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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-7/rolando-olalaia.webp" alt="Rolando Olalia"/>
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(Rolando Olalia)
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Olalia had four gunshot wounds to the head and two to the body, and with four stab wounds. His hands were bound and newspapers were stuffed into his mouth. His face was mutilated beyond recognation. He was identified only by a scar on his right leg. The body of Alay-ay was found about a kilometer away. Both bodies bearing signs of brutal torture.


Olalia headed a recently organized major leftist party, Partido ng Bayan and the nation's largest labor union, Kilusan Mayo Uno. Partido members immediately blamed the military for the killing. and called on supporters in a statement to "pour into the streets" in mass demonstrations.



The country's top military officials denied the accusation.

During Mrs. Aquino's absence, Manila had been gripped by rumors of an attempted coup or other violent action by soldiers close to the then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, who has become a vocal critic of the Aquino Government. 


The killing of Mr. Olalia came on the eve of a crucial negotiating session with Communist rebels that Government negotiators had said could lead to an imminent cease-fire agreement. The two men had been missing since the night of November 12.


The Communist negotiators, who had been scheduled to appear on television that tonight, went into hiding after word of the slayings, and the negotiating session was put in doubt.


The killing of Mr. Olalia was the first of a national political leader since the assassination of Benigno S. Aquino Jr. in 1983. That killing galvanized the political opposition and eventually brought his widow to the presidency.


Mrs. Aquino, in remarks as she arrived home, had strong words for Government ministers who she said had created problems for her.


Blas Ople, a conservative politician who was Secretary of Labor under former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, said: "I detect a sharpening of the confrontational atmosphere building up. All over the land you see these acts of violence being repeated on both sides."


Enrile and then armed forces Chief of Staff, General Fidel V. Ramos, at the Manila airport to greet Mrs. Aquino, both denied military involvement in the disappearance of Mr. Olalia, who had not been seen since he attended a union meeting 2 days earlier.


Then Colonel Gregorio Honasan, the leader of the group of officers loyal to Mr. Enrile, Rebolusyonaryong Alyansang Makabansa (RAM,) said on television, "The military always gets the blame for things of this sort". 


Olalia's Kilusang Mayo Uno, a leftist-oriented trade union with 500,000 members, had been called by the military a Communist-front organization.


The Partido ng Bayan was a new grouping formed to take advantage of the more liberal political atmosphere under Mrs. Aquino.


One of the founders of the Partido ng Bayan 3 months ago was Jose Maria Sison, the founder of the Communist Party, who had been released from detention by Mrs. Aquino.


The military has expressed worries over the spread of radical activism into the political mainstream, of which the new party is a leading example.

<h3>
God Save the Queen
</h3>

The National Bureau of Investigation, in its report to then President Corzaon Aquino in 1986, said the killings were a prelude to the staging of “God Save the Queen,” a coup plot by RAM to rid the Aquino Cabinet of left-leaning members.


In April 1987, Task Force Olalia, which was formed to investigate the killings, filed two counts of murder against Gilberto Galicia and Sgt. Franco Espartero in the Antipolo Regional Trial Court.


In June 1990, Judge Marietta Legaspi acquitted Espartero for failure of the prosecution to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt, while Galicia was discharged and made a state witness.


In January 1998, the Department of Justice (DOJ) revived the case as a new witness, former T/Sgt. Medardo Dumlao Barreto came forward, implicating several RAM leaders in the surveillance and abduction of Olalia and Alay-ay.


Barreto said he surfaced out of fear as several military men who knew about the murders were ordered killed or mysteriously died in the past years.

<h3>
Honasan
</h3>


Several parties called on the justice department to look into the possible involvement of Senator Gregorio Honasan, a RAM leader at the time of the murders.


In his 14-page sworn statement, Barreto said M/Sgt. Felizardo Cabanilla, transport officer of the then Ministry of National Defense, had boasted to him that he was personally ordered by Honasan to “clean up” the mess left behind by the vehicle used in tailing Olalia’s car.


Asked later to qualify his statement, Barreto said he did not directly implicate Honasan, stressing that Honasan’s supposed order was relayed by a third person, Cabanilla.


Honasan said he had “absolutely nothing to do” with the plot, and stressed that he participated only in three coup attempts against President Corazon Aquino. He said the “God Save the Queen” plot which allegedly involved the abduction and murder of Olalia was not among those hatched by the RAM.

<h3>
2 murder cases
</h3>


In May 1998, a five-man DOJ panel filed two separate cases of murder against 13 RAM members in the Antipolo Regional Trial Court.


Charged were retired Colonels Eduardo Kapunan and Col. Tirso Legaspi, ex-Capt. Ricardo Dicon, ex-Sergeants Gene Paris, Edgardo Sumido and Dennis Jabatan, ex-Staff Sergeants Freddie Sumagaysay and Jose Bacera, ex-Cpl. Cirilo Almario, ex-Staff Sgt. Fernando Casanova, ex-Sergeants Desiderio Perez and Filomeno Maligaya and Gilberto Galicia.


The DOJ panel said the 13 respondents, “with evident premeditation,” conspired and mutually helped one another, in killing the victims by taking advantage of their superior strength with the aid of armed men.


Kapunan and Legaspi sought immunity from prosecution, arguing that Proclamation No. 347 granted by President Fidel Ramos to rebel soldiers “extinguished their criminal liability.”

<h3>
Arrest warrants
</h3>

 In 2009, the Supreme Court dismissed their petition and ordered the filing of murder charges.


In February 2012, the Antipolo City Regional Trial Court issued arrest warrants against the 13 suspects.


On July 24, 2012, Perez surrendered to authorities and later pleaded “not guilty” to the murder charges.


On October 6 of the same year, Eduardo Kapunan surrendered to the Philippine Army, which refused to turn him over to the Rizal Provincial Jail.

Eventually, Kapunan was held in custody by the National Bureau of Investigation, until he was allowed to post bail in July 2014.


Kupunan secured acquittal in 2016, others still remain at-large to this day. 



<h3>
Olalia's early life
</h3>

Olalia was born on September 3, 1934. He was among the children of labor and peasant leader Felixberto Olalia, Sr.


Born to a poor family, he had to work including as janitor in order to finance his studies.


In the 1960s, he got involved with the Malayang Samahan ng mga Magsasaka together with his father. At the same time, he also got involved in the growing youth movement, and was an active organizer of students in the University Belt area.


Upon the encouragement of his father, he took law and earned his law degree from the Manuel L. Quezon University in 1971. He was among the 100 highest-ranking bar examinees of that year. After that he handled several labor cases.





Sources: 

<ol class="article-sources">
<li>
Major leftist is found slain in the Philippines, November 14, 1986, Seth Mydans, New York Times
</li>
<li>
After 16 Years, Justice for ‘Ka Lando’ Remains Elusive, November 17, 2002, bulatlat.com
</li>
<li>
What Went Before: The 26-year-old Olalia-Alay-ay double murder case, October 11, 2012, inquirer.net
</li>
</ol>

The Rolando Olalia and Leonardo Alay-ay Story

Today in Philippine history, November 14, 1986, bodies of Rolando Olalia and Leonardo Alay-ay were found in Antopolo  bearing signs of brutal torture and murder

November 14, 1986: bodies of Rolando Olalia and Leonardo Alay-ay were found in Antopolo bearing signs of brutal torture and murder