A Brief History of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Movement in the Philippine Student Sector 1976-1977 Part 3

How Kabataang Makabayan (KM) was Revived, How League of Filipino Students (LFS) Got its Name

It was the middle of 1977, and martial law was at its height in the Philippines. Meanwhile, the CPP’s Standing Group for Youth and Students (SGYS) was making significant progress in initiating class boycotts in Manila and Quezon City. In the heat of the campaign, the group received a letter purportedly written by Jose Maria Sison. Sison hailed SGYS’ proposal to revive Kabataang Makabayan (KM), the premier Leftist youth organization before martial law. Sison was the first chairman of KM, with Nilo Tayag being the second.

The letter took several months to travel through the intricate CPP channels. A few weeks after receiving the letter, SGYS requested a meeting with National Democratic Front- Youth and Students (NDF-YS) to brainstorm the specifics of KM’s revival. SGYS was especially interested to get the say of the NDF-YS secretary because he used to be in KM’s national leadership and knew all about chapter building and expanding. He joined KM way back in 1966.

NDF-YS – SGYS Planning Meeting

For the meeting, NDF-YS booked the seminar house of the Catholic church of Sta.Isabel, Malolos, Bulacan. NDF-YS had reliable contacts in the Diocese of Malolos' youth program and regularly used the facility for its meetings. It was a good place for underground meetings. It was tucked away in a secluded and sleepy corner of Malolos, and was not well known to activists and military alike. An added feature was a basketball court in the church plaza, where the activists could exercise and fight boredom.

Also, the seminar house's huge front window, designed for watching processions and festivities in the olden days, offered a vantage view of the vast plaza. Any police raid of the place would have been detected way in advance, giving the activists ample escape time. 

The seminar house fee was P20 pesos per person inclusive of three meals and two meriendas a day. Even in 1977 prices, this was cheap. The meals and meriendas were prepared by the in-house cook named “Ka Biring.” NDF-YS footed the bill, they being more financially capable.

An original find by NDF-YS, the seminar house was only  40 km. from Metro-Manila. One had to go first to Malolos poblacion by bus,  then take a 3.5 km. tricycle ride to Sta. Isabel. Sta. Isabel used to be a separate town from Malolos, but was integrated in 1903.  The seminar house was a traditional “kumbento” attached to a church. Built in Spanish-era style, it had a spacious, well-lit, and airy living room on the second floor which had been converted into a seminar room.

The room’s original floor was still in place. It was made of ten-foot long, one-foot wide and one-inch thick sturdy wood planks rendered a shiny dark brown through the years. It creaked in many places as people walked. The dormitory, connected to the seminar room by a narrow corridor, could house twenty persons. It was basic but comfortable, with its green steel-frame beds with coil springs supporting new kapok matresses and pillows. It was air-conditioned, and the lone bathroom was clean and working.  

For a legal front, NDF-YS told the management that a group would be having a parish “youth formation seminar.” In complete attendance were SGYS, and NDF-YS, all in all  8  persons. By this time, the 5 members of SGYS, all in their early twenties, had been toughened in the tuition fee boycotts, and were keen to share their experiences. The NDF secretary , a balding, diminutive, and mustached 29 year-old man named Edgar Jopson, dropped by in mid-morning. After observing the meeting and saying a few things, Jopson left in the afternoon. I remember seeing him off with my eyes from the old building's front window, as he boarded a tricycle.

It was in this seminar house (with the red roof) at the extreme right of the Sta. Isabel
 church in Malolos, Bulacan that the League of Filipino Students (LFS) was conceptualized in 1977.
The place has lately been renovated, but it looked a lot more modest back then. Photo borrowed from the blog  "Travel.Journey.My Life. My Story."at http://novamayjtravels.blogspot.com/

Kabataang Makabayan Revival

A few months earlier, SGYS had sent a memo to the CPP central committee, suggesting that, in the light of the upsurge in class boycotts against tuition fee increases, it was necessary and feasible to revive KM. As a special request, SGYS asked that  KM’s founding chairman air his views regarding the proposal, so that these could inspire and guide a planning meeting. 

