Statement of Youth and Student Groups from Manila, Phillipines on India's Operation Green Hunt

We, in the various youth and student groups in the Philippines express our condemnation at the intensifying attacks of the Indian government, starting from the Central government down to the state governments in pursuing the so-called Operation Green Hunt, its counter-insurgency operations purportedly directed primarily against the Communist Party of India (Maoist).

From the start of the Operation it has become clear that the real targets are not the Maoists alone but the resistance of the people of India against the wanton and profit-driven operations of big multinational companies backed by government and its military and police.

It has been reported that intensified militarization in the regions of Orissa, Jharkand, Andra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and in the heroic Lalgarh had further resulted to wider human rights violations. Illegal and unjust arrests, forceful evacuation, torture, rape, and extra-judicial killings are being committed by military, police and paramilitary without hesitation, in full public view and with so much impunity.

The Operation Green Hunt is against the adivasis, farmers, ordinary people especially in the remotest and poorest villages of India. The only crime they have committed is to stand and prevent the profit-driven mining and corporations in its operations which will destroy their livelihood and plunder the environ and India's natural resources.

We condemn the use of the Operation to flush out the adivasis and farmers from their land and government's building of concentration camps of the displaced in order to pursue its Memorandum of Agreements (MOA) with various mining corporations. We demand that these camps be immediately closed.

We demand that the Indian government withdraw heightened military deployment in the countryside and halt its Operation Green Hunt, and balked at pursuing anti-people projects which will only trample upon the basic rights of Indian people.

We support the Indian youth and people in their legitimate resistance against the systematic loot of India's resources which deprive its own people their life and livelihood, and their future.

Long live International Solidarity!


ANAKBAYAN (Sons and Daughters of the People)

Student Christian Movement of the Philippines

League of Filipino Students (LFS)

On the January 30-31 Demonstration

An assessment of the events subsequently January 26, 1st day of brutal dispersal in the period of FQS. This is lifted from the FQS Library.

By Ang Bayan, official publication of the Communist Party of the Philippines
Published in the book, First Quarter Storm of 1970 (Silangan Publishers, 1970), p. 36-45)

The Brutality of the Reactionary State

Not satisfied with the brutal breaking-up of the January 26 demonstration in front of Congress, the reactionary regime of Marcos Perpetrated on January 30-31 far bloodier and more brutal crimes against more than 50,000 students, progressive intellectuals, workers and peasants who demonstrated in front of Malacañang.

Four student heroes enrolled in various large schools in the Greater Manila area were wantonly murdered with rifle fire by military troops and the police. Hundreds of other young men and women were seriously injured and maimed for life. They filled six large hospitals in the Greater Manila area. The savagery of the shooting and truncheon beating conducted by the reactionary troops and police was such that until now scores of demonstrators continue to be on the verge of death. Hundreds of militant demonstrators were arrested and wounded demonstrators were thrown into PC and Army trucks like hogs for the butcherhouse. Many of those arrested were subjected to torture and long hours of interrogation by PC investigators. Some of those apprehended are still being missed by their schoolmates and friends.

Even after the demonstration, the fascist brutes continued to kidnap and arrest students and other demonstration leaders in the futile attempt of the Marcos puppet reactionary regime to blackmail and intimidate them and forestall more and bigger mass protests against its bloody crimes against the people. Immediately after the demonstration, the reactionary government filed sedition charges against demonstration leaders and other militants, closed the schools in the Greater Manila area and turned its spies against patriotic students and leaders of mass organizations suspected of organizing more protest actions. A ban on protest demonstrations was brazenly imposed.

During and after the demonstrations, the fascist puppet chieftain Marcos called all his top henchmen in the major services of the reactionary armed forces and briefed them for more intensified suppression and intimidation of patriotic students and organizations. The U.S. A.I.D,-trained brutes of the Manila police as well as those of the suburban areas were organized to be let loose on the demonstrators.
Never has there been a more open and bloodier suppression of democratic rights in the city than the suppression of the demonstration of January 30-31.

The Revolutionary Courage of the Students and Other Demonstrators

The militant participants of the January 26 demonstration in front of Congress were never cowed by the brutality of the reactionary state. They came back with more intense patriotism and courage to join the January 30-31 demonstration against the reactionary state and the fascist puppets of U.S. imperialism.

