Susan Quimpo

Historian and former National Historical Commission chair Ambeth Ocampo, in a 2020 column written soon after Quimpo's death, noted:

Quimpo was diagnosed with systemic scleroderma, a painful autoimmune disease, in 2018, and died two years later, on July 14, 2020. Throughout that time, she continued to approach schools, asking them if she could speak to their students about the history of Martial Law in the Philippines.

Wanting to take a more direct approach ensuring that the Philippines' Martial Law era was remembered, Quimpo helped launch The Martial Law Chronicles, a campaign that put together exhibits and in-person presentations on high school and college campuses and which trains high school teachers how to teach their students about the Philippines' martial law, in 2016.

Susan Quimpo was born the youngest among the ten children of Ishmael and Esperanza Quimpo, and was a child when Martial Law was declared in 1972. The Quimpo siblings became a family of activists, with seven of her siblings joining the underground resistance against the Marcos dictatorship. One, Ishmael Jr., was murdered by the dictatorship, while another, Ronald Jan,was abducted at the age of 23 and is presumed dead.

Susan F. Quimpo (February 6, 1961 – July 14, 2020) was a Filipino activist, author, theater artist, and art therapist best known for her advocacy work of educating the Filipino youth about the Philippines’ Martial Law era, and for co-writing the book “Subversive Lives: A Family Memoir of the Marcos Years.”