KM had to be revived because it was disbanded in 1973, after the CPP leadership realized that legal and open activist organizations like KM were not feasible anymore. Many UP based CPP cadres recoiled at the idea of disbanding KM and other mass organizations, largely due to the force of sentiment, and a misreading of the new situation. They engaged the CPP national leadership in a spirited debate that lasted for months.  

This time around, said the SGYS, KM, or "Karina" was to be revived as an underground organization. SGYS sometimes casually referred to KM as “Karina,” owing to its revered pre-martial law code name. KM would accomodate the hundreds of student activists who had participated in the boycotts, but who could not be formally integrated into the CPP just yet.

 “I Understand Kabataang Makabayan is Reinvigorating Itself”

These students were called “national-democratic” (ND) activists by the CPP, and would have been members of generic ND core groups in the absence of a unifying organization. SGYS argued that being members of KM instead of just an ND cell would give the ND activists a wider perspective, group pride, and introduce them to organizational discipline. It would be a worthy phase-in period into the CPP, just like in the old days, SGYS quipped.

In the letter, Sison acknowledged being informed of KM’s impending revitalization. “I understand Kabataang Makabayan is reinvigorating itself,” he wrote. Sison went on to cite the importance of a covert organization that would link up the various ND core groups that had been formed in the past few years, but especially after the bountiful campaign against tuition fee increases. This can be done, he said, by offering the student activists an underground organization that gives a collective outlook to their apparently isolated undertakings.

Creating the LFS

The secretary of NDF-YS, being at 27 the “senior” of the group, opened the meeting and presided. After giving a short introduction, he gave the floor to the SGYS secretary. The head of SGYS, a 22 year-old former history major in UP,  briefly bragged about the letter, then gave it to the group. As the letter went around,  he proposed that they spend the first session discussing how to revive KM. The second session, he proposed, was to discuss another suggestion from the letter, which was creating a legal student organization.  The proposals were approved immediately.

The  deliberations about KM that ensued centered on the formation and consolidation of KM chapters, programs of study, forms of mass actions, CPP keadership over KM, CPP recruitment from KM, and how to publish Kalayaan, the official KM newsletter.  They went very smoothly.

As the second session began, the SGYS secretary explained that the legal organization the letter suggested was nothing less than an overt counterpart of KM. SGYS itself had earlier entertained a similar idea. However, before the letter arrived, SGYS intended the meeting exclusively for KM’s revitalization. Now they were making an adjustment. 

Creating a legal organization proved to be the harder talking point, because it had never been done before. Putting up a legal but noticeably activist student organization under martial law had no precedent.  Compared to it, the revival of KM did not seem so hard.

A legal organization, the letter said, was necessary to aggressively expand the student anti-martial law movement, demand the restoration of student councils and publications, and otherwise shrewdly project a legal version of KM. It was to be pro-student and patriotic, yet must survive the harsh times.  It should evince enough militancy to attract radically inclined students, yet exude enough restraint not to be suppressed straightaway.

 The League of Filipino Students or LFS

SGYS understood that naming the organization was critical. The way the group thought went, the proposed group had to have a name that projected peaceful reform, but still had a radical appeal. The name had to be tame enough not to invite repression during the organization’s early life, yet audacious enough to do justice to its combative demands. Realizing they were crossing a thin line, the group wracked their brains what the name would be.

In the afternoon, the group settled on a name. The legal student organization would be called “League of Filipino Students” or LFS. The use of English was decided easily: it was a safe choice. Everyone conceded that the use of Filipino was a giveaway for LFS' latent radicalism. By using English for the organization’s title, it was given a veneer of temperance and discipline.  A tricky part was deciding on the first word. The contenders were: association, society, union, alliance, organization, and league. League was chosen because of its novelty, restraint, and subtle militancy.  

