From Ang Bayan: A Tribute To The Southern Tagalog Peasant Warriors

Ang Bayan | October 21, 2024

This Peasant Month, the revolutionary movement pays tribute to the peasant class, the giant of the countryside serving as main force upholding and advancing the people’s war. In various parts of the country, the peasants and indigenous peoples make up the majority of the people’s army. Generations have served as commanders, cadres, fighters, and soldiers of the people’s militias.

One of them is Mike. At a young age, he already knew about the New People’s Army (NPA) through his grandfather’s stories. He was already a teenager when he personally met the Red fighters.

Not having gone through school, Mike was grateful for the NPA’s literacy and numeracy lessons. After receiving political education, he invited his friends to discuss issues with comrades. He wanted to join, but was still below the minimum age.

The brutality of fascist soldiers was one experience he cannot forget. One afternoon, soldiers suddenly stopped him on his way home from the copra kiln. He was interrogated, threatened, and accused of carrying a gun.

He was let go only when a barangay official arrived and attested he was a civilian simply trying to earn a living. Mike never forgot the harassment he endured. He joined the NPA when he turned 18.

After Mike left the village, soldiers targeted his family. They confronted his mother Gina at their home, badgered and threatened her. While stepping back, Gina fell off a cliff and broke her pelvis, rendering her bedridden for several months until her eventual death. The perpetrators did not indemnify nor apologize for the injustice.

Not satisfied, they illegally arrested Mike’s father Billy. He was betrayed by an acquaintance who said he would take him to the hospital when he got sick. Instead, he was driven straight to the military camp. He was illegally detained, interrogated, and released only when a throng of villagers and relatives stormed the camp to demand his release.

“All brutalities inflicted by soldiers on my family seek to force my surrender and suppress the struggle of people in our community. However, these only give me more reason to persevere. As long as innocents people suffer state violence, the struggle becomes even more justified,” Mike said.

Mike, now 34, works full time in a guerrilla front as a skilled and fully dedicated officer in charge of ordnance and logistics.

Jojo, 38, was also a peasant prior to becoming a Red fighter. He recalls his family having a small palay farm when he was still a child. But like many peasants, prohibitive production costs eventually led them deep into debt, and losing their farmland. Being eldest, he was forced to help support the family.

Jojo started working in the sugarcane farm at the age of eight. He went to Manila and took on various odd jobs. At 18, he worked as a driver for a small company. The pay was low, with no benefits or tenure. He got no help paying back for his license when it was confiscated. Having lost his job, he went to Palawan and became a charcoal maker.

Jojo and his companions witnessed how the Ipilan Nickel Corporation destroyed the mountains at Brooke’s Point. The company deforested the area which provides the charcoal makers with livelihood. The state deployed soldiers to guard the mine and harass them.

In his search for a new job, Jojo met Mang Jose, a small businessman and member of a revolutionary mass organization. He introduced Jojo to the NPA.

With uncertainty, Jojo went with the comrades. He was urged to stay for the studies and discussions alongside military training. Jojo quickly grasped the goals of the people’s war through his studies. Most importantly, he found fellow toilers in the NPA who seek to pull out the root causes of poverty through armed struggle.

Source : https://philippinerevolution.nu/2024/10/21/a-tribute-to-the-southern-tagalog-peasant-warriors/