A former rebel leader from Bacolod City is one of 10 leaders worldwide named recipients of the 2015 Child10 (C10) Awards in Stockholm, Sweden.

The awardee is Ma. Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, the famous Kumander Liway who fought the Marcos dictatorship in the hinterlands of southern Negros during the martial law years, who is the founder of Visayan Forum.

She is the first Filipina to receive the Child10 Award, founded by the Sophie Stenbeck Family Foundation and Reach for Change.

“Visayan Forum promotes awareness about human trafficking in the poorest parts of the Philippines. They have established protection mechanisms in ports and airports that enable law enforcers, social workers, and shipping companies to uncover potential human trafficking,” said Reach for Change that announced this year's awardees on its website.

The awardees were selected for their bold and innovative work with families and communities to prevent acts of violence against the child, Reach for Change added.

Oebanda is from Barangay Banago, Bacolod City.

In 2012, Oebanda told the DAILY STAR she was a San Sebastian Cathedral catechist in Bacolod City who helped human rights victims when Martial Law was declared in 1972.

She also organized youth leaders and joined the New People's Army in the 1970s.

She was eventually captured by the military in September 1982 in Hinobaan town, and was detained for five years. She was released after the 1986 People Power Revolution that ousted then president Ferdinand Marcos and installed Corazon Aquino to the presidency.

Upon her release, Oebanda went to Manila and started a small business until she organized the VFFI in 1991.

Oebanda is a single parent with four children.

She studied at the Andres Bonifacio Elementary School, Negros Occidental Provincial High School and finished a commerce degree at the Colegio San Agustin Bacolod.*CPG

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