Furthermore, league was chosen because of its not so vague association with Rizal’s reformist group, Liga Filipina. Being associated with Liga Filipina, someone suggested, would somehow enable the LFS to lull the senses of the military and the school administrations.  At the end of the discussion, SGYS expressed its desire to consult its lower units first regarding the proposed name, before it was finalized in another meeting. But everyone thought this was just a formality.

The third and final session of the meeting was devoted to drafting the guidelines on building up KM, and its legal counterpart, LFS. The guidelines on the LFS were scant compared to that of KM’s, because much of the second session was devoted to deciding on a name.   At any rate, the cadres were excited by the new undertaking, considering it unprecedented in Philippine history. Another planning meeting was scheduled to flesh out the guidelines. The group had a sumptuous dinner at about 7 pm in the seminar house’s spacious dining room and broke up at about 10 pm.

This meeting is historically significant because in it the CPP not only approved KM’s revival, but also decided to establish the LFS, and choose its name. LFS was founded a few months later, on September 11, 1977 at the Asian Labor Education Center (ALEC) at the University of the Philippines. KM and LFS remain to be essential players in the still unsettled 45-year Philippine insurgency.

  

A Brief History of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Movement in the Philippine Student Sector 1976-1977 Part 2

CCY

Although the CPP’s plans for expanding in the student sector emphasized penetrating existing religious youth groups, it did try, through NDF-YS, to utilize its church assets to set up its own youth organizing unit. Formed in early 1976, the group was called “Committee for the Conscientization of Youth,” (CCY). The mission of the CCY, as decided in its first meetings, was to raise the critical awareness of, or “conscientize” youth in schools and communities. It would do so by conducting “conscientization seminars.” 

Also called "structural analysis" seminars, these discussions were designed to raise the youth’s social awareness, and discreetly push them to organize their ranks against martial law. They also served to softly introduce the participants to Marxism, the easier for CPP operatives to pluck them up for recruitment. Advanced seminars made use of Antonio Gramsci's ideas. 

The term conscientization was articulated by Brazilian educator Paulo Freire in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Freire’s pedagogy, especially its class analysis, is Marxist.  Freire’s Marxism is best gleaned in his idea of developing critical conciousness (conscientização), which encompasses not only understanding social and political contradictions, but also wilful action to resolve these contradictions. Freire’s framework evolved from his experience in adult literacy work among Brazilian sugarcane workers in 1962.  

These early CCY meetings were attended by a CPP cadre, two CPP contacts who were in the administration of an exclusive girls’ school in Manila, a CPP female cadre in the religious sector, and an Irish Columban priest who was also a CPP contact. It was the CPP cadre who initiated the meetings. His original idea was the formation of an inter-university alliance. The meetings were held in the secure confines of the exclusive school. Sometimes the group met at the old Asian Social Institute (ASI) building on Leon Guinto St. in Manila. 

Christians for National Liberation

At that time, many persons in the Philippine religious sector  had already been radicalized by martial law. These militant priests, nuns, pastors, and seminarians were members of the CPP controlled underground organization called “Christians for National Liberation.” (CNL) The latter was formed in an emotional ceremony on February 17, 1972, in front of a Gomburza monument in Manila.

Many of these Filipino religious were educators, social action directors, community organizers, or otherwise had jobs which exposed them to widespread poverty or brazen human rights violations. In the course of their respective vocations, they were introduced to Left theory via Peruvian Dominican priest Gustavo Gutierrez’ book “Theology of Liberation.” They accepted Marxism when they made contacts with CPP cadres in the few years leading to martial law.

When they formed the CNL in 1972, many of them were probably already CPP members. The CNL sent many of its members and mass supporters to attend the last protest rally before martial law was announced, held on September 21, 1972, in Plaza Miranda. These religious activists became the mainstays of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP), which was at the forefront of the legal opposition to martial law.

To be able to operate openly under martial law, some CNL members used legally acceptable terms to popularize Marxist analysis, and the term conscientization was one of the more useful ones. Another popular term was "Basic Christian Communities Organizing." (BCC-CO) NDF-YS, in its effort to broaden the student movement, decided that getting the participation of these radical church people was a viable option. NDF-YS scouted for religious activists who had natural ties to students, like being school administrators and teachers. They had the perfect legal cover and thus ideal members of CCY.