The militant students, constituting the majority of the participants in the demonstrations, came in big numbers from 36 universities, colleges and high schools in Manila. Also participating were representatives from more than 40 universities and colleges in the provinces. Together with contingents of workers and peasants, they gave full play to the revolutionary spirit of “It is right to rebel” against U.S. imperialism and local reaction. They fought tit for tat against the reactionary troops and police with explosives made on the spot, iron bars taken from street railings and stones. They commandeered a fire truck to break the main gate of Malacañang and a bus to break the lines of the advancing hordes of Metrocom men and set fire to several army and police vehicles, including trucks, jeeps and a cop motorcycle.

The patriotic demonstrators shouted revolutionary slogans condemning the fascist brutality of the reactionary state and calling on the workers, peasants, students and progressive intellectuals to unite against U.S. imperialism, feudalism and the Marcos puppet reactionary regime.

The residents in the demonstration area were inspired by the dauntless revolutionary spirit of the demonstrators as they held their ground against the attacks of the armed brutes of the reactionary state. They took in many wounded demonstrators and even treated them.

Frightened out of his wits, the fascist puppet Marcos gave the order to shoot the patriotic demonstrators and had a helicopter ready for his immediate escape from the ire of the militant demonstrators. Apart from the 2,000 reactionary troops which unleashed the sanguinary suppression against the demonstrating masses, AFP chieftain Manuel Yan ordered the 12,000-man strong PC on “red-alert”, and the air force, navy and army on “blue alert”. He even summoned Task Force Lawin, the Marines and five companies of the Special Forces from Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija to reinforce the troops in and around Manila. This has clearly shown the utter panic of the Marcos reactionary regime in confronting the militant masses of demonstrators. In mortal fear of further mass protest actions against its corrupt and brutal regime, it has kept a large number of reactionary troops in the Greater Manila area up to now.

After the demonstration of January 30-31, the patriotic students and other demonstrators have continuously fought in various forms the reactionary puppet regime and vowed to develop their struggle in scale and depth. Their dauntless revolutionary spirit has inspired and won the sympathy of the broad masses of the people throughout the country. Mass actions are sweeping the country in support of the January 30-31 demonstration and in protest against the fascist terror perpetrated by the Marcos puppet reactionary regime.

The revolutionary courage and heroism of the students have lifted the hearts of the oppressed and exploited people all over the country. They have in a big way fanned the flames of revolutionary struggle. The entire Filipino people are increasingly awakening to the need for armed revolutionary struggle in the face of armed counter-revolution.

Subsequent Tactics of the Enemy

Within 24 hours after the sanguinary suppression of the patriotic demonstrators, the fascist chieftain Marcos babbled in his “nationwide call” through the mass media that the militant mass demonstration was either “communist-inspired” and “not communist-inspired” in a desperate effort to tone down the immediate nationwide condemnation of his bloody crimes. Marcos has tried in vain to cover up the fact that the broad masses of the student demonstrators together with workers and peasants, are united in their common feeling of indignation against and in their resistance to his puppet reactionary regime and his U.S. imperialist masters. He cannot hope to split the ranks of patriotic students, workers and peasants who will always rise up inasmuch as they have reached a new and higher level of consciousness against the enemies of national democracy.

Marcos has tried to wash his hands of the blood of the patriotic demonstrators brutally murdered and maimed by his henchmen – the reactionary military troops and police. He even has the impudence to demand gratitude from the people because he has exercised “tolerance” and restrained himself from murdering more students or formally suspending the privilege of habeas corpus. But his hypocritical speech cannot erase the fact of the unprecedented murder of four student youth and maiming and mass arrests of hundreds of patriotic demonstrators under his regime nor can it hide the truth that all this is but a preparation for further bloody suppressions of patriotic militants and organizations and the national democratic movement in general.

Marcos’ January 31st red-baiting statement has set the line for the subsequent bicameral hearings being conducted by Congress. It is evident from the pattern of interrogation in the hearings that militant and patriotic organizations are the object of this witch-hunt. This again is a dirty scheme to divert the attention of the people from the bloody crimes of the Marcos reactionary regime and to stifle the growing mass movement of the Filipino people against U.S. imperialism and its local reactionary allies. It is not surprising fur such a politically bankrupt regime to concentrate its attack on those who truly speak and act for the national democratic interests of the people. Not a single one of its henchmen who brutally attacked the patriotic demonstrators has been apprehended and tried.

