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MANILA, Philippines—One was a passionate grandmother who refused to abandon her advocacy despite death threats. The other was a young, artistic mother who quietly fought for her beliefs.
The two female lawyers, who were reportedly slain in the massacre in Maguindanao on Monday, were among those who had kept hopes for peace and respect for human rights alive in Mindanao.
Concepcion “Connie” Brizuela, 56, and Cynthia Oquendo, 35, were with members of the Mangudadatu clan and at least a dozen media practitioners who were waylaid and murdered in Maguindanao by a group of armed men now being linked to the Mangudadatus’ political rivals.
Brizuela was a classmate of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, who had asked his wife, two sisters, Brizuela and Oquendo to file his certificate of candidacy for governor of Maguindanao in Shariff Aguak town.
Brizuela, the treasurer of the Union of Peoples Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM), is known to her friends as a brave woman, such that her fellow lawyer Beverly Musni refused to believe that Brizuela was gone unless her own family relayed the news.
“She will fight. She will live. She’s not someone who would give up easily,” Musni told the Inquirer. “Her laughter is full of life. I refuse to believe she’s gone.”
Musni said that without official word from Brizuela’s family, she would consider her friend abducted.
Wellspring of strength
Brizuela has three grown children and doted on her grandchildren. To her friends and colleagues, she was a “wellspring of strength,” Musni added.
Brizuela’s small frame concealed the big heart she had for the oppressed, someone whose voice emanated from the pain and struggle of the victims of human rights violations, according to her friends.
Over the years, Brizuela was no stranger to death threats.
Brizuela had the gentleness of an “Ilongga” who was also firm and determined.
She was not known for being reckless as she would tell fellow human rights lawyers to be reminded of the dangers and threats that come with the territory.
Undeterred by the powerful
“In her diminutive frame loomed large a feisty people’s lawyer and human rights defender undeterred by the rich and the powerful in Mindanao,” said Bishop Felixberto Calang, convenor of the Initiatives for Peace Mindanao (InPeace), the group that Brizuela helped convene.
Calang said Brizuela had been at the forefront of the campaign against the climate of impunity.
“We are outraged that it has caught up with her through this tragic and gruesome death. We will miss her,” Calang said.
Lawyer Carlos Isagani Zarate said Brizuela’s death was revolting. “She’s a great loss not only to us but also to the people whose rights she fought for. We lost an elder sister. She will be sorely missed,” said Zarate, UPLM secretary general.
Zarate said Brizuela could not allow injustice to happen to anyone, without her doing something about it. “She always stood for the people. She was a people’s lawyer,” the UPLM chief said.
Brizuela, one of the founding members of UPLM, the precursor of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), was also one of those who convened the group Lawyers for Peace.
Libel suit from Piñol
A former broadcaster who did not flinch in criticizing wrongdoers, Brizuela had been one of the leaders of a group fighting for good governance in Cotabato.
In 2005, Brizuela and three others were jailed following a P5-million libel suit filed against them by former North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol.
Brizuela, a Kidapawan native, came from a landed family but embraced human rights and public-interest cases when she entered the law profession, according to Zarate.
She also handled cases against military officials, the police and civilian armed groups. “This was when she impressed us. She chose to do public-interest lawyering among women,” Zarate said.
While undeterred by threats, Brizuela also knew how to protect herself.
When the menacing messages started coming in, she relocated to Bacolod, although she crossed to Mindanao to attend to her cases, Zarate said.
Dutch fact-finding mission
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares, who worked with Brizuela in the NUPL, remembers his colleague as a passionate woman who actively participated in the fact-finding mission of the Dutch Lawyers for Lawyers group that probed the threats and harassment against lawyers and judges.
“I received a message that more people will be killed and one of them would be me … I received several death threats,” Brizuela told the mission then.
The group had produced a video report of its probe, and in it, Brizuela recalled her experiences and warned of the danger of attacking lawyers and justices.
“If they can kill lawyers, practically anybody. If they can kill judges, where cases are pending, then they can do that to ordinary people,” Brizuela said.
Oquendo at MSU
Oquendo was also a member of the UPLM.
Her friend, Violy Gloria, an Iligan-based journalist, recalled that Oquendo was involved in activism and health-related causes when they were at Mindanao State University (MSU). Oquendo had taken up nursing there.
But Oquendo’s brush with the militant life did not sit well with her mother, and she was later transferred to Cebu where she took up political science and became a lawyer, Gloria said.
As a lawyer, Oquendo went for “alternative lawyering” and was active in social justice movements. Gloria said that though she and Oquendo had not been meeting regularly, they had kept in touch through social networking sites. She learned that Oquendo had gotten married and had children.
Playing piano
In school, Oquendo was active in church and expressed herself through playing the piano, according to Gloria.
Oquendo did not keep an active social life back then and devoted her time to studying, activism and church, she added.
Oquendo was a quiet girl, but she was not weak. She stood fast for what she believed in, according to Gloria.
“As I know her, if she will be in a conflict situation, she would not be on the frontline. But her strength is that she will stand for what she believes is right,” Gloria said.
Friendster profile
Oquendo’s Friendster profile listed some of her hobbies—defending, cross-examining lying witnesses, ukay-ukay (used clothes), art classes and driving alone.
She was also interested in mental telepathy and the unknown. Her profile picture was that of three young boys, presumably her sons.
Her Friendster page has also been filled with messages of love, gratitude and lament. | 