CCY Founding

These early CCY meetings tackled the problem of how to camouflage CPP youth organizing seminars under a  religious cover. One of the CPP contacts, who was a nun, suggested the catchword “conscientization,” which was then rapidly spreading among Filipino religious radicals. The other CPP contact, a comely young woman who was in charge of the exclusive school’s student affairs department, suggested the creation of a pool of educators which will conduct youth conscientization seminars when on call.

The core activity of the CCY, she proposed, was to conduct conscientization seminars,  with its secondary job being the setting-up of CCY chapters all over the Philippines. After a few more meetings, the group agreed on the orientation, activities, and name of the proposed group. The CPP cadre must have been the one who suggested the name CCY.

Finally, the group agreed on who would staff the CCY. Since CCY did not have the means to provide even small allowances to regular staff, it was decided that two people would first work as CCY staff on a part-time and voluntary basis, and that full-time staff would be acquired as soon as CCY acquired support from foreign funding agencies. The exclusive girl’s school was selected as the CCY’s temporary headquarters. 

Once CCY was finalized, the CPP cadre made contact with NDF-YS, which eventually took CCY under its wings, in behalf of the CPP. It was then arranged for one member of NDF-YS to become a member of CCY. The group now had 3 staffers. If there was a seminar to be conducted, skilled facilitators certified by the CPP would be invited. The 3 CCY staffers themselves were to train in giving seminars.     

CCY Structural Analysis Seminars

The standard CCY concientization seminar was called a “structural analysis” seminar. In the radical religious circles of the time, the euphemism was the accepted way of cloaking Marxist analysis. Each seminar was attended by about 20 to 30 students at a given time. These students were considered by CCY as having “low social consciousness,” but open to “social awareness raising.” They were prospective activists or even potential CPP cadres and members. After the CCY group leaves the seminar’s venue, it was envisioned, local CPP organizers would befriend and organize them, for eventual integration into the movement.  

The facilitator usually gave an initial lecture on the three main structures of Philippine society namely the economic, political, and cultural systems. Sometimes a fourth system was included, which was the religious system. After this lecture, the facilitator breaks up the group into workshops, with each workshop being assigned to discuss a specific system.

Each workshop was instructed to list down as many random facts as possible about the Philippines that they deem would fall under the system assigned to them. Those assigned to the political system, for example, would list down martial law, the armed forces, habeas corpus, “salvaging,” the Supreme Court, barangays, and so on. 

Those assigned to the economic system would list down things like Laurel-Langley Trade Agreement, Central Bank, high prices of food, foreign investments, and so on. Lastly, those assigned to the cultural and/or the religious system would list down the Catholic Church, Cardinal Sin, the 1974 Miss Universe Pageant, schools, the mass media, Thrilla in Manila, and so on.

The workshops were then told to write their output with marking pens on wide pieces of “Manila Paper” and report these to the entire seminar group. The workshop reports were taped to a wall or to a blackboard for everyone to see. The reporters often read the reports with much enthusiasm. After the workshop reports, it was the turn of the facilitator to “interpret” the data.

It is at this point that he/she injects Marxist analysis into the seminar. He/she weaves the abundant data into a summation that mirrors the CPP analysis of the Philippine situation, and the courses of action the CPP prescribes. It takes considerable skill to do this, as the facilitator has to be careful with the words he/she uses, or he/she endangers the security of the whole group.

The facilitator tells the group that the economic system is the “determinant” system which influences the other systems. However, he/she points out that meaningful change for social justice happens in the political system and this needs collective action by the people. The cultural system, on the other hand, is where a change in consciousness happens, which leads to or inspires, the collective action desired.

Antonio Gramsci

Sometimes, when the CCY facilitator reckoned it was safe enough, he/she injected Antonio Gramsci’s critique of the cultural system. For some reason, Gramsci, an Italian communist leader, was very acceptable to Filipino religious radicals at the time. Likewise, Gramsci’s name was deemed by many religious to be safe enough to use openly, as it was unfamiliar to the authorities, and not associated with the CPP.

Gramsci’s “cultural hegemony” theory was very useful in telling the participants how the dominant classes used the cultural system to justify the local and national status quo. The CCY facilitator also used Gramsci’s theory of “organic intellectuals” in encouraging the participants that they can become intellectuals even without going through formal schooling. 

All told, the skillfull CCY facilitator, by using non-activist terminology and a host of other subterfuges, subtly introduced the participants to the analysis, political program, and calls to action of the CPP.

CCY Student Conference 

In March 1976, CCY, using the CPP underground network, CCY was a able to hold a well-attended, 2-day Metro-Manila wide inter-university conference. It was held at the AMRSP’s Sisters’ Formation Institute (SFI) in San Juan, Metro Manila, with Sr. Mary John Mananzan OSB giving the keynote address. More than 120 student leaders from different universities in the region attended. History will look to this conference as the first Left-organized student conference under martial law. The first student congress under martial law was not organized by the Left --- it was initiated by the government’s Department of Education and Culture (DEC) on December 26-29, 1975, in Baguio City.

The conference predictably issued resolutions against martial law, and in favor of student rights and welfare. The main demands were the restoration of student councils and press freedom for student publications. This is not to say, however, that the deliberations were smooth-sailing for the CCY.

Most of those who attended were mustered by the CPP SGYS through its underground facilities. However, since the conference was announced openly, quite a few non-CPP contacts or "walk-in" participants registered, paid the conference fee, and participated in the sessions. Many of these new contacts were not anti-Left, and so were soon on good terms with the CCY, and supported the conference resolutions.

The Soc-Dem Intervention

However, the same cannot be said of the 2-3 delegates from Ateneo University (AdMU) and Maryknoll College (MC), who were dyed-in-the-wool social-democrats (Socdems). From the start, the Socdems deviated from the workshop topics and vehemently raised the issue of “manipulation.” They meant that the participants were being manipulated by the CPP, through the CCY, into agreeing to the conference resolutions.

At first, the Socdem objections were civil. However, the discussions soon became acrimonious, when the CPP contacts, upon instruction by the CCY staff, began to counter the Socdems’ charge of manipulation. With equal anger, they defended the CCY, maintaining that the workshops were a democratic exercise. Despite the heated exchanges, the workshops were able to formulate and write the resolutions desired by the CCY. These resolutions were to be adopted by the plenary session in the afternoon of the second day of the 1976 CCY student conference.

During the plenary, the Socdems did not let up on their attacks on the CCY. One student leader from Ateneo kept raising his hand, grabbing the microphone in the center aisle, and vehemently accusing the CCY of “railroading” the resolutions. He did this so many times the presiding officer was soon declaring him out-of-order every time he spoke.

In the end, the Socdems were drowned out by the overwhelmingly National Democratic (ND or Natdem) conference body. The lone Socdem delegate who cried railroading in the plenary soon retired to his seat and grudgingly observed the delegates pass the resolutions one-by-one. The gutsy Ateneo student was Ricardo Manapat, who would make a name for himself after the EDSA Revolution by writing a well-received book on Marcos crony capitalism titled “Some Are Smarter Than Others.” Manapat died in 2008.

The CCY also published a militant newsletter titled “Conscientizer.” CCY designated one of its contacts in the exclusive girls school, a philosophy professor, as the newsletter’s editor. It came out in mid-1977. Out of the normal, CCY decided that the paper be militant in tone, as it was supporting a sudden upsurge of student anger. 

Conscientizer   managed to come out only three times though, due to CCY’s limited means. Every issue was printed in 5,000 copies, and openly distributed in the University Belt. CCY had a hard time looking for a printing house that would accept the Conscientizer, as the contents were patently subversive. All three issues were devoted to heralding the wave of class boycotts that hit the University Belt and South of Pasig areas in that period. The class boycotts were sparked by tuition fee increases, and at its peak spread like wildfire. The anger lasted a whole semester and garnered for the CPP many members and mass supporters. The boycott campaign was coordinated by MR's SGYS, with the CCY giving propaganda support through Conscientizer.