Far from putting the blame on the reactionary troops and police, Marcos even lauded their “exemplary” conduct in the murder, maiming and mass arrests of the patriotic militant demonstrators. Together with his gang of fascist brutes, Marcos led a field mass at Malacañang Park where he took the opportunity to exhort the troops of the reactionary armed forces to prepare for more sanguinary suppression of the people’s struggle for national liberation and democratic rights.

Marcos callously manipulates the Catholic Church through Cardinal Santos, the bishops and the priests to chasten the demonstrators for having militantly acted in defense of their democratic rights. True to his role as an apologist of the counter-revolutionary state which exploits and oppresses the Filipino people, Cardinal Santos is first of all “concerned” about the “destruction” of “private property” than about the wanton killing of four student demonstrators and the serious injury of hundreds of demonstrators by the Marcos fascist gang. He clamours for a “dialogue” only after a monologue of bullets burst out from the guns of the reactionary troops and police to repress the indignant voices of the patriotic demonstrators who gathered on that historic day of January 30 and fought back for more than six hours till the early hours of January 31. in more cleverly couched terms so as not to appear “political”, he has also warned against “ideologies” which “sow disunity” among the people. This is a vicious attempt to hide the truth that never in the history of our country have the Filipino people forged such a militant unity against such a hopelessly corrupt regime which has extremely isolated itself from the overwhelming majority of the people because of its virulent opposition to their national democratic aspirations.

After the murder, maiming and mass arrests of patriotic demonstrators, the Marcos puppet regime would now dangle before the students monetary and other material bribes such as the promise of a $0.6 million trust fund for so-called “student welfare programs and projects” and the creation of a “national student commission”. But the students know better. They are very much aware that this is but one ace of the counter-revolutionary dual tactic of the fascist puppet regime to soften up their struggle against the reactionary state. They are more vigilant than ever about the dirty trick of buying off scabs in the student and youth movement.

In order to attack the surging patriotic student and youth movement, the Marcos reactionary regime is resorting to the use of fascist gangs and even the “Monkees”. It has also sent infiltrators and agents into youth meetings and conferences in the foolish hope of splitting the ranks of patriotic and militant organizations of youth and students.

The Marcos reactionary regime continues to mobilize thousands of military troops for guarding the Greater Manila area. It has ordered the PC authorities of various zones to organize their own “anti-riot” squads to suppress the rapidly spreading wave if indignation rallies and demonstrations against the brutal suppression of the patriotic demonstrators in Manila.

The puppet regime of Marcos in its role as the chief hatchetman of U.S. imperialism and feudalism has been so discredited before the eyes of the broad masses of the Filipino people that only the most rabid counter-revolutionaries will ever try to save it from its inevitable doom as the local revisionist renegades are vainly attempting to do by crying in dismay about the “purely anti-Marcos” line of the recent militant mass demonstrations. Evidently, this is for the sole purpose of begging political capital from the Marcos reactionary regime in the form of allowing them to participate in bourgeois parliamentary politics.

Evaluation of the January 26 and January 30-31 Demonstrations
The demonstrations of January 26 and January 30-31 came close on the heels of the student and worker demonstrations against the visit of U.S. Vice-President Agnew last December 29. They signify the new awakening of the Filipino people against U.S. imperialism and the local reactionary puppets. They are a bugle call for more militant mass actions in the city for this year as well as the current decade.
These demonstrations have served to raise the consciousness of the masses of the Filipino people against the reactionary state which serves U.S. imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. The broad masses of the people have increasingly understood the need for revolutionary armed struggle against the armed counter-revolution and for overthrowing the present reactionary state.

The demonstrations have served as a rich source of activists for the national democratic revolution and, therefore, of prospective members and fighters of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army.

The revolutionary mass actions in the city are bound to develop in coordination with the surging agrarian revolution in the countryside. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines, ideological, political and organizational preparations are continuously being made for intensified revolutionary armed struggle in the countryside and bigger mass actions in the city against U.S. imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. The entire reactionary system in the Philippines is rotting daily and the objective conditions for waging armed struggle are getting better daily.

Internationally, U.S. imperialism and Soviet social-imperialism are plunging speedily into insoluble political and economic crises while the invincible forces of socialism and national liberation are surging in ever-victorious waves.
The revolutionary situation has never been so excellent!

