Inday Nita Daluz

Many of you may not be familiar with the name.
But if the name rings a bell, then you must be above 35 years of age.
Inday Nita Daluz is an icon of Philippine media, particuarly among the promdi's like me in the Visayas region.
She rose to national prominence at the height of the Marcos dictatorship.
Cebu's Inday Nita, fierce, fiery, was an iron lady freedom-fighter who stood against the repressive martial law regime.
She used the microphone as her weapon against the blazing guns of the Marcos military.
During martial law, Inday Nita Daluz braved the cold threats of the Marcos government, weathering military raids of the radio stations where Inday Nita tirelessly broadcast her tirades against Marcos.
Inday Nita never wavered even if she was jailed by Marcos because she dared to speak against the establishment.
Today, I met Inday Nita Daluz for the very first time in her home in Sun Valley, Cebu.
She has visibly aged, although without the white hair. Already calm and soft-spoken, and none of those fierce looks of a fighter, Inday Nita in her late sixties, sat on a wheelchair.
I didn't ask her why she no longer walks. She voluntered to show me her left leg, amputated just below the knee, owing to the merciless scourge of diabetes.
For me, it was a privilege to see Inday Nita, for I listened to her constantly on AM radio as a young boy, without fear castigating a dictator every day on the air.
Yesterday I never let the ocassion pass. I wanted to speak to her at length, to listen to her words of wisdom and her experiences as a broadcaster in Cebu during the dark days of martial law.
She obliged.
We talked for two hours. I asked her questions, and questions, one after the other about her life as a maverick media person in Cebu.
Yes, in her prime, her name was a by-word in Cebu, specially from among the downtrodden, whom many would refer as the "masa".
I told her that I will write about her exciting experiences because it is worth recording in black and white.
Sadly, I didn't bring my tape recorder and camera. So I will have to record our conversation based on my recollection.
I asked her what her life's greatest contribution was, she eloquently said she helped keep the flickering flame alive in the midst of darkness so many could see the pathway from bondage to freedom.
More of Inday Nita's travails in my succeeding blogs....