TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA) –The cycle of violence in the family of the slain Domingo Compoc, husband and father of three, gets buried with him in the casket.
This, as Hermosilla Villamor, wife to the slain rebel leader and herself a known armed fighter of the underground movement, is now back into the mainstream after her surrender to the military troops in 2016.
Their eldest son, Rolly, has always been kept away from the movement since the day his parents left him to the care of a member of the masa, or the unarmed supporters of the revolutionary movement.
“He never liked to join the movement, a fact that his adoptive parents pampered him so much that he is now suffering from gastritis, due to uncontrolled consumption of sweets and soft-drinks while he was young,” Hermosilia, or ka Aya shared at the wake of her husband, in Hanopol, Balilihan Bohol, February 29.
The couple left Rolly to a supportive couple in Hanopol, who immediately accepted the 3-months-old child as their own.
While they were still active, Domingo was leading the District Guerilla Unit, and she busy in organizing the mass base, they would send couriers to fetch the children so they could meet and have short family times. During these few times, never came.
“Hadlokan man ni siya,” (Rolly is not brave enough), Ka Aya recalls.
Hired as casual worker during the beginning years of Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado, Rolly has started to like the chance of feeding his family by hard work.
While Rolly was the silent type, the second child was different.
“He was only 3 months old when we had to leave him,” she said considering that their life in the mountains often see them taking their nights rests in hammocks in the forest.
“We left Jingler in a couple in Catigbian when he was 3 months old, but after a few weeks, the adoptive couple deprived us of the right to see our child, so I organized a squad to operate so we could take him,” she recalled in a mix of Cebuano and Ilonggo, being safe-kept by an army unit in Negros.
For 6 months, Jingler according to Aya, Jingler lived with them in their sorties until his husband’s brother and family came home from Mindanao, that was when they left the baby to their care.
“Growing without seeing much of his parents, Jingler was beginning to feel a little bit of a wayward child, occasionally showing good leadership and exceptional bravery,” according to his friends in Dagohoy Bilar.
Unguided and left to the care of Domingo’s brother Pelagio, Jingler has become a bomb ready to explode, and this happened when his uncle Pelagio, who was a barangay tanod at the time, was murdered in 2020.
Pelagio was tending his carabao when he was shot; rebels accused the military of killing him amidst reports that the military was also constantly visiting Compoc to convince his brother Domingo to give up the fight.
This led Jingler to join his father in the underground movement, where he was active armed member until he died in an encounter in September 2023 in Sitio Ilaud, Campagao, Bilar.
On the other hand, Jerielou was born, and again, she was entrusted, but to her grandmother in Batuan, where the child was taken care of, schooled and was not exposed to the bloody world her parents lived.
“She was a scholar in high school, which was good because with the NPA family assistance only P3,000, it was obviously not enough to get them to school,” Ka Aya shared.
In a video message, Jerielou also said “The one who cared for me, discouraged me from pursuing the same life that my parents lived, because it would amount to nothing.” She only learned that her parents are guerilla warriors, when she was 8.
In between those times, during a family visit, both Jingler and Jerielou would always convince their parents to come down and surrender.
“Ma, undang na, karon na ang panahon nga kami na pod ang imong atimanon, wala mi katilaw ug pagpangga sa ginikanan. Kanunay lang ninyo nga atimanon ang uban nga pamilya, ang atoa na pod ang atimana, Jerielou and Jingler pleaded to her.
The kids have always wanted to have a regular family, united in
That time, what her kids told he finally sunk in. Ka Aya surrendered to the troops in Negros in 2016, where her former comrades could not hunt her.
In college, Jerielou went to a public school: Trinidad Municipal College and pursued political science.
When most people would find it a perfect jump-off point for a life in activism, Jerielou has other things in mind. Remembering what her lola tells her always, the young student exerted her full dedication to be successful, so she can change the world her parents have been trying to fix.
“Daghan ko og mga ig-agaw nga wala ka eskwela, gusto nako silang matabangan, aron mouswag ilang kinabuhi,” (I have many relatives who were not sent to schools, I want to help them, so they can improve their lives). her mother , recalls of the young teen’s dream.
Hardwork, patience and determination were the staple in her day’s meals, that she completed college with Latin honors.
And while his dead father was interestingly fighting for the country, she said this.
“Ako pa, para sa bayan pod ning ako. Lahi man ta’g dalan nga gitaak, mao pod ni ang akong ikapanghambug sa imo Pa, nga naa pod koy barugagan nga naa sa katarungan,” she stated, a facemask and a hoodie masking her sorrow.
Jerielou is currently on officer’s training with the Philippine Coast Guard In Cavite, and has to be pulled out to attend the wake and burial of his father.
Finally, their father Domingo, although lying now in a casket, her mother Hermosilia, Rolly and Jerielou are now together, finally united under one roof, as Jingler would have wished, had he not died. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)
