He dared to defy the dictator Marcos.

Novo Ecijano Gen. Rafael Ileto who dared to oppose Ferdinand Marcos' declaration of martial law, died last June 19 at the Philippine Heart Center at age 82.

He had been confined at the hospital since April when doctors found water in his lungs. He was subsequently diagnosed with prostate cancer, stage 4.

Ileto founded the elite Scout Rangers of the Philippine Army, but his defiance of Marcos' martial law is what he is most remembered for. Because of his opposition to martial law, Ileto was made deputy chief of staff, depriving him of direct control of troops. Marcos later appointed him ambassador to Iran and Turkey if only to get him out of the way.

Ileto was born in 1920 in San Isidro, Nueva Ecija. His first taste of the military was when he entered the basic Reserved Officers Training Course while taking up mechanical engineering at the University of the Philippines. He entered Philippine Military Academy in 1940, but was later sent to the US Military Academy, West Point, where he graduated in 1943.

During World War II, he fought with the US Army's Alamo Scouts and participated in the rescue of American prisoners-of-war in Camp Pangatian, Cabanatuan City.

Last April, he was to be honored as a "living hero" during the commemoration of the Liberation of Pangatian, but he did not attent the rites -- reportedly because he could not bear the thought of showing himself in public on such an occasion, feeble and in a wheelchair.

Ileto also played a key role in the EDSA Revolution that toppled Marcos in 1986, acting as a liason between the troops loyal to the dictator led by Gen. Fabian Ver, and the breakaway group of Fidel Ramos and Juan Ponce Enrile.

He served as Pres. Corazon Aquino's defense secretary and later as her national security adviser, and Pres. Fidel Ramos' presidential adviser on military affairs.