Editor: Macky Claudio, ΜΣΦ 2011

Sources:

“A Tribute to Honorato “Rety” Quisumbing” (author unknown), published in the 1995 UPMAS Homecoming Yearbook

“PGH: Still Standing After 99 Years” by Ross Harper-Alonso, published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, October 9, 2006

Contributors:

Mariano Yogore III, ΜΣΦ 1972

Cora Quisumbing

Ambrosio Jumangit III, ΜΣΦ 2008

Algene Agustin, Batch 2012

Marcos Perez III, Batch 2012

JUAN BARRAMEDA ESCANDOR, ΜΣΦ 1969

Juan Barrameda Escandor, “Johnny / Jerry”, was born on November 14, 1941 in Gubat, Sorsogon. He was the seventh of eight children. His father, Sotero Escandor, was a teacher who owned a small piece of land. His mother, Vitoriana Barrameda, was a simple housewife.

As a child, Johnny was described as a good-looking, mild-mannered and very active kid. Track and Field was his childhood sport; at Gubat High School, he ran the 200 and 400 meter events and both broad-jump and half-step jump. He pursued his love of athletics into his college years at the University of the Philippines, running for the Track and Field Varsity team.

But more than athletics, his dream was to become a doctor. An uncle, Tio Mayong, who helped take care of Johnny as a child, mused that “even in children’s games, he would always play the doctor, treating birds and animals.” Vitoriana, in her later years, was plagued by desmayo and fainting spells, so she encouraged her son to be a doctor so he could cure her. And thus he started his way towards earning his medical degree, entering the BS Pre-Med program in UP, then continuing his studies in the UP College of Medicine.

The path to medicine was not easy for Johnny. To finance his education, his father had to gradually sell small parcels of his land. Johnny, for his part, worked as a waiter at the UP Drive-In and later as a clerk at the Registrar’s Office for additional income.

Nevertheless, he slowly but surely made his way through medical school, and he did it successfully. Johnny was a dedicated and well-rounded student, maintaining high academic standards. As a fourth year student, he even earned the first prize award in an annual undergraduate research contest sponsored by the Manila Medical Society for co-publishing a paper on “The Effects of Antihistamines on Gastric Motility”. He later earned his coveted MD degree in 1969.

Johnny, unlike many of the youth of his time, sought answers to many socio-political questions. As early as his medical school years, Johnny had already engaged in activities and groups oriented towards social and national awareness; while the rest of the class worried about grades and other things that preoccupy the average student, Johnny had already decided that you cannot separate medicine from politics. He was a founding member of the Kabataang Makabayan in 1964. In 1969, he helped organize the Sorsogon Progressive Movement and in 1970, the Progresibong Kilusang Medikal - PGH Chapter.

After graduation, Johnny took his residency in Radiology at UP-PGH from 1969-1971. He was recognized as an outstanding doctor, being sent to participate in international seminars, and later even earning the title of Chief Resident of the Department of Radiology in 1971-1972. He then served as a consultant in the said department after residency, at the same time heading the Research Department of the Cancer Institute in PGH in 1972.

With his early success and numerous achievements, Dr. Escandor was well on his way towards a lucrative medical practice. Just like other doctors, material wealth was within his reach. He received invitations to migrate to other countries where the salary was many times greater. But he chose to remain in the Philippines, and when he did not work in the PGH, he served as a doctor in rural areas. He signed up for government and non-government organizations to become a doctor and conduct free clinics to many poor barrios in Central Luzon and Mindoro. On holidays, he would set up a barrio clinic in his hometown of Gubat, Sorsogon, where he had hoped to build a hospital one day. He also offered his services to indigenous peoples, volunteering as a medical aid of the Presidential Assistance to National Minorities (PANAMIN).