End of the CCY

After more than two years of operations, CCY folded up in early 1978, when NDF-YS abandoned the concept. NDF-YS concentrated instead on using existing youth groups in the catholic and protestant sectors. It was decided that this method was more cost-effective. The existing youth groups already had seminar teams of their own, had ready-made logistics like headquarters, equipment, and staff, and had more reliable funding.

CCY succeeded in getting substantial funding from two foreign funding agencies. One avid CCY benefactor was a prominent Australia-based Catholic funding agency. However, more than 50% of the funds were appropriated or "centralized" by the CPP. This elicited complaints from some CCY members, CPP members and non-members alike. They believed, and rightly so, that CCY could have done more if it was able to use all of its funds. 

During its existence, CCY managed to conduct conscientization seminars in several places in Luzon and the Visayas. Many of those who participated in these seminars were turned over by the CCY to the local activist network. Quite a few later became active CPP members or Natdem activists. The most successful CCY seminars were the ones conducted in Silang Cavite for the Student Catholic Action  of the Philippines (SCAP) chapters of Cayetano Arellano High School and Florentino Torres High School in late 1977, and for the Social Action Center (SAC) Youth Formation Program of Leon, Iloilo, also in late 1977.     

   

A Brief History of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Movement in the Philippine Student Sector 1976-1977 Part I

Introduction

In early 1976, CPP protest activities in the youth and student sector (YS) suffered a major blow, albeit temporarily, with the arrests of student leaders in the University of the Philippines (UP) and the ensuing supression of student anti-martial law protests in Diliman.

However, the CPP’s underground assets in UP were largely intact. What is more, by this time, CPP branches and national-democratic (ND) groups had been put up in quite a few universities in the greater Manila area (GMA). They too, had sidestepped the government onslaught.

The CPP Manila-Rizal committee (MR) planned to begin another round of protests using these assets later that year. The protests in the student sector were to complement MR’s grand scheme of starting a general uprising (Sigwa) in the region in a few years , with its fast growing mass base in the labor, urban poor, and church sectors as the main effectives. MR had a nascent disagreement with the CPP central committee over this uprising, but that is another story. 

District Supervision

The CPP branches in the penetrated schools were supervised by the respective MR district committees. For example, the CPP branch in UP and other Quezon City schools were administered by MR’s District 2 (D2), while the CPP branches in Manila schools were managed by MR’s District 3 (D3).

Sometimes, MR transferred seasoned cadres from one district to another to strengthen school organizing in that district. For example, as early as 1975, a number of organizers were dispatched from UP, where organizing was advanced, to the  University of the East (UE) in the Manila University Belt (UB), where organizing was just starting. UE was of critical importance to the CPP. It had a huge student population of about 60,000, and its official student paper, The Dawn, had an enormous circulation.

In Quezon City, the schools where the CPP had strong branches, apart from UP, were Trinity College and St. Joseph’s College. The CPP has a hard time making in-roads in Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) and Maryknoll College (MC), because these schools were dominated by the Philippine Social Democratic Party (PDSP).

In UB, the strong schools were University of Santo Tomas (UST), Far Eastern University (FEU), Manuel L. Quezon University (MLQU) and UE. In the South of Pasig area, the CPP functioning units were in Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM), University of the Philippines College Manila (UPCM), Adamson University (AdU), Philippine Christian University (PCU), St. Scholastica’s College (SSC), and De La Salle University (DLSU).

SGYS

In mid-1977, to unclutter the management of party work in YS,  MR created a special committee called “Standing Group for Youth and Students” (SGYS) from outstanding cadres pulled from UP and UST.  MR then put all the school  branches (including UP’s) under SGYS’ supervision, and away from hands of the district committees. The latter already had their hands full organizing urban poor and workers.

