Doris Nuval
Doris Nuval from the Philippines, holds the record for being the longest held female political prisoner from the Marcos years. Arrested in 1980 for planting a bomb, she spent nearly 5 years in prison and escaped execution because her father was a close friend of Marcos.
Q: Doris, this is amazing. I’m sitting here, I’m reading through all these articles and I’ve this burning desire to ask you, why did you plant that bomb?
A: Why did I plant that bomb? I thought it was my chance to be able to serve this country. Marcos at that time was in power for more than 15 years, and the dictatorship knew no bounds.
Q: Was it a huge bomb?
A: It was a small one. I was told that it would not hurt people; it was meant as propaganda. We wanted to land on the front pages of the world papers. I didn’t ever think I would get jailed. It was either I was going to do it well or get killed.
Q: Doris, how did you feel the day that you got out of prison?
A: The first sound I heard at night, I stepped on the living room couch — “Balut!” (Common sounds of vendors peddling food on the streets). And I just aaargh. Something just broke loose and I just cried and cried. Because “Balut” was the sound of freedom; I mean, you never heard that from jail.
Q: What is empowerment to you?
A: Empowerment to me is having enough information, expressing what you feel in a public arena without being stopped.
For Doris’s full video:
