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Ka Bel: The Consummate Warrior
To generations of labour activists, Crispin "Ka Bel" Beltran is an iconic
figure – a towering model who has survived five presidents in his fight
for the working poor. The 75-year old aging warrior is still very much in
the fray, albeit a bit slower in gait and a voice now muted with age.
BY TED ALCUITAS
Philippine Asian News Today
Vancouver, B. C.
Posted by Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 13, May 4-10, 2008
To generations of labour activists, Crispin 'Ka Bel' Beltran is an iconic
figure – a towering model who has survived five presidents in his fight
for the working poor.
The 75-year old aging warrior is still very much in the fray, albeit a bit
slower in gait and a voice now muted with age.
This was evident when he spoke in Vancouver last April 5 on the first leg
of his cross-Canada tour with colleagues Satur Ocampo and Luz Ilagan to
appear before the subcommittee of the House Standing Committee on Foreign
Affairs and International Trade. The partylist solons urged the Canadian
government to conduct a hearing into the human rights situation and to tie
its aid to the human rights record of the Philippines, a record that has
been staunchly denounced by international bodies including a Canadian
fact-finding team – the Philippines-Canada Human Rights Task Force on the
Philippines (PCTFHR).
First meeting
I first met Ka Bel during the 1997 No to APEC! conference in Vancouver. At
the time, he was head of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), the country's
largest trade union.
Then in 1998, at a rally in front of the U.S. Embassy in Manila, I
witnessed a fiery speaker on top of a truck haranguing the Americans, this
man with his hoary voice who could speak with rage until his voice was
almost inaudible. It was one of my first up-close experience with his
fiery oratory – one reason perhaps, that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo doesn't
want him in the streets.
Our paths crossed again at the founding congress of the International
League of People's Struggle (ILPS) in Amsterdam in 2001 where he
co-chaired the proceedings and was elected Chair of the International
Coordinating Group. He had just been elected as a congressman for the
partylist Bayan Muna - his first foray into the electoral process.
Our next meeting in December 2006 was more somber.
Members of the Canadian Fact-fining Mission to the Philippines organized
by the PCTFHR visited Beltran while under detention in the hospital. He
was in hospital pajamas in a small private room at the Philippine Heart
Center in Quezon City where he was confined under a 24-hour guard. He was
moved to the hospital after his health deteriorated while detained at the
military prison after his arrest.
Repression of the labour movement
Ka Bel was illegally arrested on Feb. 25, 2006 when President Arroyo
declared a State of Emergency accusing him and five of his Partylist
colleagues of trumped-up charges of rebellion. Of the six, only Ka Bel was
caught – a 'trophy catch' for the beleaguered Arroyo administration that
was looking for scapegoats to blame the country's ills on. The six became
known as the 'Batasan 6' and their case dragged on until July 2007 when
the Supreme Court dismissed the charges and Beltran was freed.
His arrest and imprisonment sparked a world-wide 'Free Ka Bel ' movement.
From Germany to Japan, Australia and the Netherlands and other places
including Canada, people rallied for his release.
This arrest and imprisonment was not the first one for the veteran labour
leader who has been a thorn on the side of Philippine presidents beginning
from Marcos, who first arrested and imprisoned him in 1982. In 1984, he
made a daring jailbreak and went underground surfacing only when Corazon
Aquino took power in 1986 to resume his work with the labour movement.
Parliamentary struggle
Beltran won a second term in 2004 under the partylist Anakpawis (Toiling
Masses) representing labour and the urban poor.
In the 2007 elections, Beltran was again reelected for a third term
despite the fact he was not able to campaign as he was still detained at
the time – a feat that proves his popularity with the people.
He admits that parliamentary struggle is not the only form of struggle to
change Philippine society, but that it is the parliament of the streets
and the people that will change society.
Nevertheless, he uses the parliamentary platform to push for a 'People's
Agenda' – authoring laws for the poor and the marginalized sectors. Since
his election in 2001, he has campaigned vigorously for the passage of a
law that will give a legislated P125 across-the-board wage increase for
all workers. The bill, which already has passed the House, is languishing
in the Senate.
Family man
While his work as a labour leader is well-known, he is reticent about his
private life.
The former taxi driver turned- labour leader and now a parliamentarian,
has been married to his wife of fifty years and has 10 children and 27
grandchildren. The former Rosario 'Ka Osang' Soto, who hails from Malolos,
Bulacan, met Ka Bel under inauspicious circumstances.
The young Ka Osang left her grandmother's house after an argument one day
and was wandering in the streets of Manila and in a daze, walked into a
waiting taxi – driven by the 26-year old Ka Bel. They married after that
fateful meeting and has supported each other ever since.
Last December 2006, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in
prison – at the hospital's chapel where Ka Bel was detained. Close friends
and colleagues from the Congress attended the ceremony under heavy guard.
Canadian connection
Despite his many 'brushes' with the state, Ka Bel continues to champion
the cause of the working poor whenever he has the opportunity. In fact he
not only champions the poor in the Philippines but also the so-called
Overseas Filipinos (OFWs). For Vancouver OFWs particularly, he is an
advocate and ally in their continuing struggle for their rights.
When SIKLAB, the acronym for Sulong, Itaguyod ang Karapatan ng mga
Mangagawa sa Labas ng Bansa (Organization to Advance the Rights of
Filipino Overseas Workers) was launched in 1995, he was the guest speaker
and has continued his links with the organization to this day.
One of his first congressional bills asked the House of Representatives to
investigate alleged abuses suffered by Filipinos in Canada working under
the Live-in-Caregiver Program of the federal government.
