| His Courageousness Sancho Abelló y Terrazas | |
|---|---|
| |
| 7th President of the Conservative Party | |
| Assuming office | |
| President | Benigno Aquino III |
| Vice President | Jejomar Binay |
| Succeeding | Martín de Amor y Carlos |
| 34th Mayor of Cristo el Salvador | |
| Monarch | Juan Carlos I of Spain |
| President | Ferdinand Marcos |
| Preceded by | Fernando Lopez |
| 4th Head of the Conservative Party | |
| Monarch | Juan Carlos I of Spain |
| President | Corazon Aquino Fidel Ramos |
| Preceded by | Villa Ortiz |
| 2nd Head of the Conservative Party | |
| Monarch | Juan Carlos I of Spain |
| Preceded by | Villa Ortiz |
| Personal details | |
| Nationality |  Filipino
|
| Residence | Cristo el Salvador, Philippines
|
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Military service | |
| Unit | 4th Zamboanga Reserve Unit |
| Battles/wars | Mindanao war on terror |
Sancho Miguel Abelló y Terrazas (born December 1, 1953) also known by the title Don Sancho, is a former Filipino politician who served as the Head of the Conservative Party of the Philippines from 1975 to 1981 and 1987 to 1993 and as its President from 2012 to 2015.
Sancho was a close friend of the party's founder Villa Ortiz, and the nephew of Sancho Cruz de Quirós, the leader of The New Principalía, one of the parties that merged to form the Conservative Party. Sancho has been a very influential figure in the history of the Conservative Party, and was regarded as its most "radical" leader. He has been dubbed one of Philippine history's most far-right leaders.
His father and uncle served in the Philippine Armed Forces as a kid. He joined himself in 1971 out of motivation dealing with the loss of his uncle to Mindanao nationalist militants. He was arrested for bombing a mosque in Zamboanga City, and for disobeying orders from military superiors. He briefly served as a military officer under the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos, until he severed ties due to conflicting political views. Afterward, he became the Mayor of the City of Cristo el Salvador, the location of the Conservative Party's headquarters.
He was been known for his strong stance against LGBT movements, abortion, multi-culturalism and known to promote Roman Catholicism in all of the Philippines, and to eliminate all other religions. He has supported Catholic crusader and missions in the non-Muslim dominated parts of the Philippines particularly in Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago and Sabah.
Childhood[]
Sancho was born in the city of San Lorenzo to wealthy landowners in the province of Batangas, a wealthy first-class municipality of the Philippines. Sancho is a mestizo of mixed descent, and contains a mix Spanish, Tagalog and Kapampangan descent. His family was fluent in Spanish, Tagalog and Kapampangan. They were members of the The New Principalía, a political party meant at preserving and conserving Spanish tradition and culture in the Philippines.
His uncle and his father both served in the Philippine Armed Forces, and both were deployed to Mindanao to fight insurgents of the Parti Kebangsaan Mindanao. His uncle lost his life serving in Mindanao, and his father sustained heavy damage on his left leg and right arm. This left them to the care of his paternal grandfather.
Getting along well with his uncle, Terrazas was devastated by his loss and developed an avid hate for Muslims and a desire to join the Philippine Armed Forces.
Military career[]
In 1971, Sancho enlisted to serve in the Philippine Armed Forces under the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos, despite it being against his mother and his father's wishes. It also conflicted with his maternal uncle, Sancho Cruz de Quirós who was the leader of the The New Principalía, an opposition party to Marcos' regime.
However, Sancho told his family that he wasn't fighting for Ferdinand Marcos, he was fighting for his late uncle and for the Philippines. However by this time, the Mindanao Independence War ended with a Filipino victory. He got his wish, and was deployed to Mindanao, to serve as part of the Zamboanga 4th Reserve Unit.
On September 3, 1971, he was charged for murdering and shooting an unarmed Muslim man, placing him in military prison for three months. In 1972, he was charged with reckless assault after opening fire, on a crowd of Muslims and killing his own colleague who was trying to stop him. It was found that he was intoxicated, and was put under military arrest for one year and 100 days. He was also put in a psych ward in Cagayan de Oro.
He was released back into service in 1973. In 1974, he was called into combat as the Philippine Armed Forces carried out an attack in Jolo. However, he lost all of his close acquaintances and colleagues in the firefight, causing him to suffer from mental trauma. On November 1, 1974 he and and a squad were called to investigate suspicious activity at a mosque in Zamboanga City. Sancho and his men were told not to open fire until told to do so, until their officer was shot and they proceeded to destroy the mosque, by shooting all of the people inside it, and proceeding to plant bombs.
