In Memoriam: Atty. Reynaldo A. Cortes Our People’s Lawyer

The depth of our grief is the truest reflection of the love and respect we carry for those who have gone ahead of us.

With heavy hearts, we stand with the Cortes family in mourning the passing of Atty. Reynaldo A. “Rene” Cortes—our people’s lawyer, dear mentor, and beloved father figure to so many in the human rights community.

Human rights work is a difficult calling. Repression and tyranny demand that we bear witness to the pain of tragedies and grave injustices, walk every step of hope with those who suffer, and find strength in our tears and sorrow. Atty. Rene taught us to do all these things with quiet humility—as naturally and steadily as we draw breath.

His steadfastness echoed the wisdom of J.R.R. Tolkien’s reflection on war:

“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”

Early Years and Foundation During Martial Law

Atty. Cortes was an alumnus of Ateneo de Manila University, where he completed his law degree. He took his oath as a lawyer in 1968, and from that day forward, he dedicated his life to serving the people and fighting for their rights.

During the Martial Law period, Atty. Cortes was among the founding members of the Free Legal Assistance Flag (FLAG) and later served as its Regional Coordinator for Northern Luzon (FLAG-NL). In the early 1970s, he represented Pio Panabang and his family of Kalinga Province in their fight for land rights involving thousands of hectares against the powerful Hacienda Madrigal. They won the case. Though Atty. Cortes was allotted a portion of the property as legal fees, he refused to accept it, choosing instead to leave it entirely to the community.

Bearing Witness During Tyranny

Atty. Cortes provided crucial support to the Northern Luzon Human Rights Organization, formed in December 1983 under the leadership of Atty. Arthur Galace.

The Sitio Beew Siege and the “Piso for Chammag” Campaign

In 1983, soldiers led by Capt. Berido, Lt. Rehaldo Lebua, and Lt. Juanito Puyawan of the 623rd Philippine Constabulary laid siege to the community of Sitio Beew, Tubo, Abra. They set houses on fire and looted rice granaries. Three people were killed in the operation, including Josefina Cayandag, a pregnant woman whose child was thrown back into the burning house after she was mauled by Philippine Constabulary troops.

The incident forced villagers to trek to Sagada, Mountain Province, seeking refuge at the Church of St. Mary. Atty. Rene Cortes joined Atty. Pablito Sanidad in conducting fact-finding missions on the siege and later provided legal assistance to the displaced families.

He also served as counsel for journalist Isidoro Chammag, who faced a five-million-peso libel suit in reprisal for writing about the Beew Massacre. The case was filed by none other than Gen. Fidel Ramos, then PC Chief and Director-General of the Integrated National Police, along with Victorino Azada, the PC-INP Regional Commander. To pay for Chammag’s bail, the Baguio media launched the “Piso for Chammag” campaign. Contributions poured in from organized market vendors, journalists, doctors, lawyers, student groups, and mine workers—a testament to the solidarity that Atty. Cortes, the FLAG lawyers, and the human rights workers of that time helped foster.

Standing with the Detained and Persecuted

When the late Ninoy Aquino returned to the Philippines in August 1983, Atty. Cortes, alongside Atty. Pablito Sanidad and the late Ka Pepe Diokno, was at the airport as part of the welcoming party. As they waited in the arrival area, they heard the dreadful shots that ended Ninoy’s life, followed by pandemonium and the devastating news that the late Senator had been killed on the tarmac.

That same year, Atty. Cortes stood as counsel for student activists who were illegally arrested, tortured, and detained in Camp Dangwa by the Philippine Constabulary from March to December 1983. Charged with subversion after their illegal detention, his clients included:

• Ma. Cristina Rodriguez (now Executive Director of Bantayog ng mga Bayani)

• Brenda Subido Dacpano

• Elina M. Velasco-Ramo

• Josephine Soriano

• Benjamin Briones

• Nestor Castro

In February 1985, Atty. Cortes was not only legal counsel but also stood as a ninong (godfather) during the wedding of two pairs of political prisoners detained in Camp Dangwa. Irene Timbreza, a client from Abra, recalls this vividly, carrying the memory as she continues her human rights work in the province.

In 1984, seven activists and church workers suffered a similar plight at a Pangasinan Philippine Constabulary camp. Held incommunicado for nearly two weeks by the Military Intelligence Group and local police, they were subjected to severe torture. Atty. Cortes provided critical legal aid to Mary Lou O. Marigza, Adelina Estrada, Marichu Antonio-Tobia, Teresita Oliveros, Michael Morden, Gerry Guzman, and Jayvee Vistro. In her account published in the book Panaglagip, Mary Lou Marigza detailed how she and female political prisoners were sexually assaulted, electrocuted, and forced to play Russian roulette. They were finally released on November 25, 1985.