During his imprisonment, Canadian Senator Sharon Carstairs, head of the
International Parliamentary Union's Human Rights Committee, personally
intervened for him and visited him at his hospital prison. Senator
Carstairs intervention came about through the work of the (PCTFHR).
During his short stay in Canada, he made sure to thank his supporters who
kept faith with him during his ordeal and promised to continue the
struggle for as long as he has the strength.
To many, Ka Bel is indeed a "hero" for in the words of Jose Maria Sison's
epic poem "What Makes a Hero" - a hero serves the people to his very last
breath. Posted by Bulatlat
Click here for photos of Ka Bel in Toronto
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Streetwise
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo
Ka Bel’s legacy
The accolades coming the way of Anakpawis Representative Crispin “Ka Bel”
Beltran, in his untimely death, salute his honesty and self-sacrifice, his
courageous resistance against all forms of political repression, his
unwavering commitment and service to the cause of the working class, his
example of humility, good cheer and sincere concern for the lowly and
downtrodden and, not the least, his being a loving and responsible family
man who found time to rear ten children in the midst of his life-long
struggle
against exploitation and oppression.
It is not difficult to imagine what sorts of blandishments, bribes and
outright persecutory schemes were thrown at Ka Bel by his foes who were,
as far as we know, all political and ideological and not personal,
adversaries. The most outrageous recent ones have been chronicled in the
mass media: anattempted bribe of P2 million pesos for him to support a
flawed-and-programmed-to-fail impeachment complaint against de facto
President Gloria Arroyo and his 15-month detention on rebellion charges
that were dismissed by the Supreme Court as baseless and a gross violation
of his right to due process.
As a grizzled icon of the trade union movement in the country, the
opportunities to grow rich by compromising the interests of workers were
always present. As chairperson of the multisectoral alliance, Bagong
Alyansang Makabayan, a volte face in his leftist viewpoint and politics on
many a burning issue would have been a boon to ruling regimes and the
elite class interests they protect and promote.
As a bone fide member of the House of Representatives (he didn’t use
public funds, military generals and corrupt members of the Commission on
Elections to get elected) he acted in true form – a radical oppositionist
in a reactionary institution. He spoke on and filed countless bills and
resolutions addressing the urgent and most basic problems of the nation
from the P125 legislated minimum wage increase to genuine agrarian reform
to making the US-backed Arroyo regime accountable for its grievous crimes
against the people. But never for a moment did Ka Bel forsake the
Parliament of the Streets where his familiar smiling face, firm handshake
and steady stride inspired both demonstrators and onlookers alike.
Ka Bel had traveled to many places around the world but not to the United
States of America. Succeeding administrations, whether Republican or
Democratic, had continued to blacklist him as an unwanted alien long after
the downfall of his jailer, the Dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and even when
he had already attained the title of “Honorable” as an elected
representative to
Congress. His staunch anti-imperialist stance and his identification with
progressive causes and leadership role in the International League for
Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) have earned him the ire of rabid pro-imperialists
while endearing him to struggling peoples and their movements worldwide.
Next to having devoted his entire life to the struggle for national and
social
emancipation, the most remarkable thing about Ka Bel is how he remained
simple and humble despite his fame and stature. He is the best, if not the
only person we know who could get away with wearing a dressy suit or
barong tagalong without losing his “masang-masa” aura.
Now the secret is out, ironically revealed by his accidental death. Ka Bel
looked like a man of the masses, not only because he always took up the
cudgels for them and was with them in their day-to-day as well as historic
struggles, but because, in truth, he lived and died a man of very modest
means. His wife of more than 50 years, Ka Osang, recounted between sobs,
how he had been recently occupying himself with repairs on their house,
clearing a space in their cramped residence to park an old van he had been
using but was badly in need of repair and sweetly promising that he would
help her pull the weeds from the garden in the coming weeks so that their
vegetables would grow well and help feed the hungry.
His comrades, co-workers and subordinates and even some on the opposite
side of the fence in many a bruising political battle, can attest to Ka
Bel’s
good-heartedness and humility. He never threw his weight around in
meetings nor did he demand special treatment wherever he went. He was
always willing to give his time and energy to undertake risky, strenuous
and even unglamorous roles so long as these were needed. He was concerned
about the welfare of "kasamas", the ordinary people and his growing brood
of grandchildren.
Ka Bel was never intentionally mean to anyone (of course he would get
angry at oppressors and exploiters and would have willingly engaged his
persecutors in the Department of Justice in a street brawl). He was
generous, some say to a fault, in giving even the policemen standing ready
to violently disperse demonstrators, the option to disobey unlawful orders
from their superiors by addressing them as "kababayan” (countrymen) and
asking them to open their eyes to what was happening in the country.
Those in the Arroyo regime who contributed in no small measure to Ka Bel’s
deteriorated health condition, his economic difficulties and his unabated
political persecution would now want to act as if they had, all along,
only the highest regard for Ka Bel despite their disagreements with his
ideology and politics. They send flowers and make sympathetic noises now
that he’s dead and even wish to let it appear that as far as they are
concerned, bygones are bygones.
Let us in the democratic mass movement express ourselves clearly and
emphatically. Ka Bel was an uncompromising, untiring fighter for freedom,
justice and fundamental reforms. He has left us a legacy that serves as an
inspiration to generations of activists and the toiling, struggling masses
he
so loved and whom he served to his last breath.
We celebrate his life by affirming the progressive, nay revolutionary,
principles and national democratic program he fought for. As the marchers
who accompanied his hearse to the Iglesia Filipina Independiente Cathedral
shouted resolutely, “Ka Bel, tuloy ang laban!”#
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