Romeo Jocson Intengan, S.J. (18 October 1942 – 10 October 2017) was a Filipino doctor, social activist, and Jesuit priest. He was called "Archie" or "Nonoy".
Intengan was outspoken in his advocacy for human rights and expressed his discontent with the Marcos regime's martial laws (September 1972) in the Philippines. Intengan was incarcerated and made his way to Europe to live in exile during the Marcos regime. While exiled, Intengan continued to work to restore democracy to the Philippines by collaborating with like-minded persons and organizations and calling for transparency and the end of abuse by state forces in the Philippines.
With the downfall of the Marcos regime in 1986 after the first People Power revolution, he led the efforts to help restore democracy through the Philippine Democratic Socialist Party (Tagalog: ) (PDSP).
In 2000, Intengan took a stand against former President Joseph E. Estrada. He signed the impeachment complaint against the former president, and after a series of peaceful demonstrations culminating with the second People Power revolution, the former president was removed from office. __TOC__
Early life and education Romeo Joscon Intengan was born on 18 October 1942 in Cauayan, Negros Occidental. and was christened Romeo Antonio Jocson Intengan Jr. He was the eldest child of Colonel Romeo Artiaga Intengan Sr., a former commissioned officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Augustina Torres Jocson de Intengan, a native of Iloilo, Philippines. Romeo has five siblings: Roberto, Alicia Agnes, Glicerio, Trinidad and Alexa.
Intengan received his education at Colegio de San Agustin in Iloilo City, St. John's Academy in San Juan, Metro Manila and Lincoln College in Iloilo City. He graduated as a in 1953 and continued high school education at Lincoln College, eventually finishing as salutatorian in 1957. After high school, Intengan enrolled and completed the Pre-Medicine and Association of Arts courses at the University of the Philippines-Visayas, in Miagao, Iloilo.
In 1960, Intengan moved to Manila and enrolled in the Medicine program at the University of the Philippines-Manila, Padre Faura St., Manila, and finished his studies in 1965. He was an instructor in the College of Medicine of his alma mater and took his residency at the Department of Surgery at U.P.-Philippine General Hospital, Manila in 1970.
At the University of the Philippines As a medical student at the University of the Philippines (UP), Mr. Intengan joined the "UP Student Catholic Action" group (UPSCA). He was active in the Public Health Committee of the organization, which operated free clinics for preventative and therapeutic health care for urban poor areas of Metro Manila, Tramo (Pasay City), and Cristóbal (Paco, Manila).
Social awareness In 1969, near the end of his training as a surgical resident, Dr. Intengan became aware of the emerging social crisis caused by the failure of the Marcos administration in addressing issues related to national economic development, unemployment, poverty, and corruption. He saw these problems first-hand due to his active involvement in providing healthcare to the urban poor settlements around Metro Manila. He began to participate in discussions to address the situation and eventually joined became an activist.
The bulk of the movement was Marxist–Leninist-led, which went against his Catholic Christian convictions. He helped found an alternative activist alliance that eventually took up social democracy as its societal model.
Fr. Intengan headed the Kilusan ng mga Anak ng Kalayaan which in 1970 merged with Hasik Kalayaan which was headed by Norberto Gonzales. On July 7, 1972, the Katipunan ng mga Demokratiko-Sosyalistang Pilipino (KDSP) was founded. The KDSP became the Partido Demokratiko-Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (Philippine Democratic Socialist Party, PDSP) on May 1, 1973.
Socio-political involvement Intengan headed the Education Commission in the Philippine Democratic Socialist Party (PDSP). His role in the PDSP was to ensure that its worldview and ideology was compatible with the Christian faith and the other monotheistic religions.
Joining the Society of Jesus Intengan decided to join the Society of Jesus and entered the Sacred Heart Novitiate on 25 July 1970 alongside his novice-brother Roberto Villamero. He made his first vows as a Jesuit on 31 July 1972.
As a Jesuit novice and later as a scholastic, he remained active in the struggle for human rights, democracy, social justice, and good governance. He assisted in the campaign for a nonpartisan and reformist Constitutional Convention. After the Constitutional Convention was drafted in 1971, he joined citizens’ efforts to prevent it from being co-opted by the Marcos regime.
Martial law and exile After the declaration of martial law in September 1972, Intengan saw that President Marcos was not fulfilling the reformist agenda which he claimed as the justification of martial law. Intengan stood with the other leaders of the PDSP and led the party to oppose the Marcos dictatorship in May 1973. The PDSP worked underground to expand and consolidate its ranks. Its cadres organized workers, farmers, the urban poor and youth and students. Party branches in Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro and Davao was established. They eventually formed a network of allies among the various groups and persons opposing the Marcos regime.
Gathering of the opposition In 1976, the late Jesuit priests Horacio de la Costa and Antonio Olaguer, introduced the PDSP to some of the leaders of the democratic opposition to the Marcos regime, such as Sen. Benigno S. Aquino Jr., Sen. Jovito R. Salonga, Sen. Francisco A. Rodrigo, and Mr. Luis José, and through the latter, to Sen. Raul S. Manglapus.