Atty. Cortes also defended fellow lawyers, representing Atty. Romeo Astudillo and Atty. Alberto Benesa. The two were charged with subversion in April 1985 as retaliation for rendering legal services to communities in Abra as officers of FLAG. Confined at the Constabulary stockade in Bangued, Abra, Atty. Cortes never failed to show them his unwavering support.

Post-EDSA: Uncompromising Principles

After the 1986 EDSA Revolution, Atty. Cortes was appointed OIC Vice-Mayor of Baguio City. However, he resigned shortly after, choosing to continue rendering services to those in need rather than holding political office. He declined further government offers from the Aquino administration, recognizing the continuing, perilous challenges of human rights lawyering—particularly after the extrajudicial killing of Atty. David Bueno, chairman of the Ilocos Norte-Laoag Human Rights Organization, on October 11, 1987.

Atty. Cortes continued to provide pro bono legal services to marginalized communities across the North, including those in the Marag Valley in Apayao during the late 1980s and early 1990s. These communities had been heavily displaced by bombings during military combat operations under the government’s Oplan Salidummay.

Following the devastating 1990 earthquake, he also facilitated vital support from the Center for Relief and Rehabilitation for the quake-stricken communities of Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya.

In 1994, he and Atty. Jose Molintas were instrumental in establishing the Dinteg Cordillera Indigenous Peoples’ Legal Center. Through this, a scholarship fund was created to support the legal education of deserving students from indigenous communities in the Cordillera. Atty. Cortes served as a member, and later chair, of the Board of Trustees until the center closed in 2017.

In December 1999, he served as the founding convener of the Cordillera Human Rights Organization (CHRO), the precursor to the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA). Recognizing his lifelong commitment, the CHRA General Assembly elected him as its first Chairperson in 2004, reelecting him in December 2006, 2012, and 2015.

Defending the Falsely Accused

In the early 2000s, Atty. Cortes stood as counsel for the Punks 11—eleven young backpackers and Food Not Bombs volunteers involved in the alternative music scene. They were illegally arrested and tortured by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Buguias, Benguet. Bound for Sagada, they were stopped at a checkpoint and suspected of being New People’s Army (NPA) rebels linked to a recent military detachment raid. FLAG filed cases for illegal arrest, detention, and rights violations against the PNP. Charges linking the Punks 11 to the raid were eventually dismissed for lack of evidence, highlighting systemic issues of warrantless arrests and profiling.

From 2000 to 2009, Atty. Cortes and Atty. Molintas served as lead counsels in the Abra 14 case, where 14 church workers and activists from Ilocos were unjustly charged by the military for the 1999 killing of Conrado Balweg. His clients included church workers Lorna Rivera Baba and Bishops Noel and Emelyn Dacuycuy, and activist Romy Sanchez.

He also served as counsel along with Atty. Joselito Benedito and Atty Randy Kinaud for Evelyn Bedana and Josephine Perez when they were abducted in Bengao, Marcos Highway, illegally detained and tortured, and eventually faced trumped up criminal charges.

Campaign Against Extrajudicial Killings (EJKs)

During the height of extrajudicial killings against activists and journalists (2004–2007), he served as a convenor of the Stop the Killings Network in Northern Luzon. He and Atty Manja Bayang were among the first to respond when Romy Sanchez, coordinator of Ilocos Bayan Muna, was killed in Baguio City on March 11, 2005, while looking for second-hand clothes for his children. He likewise responded to the killings of Pepe Manegdeg, Albert Terredano, Jose Doton, Markus Bangit, and Alyce Claver, playing a significant role in securing safe sanctuaries for activists facing imminent danger.

In 2008, he led the legal team that filed a Writ of Amparo for James Balao, a founding member of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance who disappeared after being abducted on September 17, 2008, in Tomay, La Trinidad. He relentlessly pursued the case alongside Atty. Jennifer Asuncion until it reached the Supreme Court.

Atty. Cortes also assisted grieving families in reporting their cases during the 2007 country visit of Professor Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings. He was a key figure in leading fact-finding missions to document the killings of farmer-hunters in the Cordillera, ensuring their inclusion in the UN report, including:

• Johnny Camareg: Killed on August 9, 2001, in Betwagan, Sadanga, Mountain Province, by troops of the 22nd Special Forces.

• Gabino Lawaguey (56): Killed on July 22, 2003, in Bauang, Alangtin, Tubo, Abra, by the 17th Infantry Battalion.

• Etfew Warwarak Chadyaas (38): Killed on August 4, 2003, in Belwang, Sadanga, Mountain Province, by the 54th Infantry Battalion.