The students and progressive intellectuals who participated in the demonstrations of January 26 and January 30-31 have proven their revolutionary courage and militance. By constantly studying and implementing Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought in a living way and by integrating themselves firmly with the masses of workers and peasants, learning from as well as teaching them, they will certainly not fall back but march forward along the road of the struggle for national democracy.

The ferment that was FQS

It was a Black Friday. That infamous day that shocked the entire nation when high-powered guards of Malacanang fired upon fleeing youth rallyists on January 30, 1970 happened just four days after demonstration of around 20, 000 youth which was also violently dispersed by the Metropolitan Command of the Philippine Constabulary. Many of the students were indiscriminately fired upon with Armalites and Thompson from the back as they retreated as far as Claro M. Recto Avenue. Four hapless rallyist died in the January 30 assualt: Felicisimo Singh Roldan, 21, of the Far Eastern University; Ricardo Alcantara, 19, of the University of the Philippines; Fernando Catabay, 18, of Manuel L. Quezon University and; Bernardo Tausa, 16, of the Mapa High School.

What happened in that Black Friday convinced many about the character of the Marcos regime and its fascistic propensity. Demonstrations would be organized day after it happened, and sustained week after week.

But Marcos, whose fascistic nature increasingly exhibited, would employ “red-baiting” as justification to the murder and repressions of dissenters. For example, on the Black Friday incident, instead of castigating the MetroCom commanding officer, Marcos fired the canon ball at the demontrators themselves and promoted Col. Ordoñez to general!

Marcos spoke of a conspiracy: “I have been receiving continuous information of the conspiracy that is being perfected or was perfected for the takeover of Malacañang Palace…..” and madly self-convincingly said “To the insurrectionary elements, I have a message. My message is: any attempt at the forcible overthrow of the government will be put down immediately. I will not tolerate nor allow Communist to take over…The Republic will defend itself with all the force at its command until your armed elements are annihilated. And I shall lead them.”

Marcos, in his vicious attempt at concealing his regime' accountability in the murder and the many mifortunes the country is experiencing, concocted a shadow state enemy in the name of the “subversives”, the destabilizers of the fortunate order of things and perfect democracy under his administration.

The country would be increasingly symphatetic to the cause of the demonstrators, and their clamor even echoed by politicians in the unlikely halls like the Congress and Senate. While Marcos and his henchmen are getting utterly isolated.

That historical juncture would later be called the First Quarter Storm (FQS). This period from January 25 to March of 1970 ignated not just on the days when the state police began dispersing youth rallies with excessive brutality. A year later, Diliman Commune which started out as a student strike on the first day of February against the 3 centavo oil price increase per liter, would eventually become the University of the Philippines academic community's defiance against military and police incursion of the barricade.

The powder, the source of the powerful agitation for youth outrage would later become clearer to the older generation. It was not the youth's penchant for adventures and riots nor an empty mimic of the mamoth rallies and youth and students occupations in Europe and America in the turn of the decade. The youth scorned the corruption of the nation's leaders, the classical feudal oppression in vast countryside, the domination of US of almost all of our country's state of affairs.

Most of the students and youth who joined the demonstrations harbor resentment at the lavishness of the Marcos' family and cronies amidst the greater poverty of great majority of the Filipinos. Frustrations run high over the daily crunch of the poor caused by the sky-rocketing inflation, and Marcos' servility to the United States, marching in kowtow in its wars around the globe from America's proxy wars and backed dictators in Latin America, to the US-backed Suharto genocide of communists in neighboring Indonesia to the Vietnam War.

Although not yet fully dominated by the leftist activists, having at the start at the helm moderate leaders such as Edgar Jopson of the National Union of Students in the Philippines (NUSP), the radicals like the Kabataang Makabayan and Samahan ng Kabaataang Demokratiko (SDK) would usually bring its members and mobilize in thousands. Around 37 universities were represented for example in the January 30 demonstration and in this mamoth rally, streets leading to Malacanang from Recto Ave. were literally clogged by the demonstration, with its tail reaching until Congress (now National Museum building).

Their slogans “Imperialismo, Burukrata-kapitalismo, Pyudalismo IBAGSAK!” and “Makibaka, Huwag Matakot!” would reverbirate throughout. The “National Democratic” leaders would give the sharpest analysis of the character of the Philippine society, and bluntly call Marcos the puppet of the US. Isssues in the national and local context, and even in the international scene would not be left unscrutinized.

