thursday June 1, her remains shall be moved to the Senate for a lying-in-state from 10 a.m. to noon after which the wake at Heritage will resume from 5 p.m. to midnight.
Masses will be said at 7 p.m. every night during the wake.
Requiem mass shall be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 2, to be immediately followed by the internment at the Loyola Memorial Park in Paranaque.