The family of Antonio Mijares lived next door to the municipal jail. In the early days of martial law, Antonio, whom the family called Diore, would hear suspects being beaten and crying out. Diore would slip them ginger ale and pandesal for breakfast.
Diore excelled in drama, oratory and ping-pong. He served as altar boy and was a church-goer. His father noted that he liked to read books on politics, science, and philosophy. He liked biographies and battle stories. In college, Diore haunted the libraries, but he was also active in various activities, sometimes cutting classes to attend to them.
Later he moved back to Aklan, joining the staff of the campus paper in Aklan College and was said to have helped revive that paper. He also helped in organizing the Aklan chapter of the College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines.
Diore fell under military suspicion. Once he was questioned by the local provincial commander who suspected him of recruiting and soliciting funds for the New People’s Army. The commander also tried to recruit him to spy on his classmates and town mates. Diore refused.
He decided instead to go more deeply into organizing work in the mountains and hills of Aklan and Antique.
Diore died at the age of 22, on a Good Friday, on April 20, 1984, in an ambush. Diore was captured while his two companions (one was Edward dela Fuente) were killed. Diore was wounded but the leader of the constabulary team later fired on him, riddling him with bullets.