It could be true that not all participants in the FQS had the foresight on how the series of events would eventually end. Some might have disparaged opinions about the meaning of the FQS. Some might call it an event or series of remarkable events. But many regard it as an awakening period in our history that actually mold a fighting generation. The FQS pose the very issue of societal ills and oppression, how to confront a status quo which wield the coersive apparatus and brandish its might to any dissenters.

Most of all, it led many of the brightests of that generation to the road less travelled, taking the option of the just and revolutionary way of ending the oppression as the only way, going to the countryside and merging with the peasants in the armed struggle. Marcos in responding with ironhand, in a way, has been one of the best recruiters of activists and guerrilla fighters for the New Peoples Army.

******************************

Today's ND activists always look back to FQS as a defining period in our history. The political astuteness and courage of FQS activists, would anyway continue to inspire the youth movement in the early 80s up to the depose of the Marcos dictatorship, to the generation of youth activists that ousted Estrada in 2001.

FQS is thus never too far. The oppression and societal ills that former activists never balked at in confronting have grown to be immedicable. And a revolutionary goad for another transforming storm will continuously be in the making.

******************************

In its 4oth commemorative anniversary, veterans of the FQS launched an online archive of that period. It contains rare pictures of the actions and events, with eye-witness account published in some of the country's leading journals right after the events.

Check this out!

Enero 19, 2010. Ikalawang gabi ng Parangal

Marahil kabilang sila sa mga nangarap maging isang ganap na artista. Marahil kabilang sila sa mga kabataang ang munting henyo ay unang naging kalasag upang saliksikin ang katotohanan ng buhay. Pareho silang pumasok sa College of Fine Arts ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas at doon sinubok ang kanilang murang ideyalismo.

Si Isadora Domingo at Ian Dorado ay halos magkasabay na pumasok sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas. Si Isadora na kilala bilang si Tanya'y inilarawan ang sarili sa mga kasama at mga kaibigan bilang dating "anti-aktibista", sa pag-aakalang maiingay na uri ng mga estudyante lamang ng UP ang mga ito. Ano naman ang mapapala nila sa pagsigaw-sigaw at pagtuligsa sa nakikita nilang anomalya, 'di-normal o kabulukan ng kalakaran kapwa sa UP at lipunan.

Pumasok sila sa unibersidad sa taon ng malakas na kilusang estudyante laban sa pagtaas ng matrikula sa UP. Habang nakasuspindi ang Philippine Collegian at nagpapatakbo ng "renegade issue" onlayn. Habang ang mga estudyante ay pinagbabawalang maglagalag sa mga gusali ng kolehiyo ng walang nakasabit na ID, habang ang pagpaskil ng mga progresibong mensahe ng walang pagsang-ayon ng admin ay ipinagbawal na din.

Panahon din ito ng unti-unti at epektibong pagbuwal sa "nakagawiang" liberal na mga espasyo sa unibersidad, habang itinatayo ang dambuhalang simbolismo ng komersyo at pagpapalipin ng isip sa ngalan ng "pangangalap ng dagdag na pantustos sa gastusin ng unibersidad". Ang Techno Hub, S&T Park noon at Toyota venture ngayon. Matatayog itong mga gusaling niyuyukuran ng UP sa ngayon na masigabong pinasinayaan sa taong sentenaryo nito.

Para sa dating Tanya, ang mga larawan sa kanyang ipinipintang dibuho ay bunsod ng suhetibong pag-alam, ekspresyunismo, ideyalismo. Para sa dating Tanya, para makalaot sa sining, nangangailangan lamang ng sagwang guni-guni.

Si Ian naman ay mahusay na batang pintor at kabilang sa UP Artists' Circle Fraternity, at isinalarawan ang kanyang pagtuligsa sa ideyolohiya at reyalidad na pinagsasamatahan pa rin ang higit na nakararami sa ating lipunan. Binigyang boses niya ang kalagayang alipusta ng magsasaka at masa sa "Pusta", ang kanyang obra na kabilang sa sosyal-reyalismong eksibit ng Kalipunan IV upang ipakita marahil ang pagkutya sa papel ng UP bilang bahagi ng "ideological state apparatus", ang paratang sa akademyang "kasabwat" sa pagpapanatili ng kalagayan ng aping sambayanan, kasabay ng pagtindi ng monopolyadong dahas ng estado.

