Armando "Mandrake" Ducusin Palabay was a Filipino student leader and activist from San Fernando, La Union.
15 Facts About Armando Palabay
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Armando Palabay is best known for his work in organizing anti-Marcos campaigns during the first quarter storm and the early days of Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos.
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Armando Palabay was killed for the anti-Marcos cause while doing community work among the indigenous Tingguian people of Sallapadan, Abra, in 1974, and was honored in 2001 by having his name inscribed on the Wall of the Remembrance at the Philippines' Bantayog ng mga Bayani, which honors the martyrs and heroes who fought the dictatorship.
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La Union is a predominantly Ilocano province, so the Palabay siblings grew up in a community with strong ethnic and regionalistic loyalties to Ferdinand Marcos, whose home province of Ilocos Norte is part of the Ilocos region.
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Armando Palabay took his elementary school studies at the San Fernando Community School in his home city, and then went to high school at the La Union High School.
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Armando Palabay became more involved in political activism when he was accepted into the Bachelor of Science degree program in Economics at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
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Armando Palabay became a member of the Student Cultural Association of UP and of activist theater group Panday Sining.
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Armando Palabay was particularly keen on activist drama - helping to organize and present street plays, leading in the singing of protest songs and the recitation of poetry in an effort to build awareness of the injustices inherent to Philippine society under the Marcos regime.
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The Armando Palabay brothers were in La Union when Ferdinand Marcos announced on February 23,1972 that he had placed the Philippines under Martial Law.
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Armando Palabay was eventually released, after which he went back to study at UP for a semester.
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Armando Palabay left the campus and began to do countryside organizing among the indigenous Itneg and Tinggian peoples of southern Abra province.
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Armando Palabay learned the Tinggian language and studied herbal medicine and acupuncture so that he would be able to offer services to the community.
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In 2001, Armando Palabay was honored by having his name engraved on the wall of remembrance at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, which honors martyrs and heroes from all political leanings and walks of life, as long as they fought against the Marcos dictatorship.
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Armando Palabay was honored that year alongside activists Manuel Bautista, Jennifer Carino, and Jessica Sales, as well as entrepreneur Jaime V Ongpin, and historian Renato Constantino.
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In 2008, the Bantayog ng mga Bayani further highlighted Armando Palabay's story, citing him as "typical" of the "young ones" who often became martyrs in the fight against the abuses of the Marcos dictatorship.