Johnny exemplified the role of a complete doctor, assuming not only the responsibility of service to his countrymen, but of leadership as well. He mobilized medical students, members of his college fraternity, and involved them in various medical missions. In 1972, he organized a group to volunteer for the Operasyon Tulong program to aid the victims of the great floods in Central Luzon. Service was at the core of his professional life and he advocated this idealism to others involved in the medical field.

The time of Dr. Escandor’s peak in the profession were turbulent times, brought about by the Marcos Dictatorship. The spirit of nationalism, swelling within him early on in his youth, was aroused even more; Johnny recognized that there were physical ills and social ills, and he was not satisfied with just treating the former. He started involved himself in activities opposing the Marcos regime, trying to cure the “social cancer” that beset the country then. He joined picket lines of workers at PGH and he took part in rallies elsewhere. He distributed propaganda material to nurses, students and classmates. He echoed the shout of the masses: “Marcos, dictator! Down with Marcos! Be not afraid!”

Then, on September 21, 1972, martial law was declared. The regime at that time did not tolerate freedom of speech; it hunted down its enemies, so Dr. Escandor made the decision to go underground, practically abandoning his medical practice. Many of his friends and family remember seeing him alive for the last time in late 1972. Rumors abounded about his whereabouts - some claim that he was seen distributing leaflets at the 1973 Constitutional Convention; others said he was seen treating patients at PGH in the dead of the night. Many believe that Doc Jerry took to the mountains and joined the guerrilla army, leading an armed resistance group in Central Luzon who clamoured for freedom and sought to end the corrupt and oppressive dictatorship.

The exact details of Dr. Escandor’s activities are unknown to the general public; what’s certain was that the government greatly disapproved of his actions. Thus when the military finally caught him, Dr. Escandor’s fate was sealed…

On April 2, 1983, Times Journal reported Johnny’s death, with the headline reading “Doctor-turned-rebel shot dead”. The article quoted Metrocom Strike Force officials saying that the Metrocom had just killed a “Jose Barrameda, alias Kumander Escandor, alias Ka Sidro” in a mission attempting to “liquidate” NPA rebels, and that this supposed encounter of Metrocom troops and NPA rebels took place on March 31, 1983, along Bohol Avenue, Quezon City. The relatives of Dr. Escandor were able to positively identify his body at St. Peter’s Memorial Chapel.

Johnny’s family believes that his death was not as simple as was reported; their fear is that the doctor was taken by the military on March 31, 1983, and was tortured to death. This theory was based on signs of physical abuse upon gross inspection of Johnny’s body, and was further reinforced by the refusal of the Philippine Constabulary Crime Laboratory and the Metrocom Investigation Unit to hand over an official autopsy report to the family. He died at the age of 42, officially single. The truth of the circumstances surrounding his death may never be known.

Dr. Escandor died four months before Ninoy Aquino was assassinated. Public indignation begun to be inflamed, and three years later Marcos was ousted by a popular revolt.

In the memorial service for Dr. Escandor, the presiding priest Msgr. Angel Dy gave the following sermon: “Friends, we honor the memory of Dr. Juan Barrameda Escandor, Johnny to others, Jerry to his friends. After years of painful effort, the reality of a “good life”; was for him near at hand. Yet he chose to serve the toiling masses for he could not bear to enjoy life while his brothers cried in despair. He, like a thousand others, has been sacrificed in the altar of other men’s ambitions. These heroes merit the respect of the Filipino people. For even in the face of extreme provocation, monetary enticements, a seat in power, they remained true to their principles. They offered their lives and refused to bow even in the face of torture. They are proof of the greatness of the human spirit”.

Editor: Macky Claudio, ΜΣΦ 2011

Sources:

“Johnny Escandor: Bicolandia’s Doctor-at-Arms” by Reynaldo Jamoralin, translated by Gideon Lasco, ΜΣΦ 2010

Contributors:

Ambrosio Jumangit III, ΜΣΦ 2008

Algene Agustin, Batch 2012

Marcos Perez III, Batch 2012

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