Nawawala pa rin si Karen Empeño at Sherlyn Cadapan, dalawang estudyante ng UP na dinukot ng mga militar sa Bulacan kasama ang magsasakang si Manuel Merino, tinalian, piniringan, itinago at pinahirapan sa iba't ibang kampo-militar sa kumpas ng berdugong si Jovito Palparan. Pinapaslang ang mga nakikibaka, ang mga naghahangad ng pagalpas sa kahirapan, sa aliping sahuran o sa mga propesyonal na unti-unti nasa bingit na rin ng pagdarahop. Masahol ng ilang ulit ang isang mabangis na rehimeng Arroyo na nagkukunwaring demokratiko kaysa sa isang lantad na diktaturya.

Ngunit tulad ni Tanya, paglaon ng sila'y lubos na mamulat at makipamuhay at makaranas ng hirap na kalagayan ng mga magsasaka at manggagawang sinabing kanilang paglilingkuran, nagbago ang lahat. Ang dating mga larawan, mga kanta at tulang kanilang nilikha ay sinaliwan ng determinadong aksyon para sa mga api sa ating lipunan.

Nagpasya silang buong panahong pagsilbihan ang uring magsasaka, magorganisa sa hanay nila at isulong ang rebolusyong agraryo. Sa pagitan ng pamamaalam sa komportableng buhay sa siyudad at sakripisyo malayo sa pamilya, nagpapadala sila ng mga sulat, kanta at drawing salamin ang duhaging kalagayan ng mga magsasaka sa kanayunan. Pag-agaw sa kanilang lupa at ng unti-unti nilang pagbasag sa dantaong pagkaalipin mula sa mga panginoong may-lupa, at ng kanilang isinasaboy na binhing magtatakda sa lupang kasama nilang lalaya.

Namatay si Tanya at Ian sa hanay ng uring magsasaka sa Doña Remedios Trinidad Bulacan. Namatay sila sa kanilang piling at ipinaglaban ang kanilang lupa, ang kanilang kabuhayan at pagkatao. Pinaslang sila sa isang engkwentro sa pagitan ng Bagong Hukbong Bayan (BHB) at ng 56th IB at 7th ID ng Sandatahang Lakas ng Pilipinas ika-14 na araw ng Enero. Kasama nilang namatay ang lima pang mga martir ng sambayanan.

Pinili nila ang sakripisyo at pagsisilbi imbes na tumahak ng karaniwang buhay ng kabataang nahahatak ng peti-burges na pamumuhay. Tinalikuran nila ang pangarap na makasarili at niyakap ang mapang-alpas na sining ng aping sambayanan---ang digmang bayan.

Ang palahaw ni Aling Luz ngayong ikalawang gabi ng burol, ang kanyang pagtangis marahil sa tuwing sumasayad sa kanyang ulirat na patay na ang anak ay gumising sa apoy sa bawat dibdib ng mga kabataang aktibistang nag-aalay ng parangal, nalulumbay din sa nawalang mga kaibigan at kasama. Ang nakakararami ay hindi direktang nakasama ng dalawa sa mga gawain o nakasalamuha man lang. Ngunit malalim ang pagdadalamhati kung pakikibaka ang naguugnay sa mga naruroon. Tulad ng sabi ng isa sa kanila, ang tanging pinakamataas na pagpupugay na maigagawad sa dalawang batang martir ay itaguyod ang kanilang ipinaglalaban, ang tanganan ang armas na makakapagpalaya sa kaisipan at mga pinagsasamantahan sa ating kinagisnang mundo at lipunan. Ang pighati ay gawing lakas at tapang! Lakas at tapang!

At ngayon sa unang buwan ng dekadang ito, ipinangangako naming sa inyong inialay na buhay higit na isusulong ang sandatahang pikikipaglaban, sa hudyat ng bandilang higit na pinapupula ng inyong dugo at sa hanggang huli'y 'di binitiwang pangako.

Mabuhay kayo Tanya at Ian, magigiting na artistang kabataan, mandirigma ng bayan! Mabuhay ang mga martir ng sambayanan at pambansa-demokratikong rebolusyon!

Mula sa kublihang kanto at estero, ilang hakbang pasulong

i.