• Francisco Tangbaoan (60): Killed on February 13, 2005, in Lenneng, Baay-Licuan, Abra, coerced into serving as a “human shield” by the 41st IB.

• John Maximo (45): Killed on April 16, 2006, in Barangay Baoyan, Boliney, Abra, by the 41st Infantry Battalion.

Truth, Peace, and Accountability

Years later, Atty. Cortes stood resolutely with the victims of the 2014 Baay-Licuan Massacre in Abra. On March 2, 2014, indigenous Binongan-Tinguian leaders Freddie “Fermin” Ligiw, his brother Eddie Ligiw, and their father Licuben Ligiw were brutally killed. The family, active members of KASTAN, BALITOK, and the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, had actively campaigned against destructive mining and militarization. Fermin, a member of Anakbayan Abra, had previously been illegally detained and coerced to act as a military guide days before the incident. Their bound and tortured bodies were found in a shallow grave days after they went missing. Through his legal practice and his work with the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance, Atty. Cortes amplified the community’s demand for truth, justice, and accountability.

He likewise extended his support to the families of civilians and NPAs killed in Lacub, Abra, on September 4 and 5 of the same year. Among those killed in grave violation of International Humanitarian Law were civilians Engineer Fidela Salvador, Lacub resident Noel Viste, and NPA members Pedring Banggao, Robert Beyao, Arnold Jaramillo, Brandon Magranga, Recca Noelle Monte, Robert Perez, and Ricardo Reyes.

His influence facilitated the deeply difficult task of helping families retrieve the remains of their loved ones from armed encounters across Ilocos and the Cordillera.

In March 2020, just before the pandemic lockdown, Julius Giron – a peace consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, his doctor Dr. Lourdes Tangco, and their aide Arvie Reyes were killed in a police-military raid in Queen of Peace, Baguio City. Atty. Cortes and Atty. Molintas were instrumental in ensuring the retrieval of their remains and securing an independent autopsy that countered the security forces’ narrative that the victims “resisted arrest” (nanlaban).

From 2009 to 2017, Atty. Cortes also served as counsel for consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP)—Jovencio Balweg, Elizabeth Principe, Kennedy Bangibang, and Promencio Cortez—when trumped-up criminal cases were filed against them.

In handling these heavy cases, he deeply understood why people opted for their right to rebel, and emphasized the necessity of genuine negotiations for peace rooted in addressing systemic injustices.

Weathering the storm of continuing repression

In 2017, he served as co-counsel when Sarah Abellon Alikes was arrested in Baguio City and charged with arson and robbery. The case was dismissed after a year.

In 2023, he served as lead counsel for seven activists in Northern Luzon who were unjustly charged with rebellion and insurrection following an October 27, 2022, ambush in Malibcong, Abra, where two soldiers died. Identified arbitrarily through a rogue’s gallery, the activists were successfully acquitted in May 2023. His clients included Sarah Abellon-Alikes, Jennifer Awingan-Taggaoa, Windel Bolinget, Lulu Gimenez, Florence Kang, Steve Tauli, and Nino Oconner.

Most recently, he served as co-counsel in the historic challenge to the constitutionality of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 filed before the Regional Trial Court in Baguio, exposing the law’s severe infringements on human rights via the arbitrary terrorist designation of four Cordillera leaders.

He also served as co-counsel in the writ of habeas corpus case filed before the Court of Appeals following the enforced disappearance of Dexter Capuyan and Gene Roz Jamil de Jesus on April 28, 2023.

A Quiet, Generous Presence

Among his many travels to Cordillera communities were his frequent trips to Ifugao. The Ifugao Peasant Movement office was his home in the province, with a room reserved specifically for him. He would often arrive a day before hearings or very early in the morning, spending unhurried time with local activists to check on their well-being, often bringing food he had bought along the way. When William Bugatti was extrajudicially killed in March 2014 and when Brandon Lee survived an assassination attempt on August 5, 2019, Atty. Cortes’ steady, immediate presence throughout the legal response was profoundly significant and reassuring to their families and the activist community.

Atty. Cortes’ unwavering dedication to the defense of human rights never faltered. For decades, he stood as a steadfast ally to victims of injustice and a driving force in the human rights movement in Northern Luzon and across the nation. He actively shunned the spotlight, finding no comfort in public acclaim or honors. To him, human rights work was a calling that needed no recognition—only that the oppressed and persecuted gain access to justice and receive the finest legal service.

He often expressed his greatest hope: that human rights work would one day become entirely irrelevant—in a society where every person’s and every community’s rights are genuinely respected, protected, and upheld to the highest standard.

As we pay tribute to our dear mentor, we find solace in Tolkien’s words that echo his final journey: “End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it: white shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.”