ANTIQUE – Antiqueños commemorated local hero Evelio B. Javier on his 38th death anniversary on Sunday, Feb. 11.
A simple program was held with a wreath-laying ceremony together with his living relatives, government officials, and employees. Students paid tribute to the hero through a dance performance.
The ceremony took place at his statue, located in what is now called the EBJ Freedom Park.
Javier was best known as a champion for the poor and for his upright approach to politics, famously stating, “Ang pulitika bukot burugasan, bukot paranubliun.” (Politics is neither a livelihood nor an inheritance.)
Born in Barangay Lanag, Hamtic, Javier served as governor of Antique province from 1971, when he was 28 years old, until 1980.
His lasting legacy is the founding of the province-wide Binirayan Festival, which celebrates its 50th year in 2024.
Sangguniang Panlalawigan Member Dante Beriong paid tribute to Javier, whom he met in 1977 as a high school student performing for the Binirayan Festival.
“My friends, Evelio B. Javier was an ordinary man just like most of us. But he did extraordinary things,” Beriong said.
His death, at the hands of unknown gunmen, was one of the major turning points leading to the EDSA People Power Revolution. Javier was a strong supporter of Corazon Aquino, who was then the main opposition to President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. in the presidential snap elections.
It was also President Aquino who signed Republic Act No. 7601 on June 3, 1992, declaring February 11 as Governor Evelio B. Javier Day and making it a special non-working holiday for the entire Panay. (PIO Lavega/The Antique Provincial Government)/PN