Walang Ped Xing
ang nakapaskil sa laylayan ng poste,
o ang katumbas na pribilehiyo na magtipon
at magpahayag ang iginawad sa lulang ito,
ilang talampakan lagpas sa tulay Mendiola.

ito ay ayon sa mga nasa kapangyangrihan
o sa mga mas nakaka-Pangyayari sa ngayon.
palibhasa’t may mga nahabing banal na Batas:
usal-dasal sa mga mahiwagang letra’t numero
BP 880
EO 464
PP 1017
CPR.

Bantay-sarado ang bawat gilid ng tarangkahan,
kinakapkapan ang lahat,
may sukbit na armalayt ang tagabukas ng gate
sa tuwing may daraang sasakyan,
triple alisto sa mga bomba at terorista at raliyista.
Bawal ang kumuha ng litrato at bidyo sa harap nito.
May Parke ng Kalayaan daw sa dako pa duon.

Habang sa dungaw ng tarangkahan,
at magkasalaming eskuwelahan ng La Co at Beda,
parang langaw, palayong binubugaw
si Aling Mely at kanyang sunong na bilao
ng mga nilalako’t bibingka.

Nakabalandra ang mga dilaw na bakal
sa tapat ng tarangkahan,
sangkatutak at pinuluputan ng razor wire
(sadyang pinalitan nito ang mga barb wire
na pinauso ng mga pasistang German noong Giera Mundial Dos,
panikil na adornong tulad ng sa Herzogenbusch concentration camp)
sapagkat hindi sapat na gurlis lamang ang maiwan
kundi kirot sa nauka-ukang laman,
at sakmal ng takot
para sa sinumang magtangkang sumunggab ng pagkakataon,
humakbang lagpas sa mga dilaw na hadlang,
sindihan ng dilang apoy
at

maglagablab


ii.

Halos tinabunan ang mga eksenang maningning
ng lamay at libing ni Cory,
ang pakikipag-ututang dila at utuan kay Obama,
ang domingo de Gloria ang pumakyaw ng limelight,

ng pabondat na hapunan sa Le Cirque Restaurant sa Manhattan
at Bobby Van's Steakhouse sa Washington D.C.

habang naghihimutok ang taumbayan,
sa kanyang araw-araw na pagkagutom,
at sa kanyang bawat lagok
ng mapait na dighay ng gutom.

Nang umuwi sa ating bayan ang mga gahaman,
hindi natutulog
ng pagbibilang at pagkalulong sa nakulimbat,
hindi pinapatulog
ng namumuong silab na sa baya’y
konting ningas
ay magpapaliyab.

iii.

Sa bisperas ng pagtutuos
inilabas ang pantalong maong,
ang matibay na sapatos pangharabas
at para sa mga walang sapatos
mahigpit na sandalyas at tsinelas;
pinalagatok na ang mga buto sa kamay at braso
upang matiyak na ilang ulit man na bigwas
ang matanggap ‘di naman ito magkakalas,
marami na ang nagprisenta na hahanay sa Kompo;
nag-apuhap ng plastik para sa telepono at notbuk,
itinabi ang LRP at mababasang libro;
pinatalas ang tunog ng parating paos na soundsys a.k.a. Josh,
magdamag kinargahan ito ng baterya
at inabisuhan ang media ng Embargo ang aksyon kinabukasan.

Nakaplasta ang plano:
Agosto 19, El-Ar, Gate 7 ng Malacanang.
Hindi ito sunggab ng pagkakataon,
kundi kalkuladong paabanteng hakbang
patungo sa tarangkahan
ng luklukan ng pasistang naghahari-harian.

Winawagayway na ang bandilang senyales,
Lakad-takbo-lakad ng mabilis,
Nagtaka ang kanilang mga nakasalubong,
Sa biglang tipon ang mga kabataang animo’y
anino mula sa kublihang estero, poste, puno, tao .

Kumumpas ang komand Ilang hakbang Pasulong!
Sa bawat “Panagutin ang Mandarambong!”
ay napraning ang mga pulis at sundalo,
nabuksan ang gate, at ang galit ay nagpabigat sa mga hakbang,
nagpalakas ng nanggagalaiting sigaw,

Hakbang-pasulong!
Propaganda kontra pamamasista,
Braso kontra yantok,
Salag kontra latay,
Kapit-bisig kontra hambalos,
Depensiba kontra opensiba,
Ngunit ito’y pakikipagtitigan, Mata sa mata
At unti-unting pag-iipon ng lakas,
Lakas na isinasanib sa bayan
para sa huling araw ng tiyak
na paglalaban.


Mara Ilaya