Meanwhile, Intengan was teaching theology as an instructor at the Theology Department of the College of Arts and Sciences of the Ateneo de Manila University. In December 1976 he was ordained to the diaconate, and three months after, on 27 March 1977, to the priesthood.
In 1977, the PDSP with its allies in the democratic opposition founded the Katipunan ng Bayan para sa Kalayaan or KABAKA where the social democratic program of government, Alternatibo ng Sambayanan, was adopted.
In 1978 the Marcos dictatorship decided to try to appear legitimate by holding elections for an interim Batasang Pambansa on 7 April 1978. The Marcos regime imposed conditions that hampered any real campaign of the opposition. The various elements of the opposition, including the PDSP and some well-known opposition figures, gathered and organized the Lakas ng Bayan (Laban) as the political party that would be their collective vehicle to attain the goals they had set in participating in those elections.
By 1978, the PDSP was entrusted with a major part of the planning and execution of Laban campaign and poll watching efforts of. Among the activities planned and executed was the Metro Manila-wide noise barrage on the eve of the elections on 6 April.
On 7 April, the election was discovered to be rigged; the Marcos regime expelled opposition poll watchers from the precincts, arrested them, and arranged vote tabulation to be in favor of the regime.
On 9 April, the PDSP consisted of the majority of the participants in a march protesting the electoral fraud and violence committed by the regime. When the marchers refused to disperse on orders of police officers who blocked them on España Street inside Manila, they arrested the over 600-person group. Among those arrested were nine leaders of the opposition, including Intengan.
Incarceration As an immediate consequence of the protest march, the Marcos dictatorship detained Intengan for two months—early April to early June 1978—at Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, Taguig. Among his fellow detainees for various lengths of time were former Vice-president Teofisto T. Guingona, Senators Lorenzo M. Tañada, Francisco A. Rodrigo, Aquilino Q. Pimentel, and Joker P. Arroyo, and Attorney Ernesto Rondon.
In June 1978, Intengan was released to the custody of José A. Cruz, S.J., then President of the Ateneo de Manila University, on the promise that he refrained from political activity, and be confined to Metro Manila. Within two months of his release, he was constrained in resuming work with the PDSP and other forces in the democratic opposition. He disregarded the promise he made under duress as the PDSP was in disarray from the Marcos regime's manhunt and detention of its members. Some of its members either went missing or perished under various circumstances.
The Marxist–Leninist activist group took advantage of these events and took the lead in organizing and expanded exponentially. This alarmed Intengan as the basic ideology of the extreme left is incompatible with his faith and Catholic Christian foundation.
Meanwhile, the Marcos dictatorship kept Intengan under surveillance and discovered that he had resumed work with the democratic opposition. Signs of intensified surveillance, such as the monitoring of his theology class notes and the enrollment of a government agent in one of his theology classes, began to accumulate, with explicit threats of renewed detention.
In September 1980, Mrs. Imelda R. Marcos summoned Cruz and Intengan to the Presidential Guest House on Arlegui Street, and demanded that the Ateneo de Manila University turn over effective control of its "Office for Social Concern and Involvement" (OSCI) and similar social outreach agencies to the "Ministry of Human Settlements", of which Mrs. Marcos was the Minister. She stated that her aim was to give the students a correct understanding of Philippine reality. She illustrated her point by using Iran as an example, in which the militantly powerful regime of the Shah of Iran was overthrown by a popular revolution led by Islamic teachers, with Ayatullah Ruhullah Khomeini at the forefront.
Cruz refused her demands and stated that "The independence of the social outreach programs of the Ateneo de Manila University is needed for their credibility and efficacy". Intengan pointed out that the social ills to which some Jesuits and their friends were responding were real and not imagined.
Alliance with the Sultan of Sulu and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) By this time, Intengan and the PDSP leadership allied with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). This alliance between the MNLF and the PDSP had the following goals: address the abuse by the Marcos dictatorship restoration of democracy redress of the grievances of the Bangsa Moro the fulfillment of their common legitimate aspirations
On 10 October 1978, Intengan left Manila for Zamboanga and then for Jolo. He was accompanied by members of the Kiram family, one of whom held the title of Sultan of Sulu, and by MNLF sympathizers.
In December 1978, accompanied by two PDSP cadres including the Chairman Norberto B. Gonzales, and escorted by two MNLF intelligence operatives, Intengan crossed over to the island of Sabah.
In Sabah Intengan stayed in Sabah for more than a year. From December 1980 to early February 1982 he served as physician-in-residence at the MNLF camp, chaplain and political officer to the PDSP cadres who crossed over to Sabah.
In November 1981, military operatives of the Marcos regime captured the PDSP's Secretary General, Marianito "Mar" Canonigo just as he had crossed over from Sabah into Tawi-Tawi. He was carrying PDSP's Batayang Kurso (Party Basic Course) which Intengan developed for the PDSP. This forced the Malaysian government to no longer ignore the protests that they were harboring Filipino rebels from the Marcos regime. In February 1982 the Malaysian Home Ministry and Special Branch took Intengan and the other PDSP members into custody and interrogated them at the Special Branch headquarters at Kampong Kepayan, Kota Kinabalu.
Preparations for exile