Through investigations, it was found that Sancho himself had shot and killed the commanding officer, claimed to be the acting officer and ordered his men to carry forth the massacre. Sancho was put on military trial, discharged from the military. He was placed on house arrest for one year and forced to perform community service.
Political Career[]
Head of the Conservative Party 1975-1981[]
In 1975, Sancho apologized for his actions that he performed during military service. However, he stated that he still has an unquellable avid hate for Islam. Despite these, he became a propaganda figure within the Conservative Party, as he was source of myths on the War on Terror in Mindanao. In 1975, he was elected as the new Head of the Conservative Party of the Philippines. Terrazas was an influential speaker for the Conservative Party. He was highly praised among Catholics, for embracing a stronger presence of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines. He spearheaded the resistance movement against the regime of Ferdinand Marcos, and even got local police to join the resistance. He organized a loose militia known as "El Resistencia" literally "The Resistance" in Spanish, that patrolled towns and cities to be ready to provide an armed resistance in case Marcos' forces ever opened fire. In 1981, Villa Ortiz was re-elected as the Head.
Mayor of Cristo el Salvador 1981-1985[]
Sancho ran against Democrat Fernando Lopez for Mayor of Cristo el Salvador, the city home of the Conservative Party. He successfully defeated Lopez, to assume the role of city mayor. As mayor of Cristo el Salvador, Sancho vocally stated his public support for the People's Power Movement against Ferdinand Marcos. However, he had allegations of corruption - particularly anti-Ilocano sentiments. He was known to publicly target and persecute ethnic Ilocanos living in Cristo el Salvador, His his financial support, in 1986, Ferdinand Marcos was toppled and Corazon Aquino was installed as the President.
Second time as Head of the Conservative Party 1987-1993[]
Sancho took a two-year hiatus from politics, and went to live a quiet two years of his life at his farm. He took a trip to Spain, where he met face to face with King Juan Carlos I. Because of his loyalty, Juan Carlos I allowed Sancho to stay in his palace. He also took a trip to Mexico. In 1987, he was re-elected for a second time as Head of the Conservative Party. As Head, he began to tackle social and domestic issues, and stated a disgust for homosexuality. In 1989, he began a crusader program to convert non-Catholics to Roman Catholicism. The first one operated in Luzon, targeting Christian non-Catholics such as Protestants, Baptists, Methodists or Iglesia ni Kristo. Terrazas stated that Catholicism was the only "right" section of Christianity, all others were blasphemy. The second one, was in 1991, this time - he targeted the non-Catholics of Mindanao, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Christian non-Catholics. The second crusader movement began in Zamboanga City, which historically was Spain's stronghold in Mindanao. He did experience some success, converting some impoverished Tausug families to Roman Catholicism. He paid for their flights to Manila where they received community support from Roman Catholic fellows, housing and luxuries. In 1992, he enabled for the Conservatives to establish another headquarters in Zamboanga City, a city with high-Spanish influence. He also became an avid supporter of gun control. That same year, he received death threats from Muslims in Mindanao, after one of his "crusaders" allegedly converted a Maranoan sultan's daughter to Christianity and marrying her in Manila. In 1993, Sancho's two-term limit ended (as members are only allotted two terms as Head).
President of the Conservative Party 2012-2015[]
In 2012, Sancho returned to fill in the vacancy as President of the Conservative Party, following the murder of Martín de Amor y Carlos. On June 16, 2015, Sancho was suspended temporarily after the party's Leader decided that Sancho could no longer represent a peaceful Conservative Party after remarks calling for the killing of Muslim children, and the "raping" of Palestinian wives, as well as the burning of Africans. On June 23, 2015, the Conservative Party's Advisory Board decided that Sancho could no longer represent the party and was mentally unstable, and Sancho was impeached as the president and no longer allowed to hold anymore political positions with the Conservative Party.
Sancho highly rejected this move. He said, "I gave my life for this party, and for this country. I really just cannot believe how I am getting paid back for it."
Afterward, in a fit of anger, Sancho announced that he was completely retiring from Philippine politics, criticizing Filipino politicians overall for being corrupt.
Religious charity and activism=[]
Sancho is an avid propagator of Roman Catholicism, as the established a Catholic state is one of the fore-front goals of the Conservative Party. During his second term as Head of the Conservative Party, he found the Crusader Program (Spanish: Programa Crusader), a missionary to spread Roman Catholicism in all non-Catholic regions of the Philippines. They are divided into a Luzon Crusaders, Visayas Crusaders and Mindanao Crusaders.
Via the Crusader Program, each Catholic convert is given high recognition and praise from Catholic communities across the Philippines. They are also given community support of all sorts, and are even given luxurious perks. This tradition was adopted from the Spanish colonial era, in which converts to Roman Catholicism were given rewards by the conquerors, such as to keep their royal titles and prestige.
Catholic converts of some prestige (i.e. sultan, rajah, datu) according to the terms of the program are to be addressed by "Don" or "Doña" meaning "ruler" and are to still be recognized with the same amount of prestige they had in their native culture. Though per Philippine government rulings, these royal titles bear no political significance.
Stance on political/social issues[]
Same-sex marriage[]
Sancho has evidently shown to be a strong supporter of traditional marriage. He criticized the Philippine acceptance of the LGBT community. He says that he would never allow his sons to be married to a man, nor his daughters to be married to a woman.
He said, "God planted us on this Earth to pair as man and woman. Same-sex marriage is like water and oil. We need to start labelling homosexuality as a mental disorder, because it is."
In 2013, he and the current Leader Hernando Sanchez y Rodrigo introduced a municipal bill that would label acts such as kissing or romantic hugging by same-sex partners as acts of public indecency.
Views on Non-Catholics[]
Sancho has held radical views against non-Catholics, especially the Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists of Mindanao. He stated, "My wish to see all of Mindanao and Sulu become Roman Catholic. I don't see the bad in that, when you accept the gift of God, you have the support of the entire nation behind you."
He stated that he has nothing against Mindanao or Sabahan native culture, but he simply wants to see them become Catholics. He stated, "A lot of people misquote me and misunderstand my stance on the people of Mindanao, Sabah and the Sulu Archipelago. I'm not against them speaking their native language or practicing their native culture, I just want to see them accept God's grace and become baptized Catholics, and learn Spanish as a second or third language. I have nothing agaist them speaking their native languages like Tausūg, Maranoan or Maguindanaoan. We've converted many Tausūgs to Roman Catholicism, and they still speak Tausūg or Malay and introduce their native culture to us. It's not to eliminate their culture, we just want them to embrace Catholicism and not to replace their native language with Spanish, but to add Spanish to their list of language proficiencies. You see, we're simply just continuing what the gracious Spanish rulers did. When they came to the Philippines, we embraced Catholicism and instead of treating us like crap, they let us continued to enjoy our native culture and the prestige that anybody held such as datus or rajahs. They gave us support and treated us as any native-born person of Spain. Many of my ancient ancestors were rajahs. This formed the class known as the Principales. So I see no problem in adding a language."
Paradoxically, it is Sancho who spear-headed the Conservative opposition to the state officiating of Malay, and was known for his anti-Malay and anti-Indonesian sentiments. He was against Gilbert Teodoro's decision to proclaim Ahmad Salahuddin, the founder of the Parti Kebangsaan, as a national hero.
He stated, "Ahmad Salahuddin was nothing but a monster, who tried to break away from the Philippines and tried to eliinate Spanish culture from the Philippines. He was a Muslim who tried to turn the Philippines into a Malay-speaking Muslim country, into a poor bastard nation like Indonesia. What kind of national hero is that?"
Birth control and abortion[]
Sancho is also against birth control and abortion. He said, "When you are pregnant, it means that God is fulfilling his plan to bring another person, another soul into this world. To be aborting a baby, you are defying God's plan. If you were raped, that's because it's all part of a plan. As Christians, we are to obey the Bible and the Bible says our sole mission is to worship God and reproduce in order to populate the Earth with more worshipers."
Gun control[]
Sancho was also one of the most ardent and vocal supporters of gun control, stating that he is against all firearms ownership with the exception of law enforcement and military. Sancho states that gun ownership encourages rebellion, and rebellion is a sin according to the Bible. Sancho also associates gun ownership with Baptists, Protestants and Islamic extremists, which he claims are all products of rebellion.
Sancho stated that civilian gun ownership should be extremely restricted and limited to pest control and hunting, stating that animals had no souls. He expresses that while he recognizes target-shooting as a legitimate sport, the firearms used for target-shooting should only be rented to citizens with strict police supervision, and not ever sold to them.
Sancho supported many global gun control movements, including a Catholic-backed referendum to stricten Brazil's gun laws. In 1998, he also supported an attempted gun buyback attempt by-then Australian prime minister John Howard.
Personal life[]
Sancho currently resides in Cavite, and owns a couple farms and ranches. He is currently married to Maria Terrazas. They have six children, two boys - Carlos and Felipe and three girls: Maria, Lucia and Diana.
The family goes on yearly trips to Mexico, since they have close friends living in Mexico, members of the Royalist Party,