The new committee was called a standing group because of its specialized mandate of badgering the CPP school branches to produce results.  However, because of its strategic importance in forming national public opinion, the CPP branch in UP was oftentimes given direct instructions by MR and even by the CPP central committee. The SGYS did not mind being bypassed though.

SGYS divided its YS activities into the following areas: Quezon City (which includes UP), the University Belt (UB), and the so-called “South of Pasig” area. The latter area covered Intramuros and Taft Avenue. The school party branches were given instructions by SGYS to contribute to the creation of an anti-martial law protest movement in the national-capital region, through their respective mass bases. The main issue the CPP branches were told to harp on was high tuition fees. The mode of political action was the mass boycott of classes. The single most used slogan was: “Oppose the commercialization of education!” These issues were to be ultimately linked to the Marcos dictatorship and sure enough, to “US imperialism.”

The connection between Philippine education and US policies was made by citing the creation by Marcos of the “Presidential Commission to Survey Philippine Education.” (PCSPE)  CPP propagandists alleged that this was a scheme by Marcos and the US to make Philippine education produce more cheap but skilled Filipino workers for US corporations.

New Orientation: Scaling Down Expectations

At this point of the narrative, we point out that the Philippine student sector was now playing but a supporting role in the CPP’s overall design. This was a big departure from the strategic orientation in the epic anti-CAFA (Committee on Anti-Filipino Activities), anti-Vietnam War, First Quarter Storm (FQS) and Diliman Commune campaigns, where the Philippine student sector was the spearhead and main body combined.

Quietly and smoothly, the CPP was now internally scaling down its long-standing expectation of YS as the main factor in influencing public opinion, as laid down by CPP chairman Amado Guerrero in his book and CPP bible "Philippine Society and Revolution." (PSR) This new thinking did not show in CPP propaganda, but it showed in the priorities of the party's organizing work, and in the kind of people who attended its rallies. 

Given the realities of martial law, the CPP was implicitly admitting  that those who could best survive open defiance of military rule, namely the religious and labor sectors, had assumed this role. Unfortunately the YS sector had borne the brunt of martial law suppression, with Marcos making sure of it. It could not influence public opinion the way it did before martial law, because it had a hard time hitting the streets. As proven in the historic December 6, 1975 Bustillos rally, the religious and laboring sectors could do it. This was because of the church garb for the former, and sheer desperation for the latter. 

That said, while MR had plans for the YS sector in its own domain, the national leadership also saw the need to expand the CPP’s YS organizing work to include every significant urban center outside of GMA where there was a sizable tertiary student population. These areas included Baguio, Dagupan, Angeles, Cabanatuan, Los Baños, San Pablo, Naga, Legazpi, Cebu, Dumaguete, and Davao. The CPP still had enough residual trust in, as Amado Guerrero famously put it in PSR,  the students' "keen political sense" for it to include YS in its national strategy.

NDF-YS

Thus, in early 1976, the CPP leadership, in consultation with MR, began broaching the  idea of forming “NDF-YS,”  which was to begin this long-term work. It envisioned NDF-YS to eventually become the CPP’s “National Youth and Students Bureau” (NYSB) which was so successful and powerful in the immediate years before martial law. NYSB was the CPP organ which ran the big radical student organizations like Kabataang Makabayan (KM), Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan (SDK), and Malayang Samahan ng Bagong Kababaihan (Makibaka) which gave Marcos a lot of sleepless nights. 

There was a bit of nostalgia going on here. Many in the CPP leading organs who received directives from the NYSB as student activists, were whimsically longing for the return of the NYSB to bring back the glory days of student power.NDF-YS was named such because it was under the supervision of the CPP’s Preparatory Commission for the National Democratic Front (Prepcom NDF). Prepcom NDF was a national CPP organ, which acted as its united front commission. Formed in 1973, its job was to gather as many non-communist allies as possible to the CPP fold. The rationale for the NDF-YS being placed under Prepcom NDF was that the personalities and organizations that were going to assist NDF-YS were in the main non-CPP entities who were contacts or sympathizers of Prepcom NDF.

NDF-YS’ top priority was to assist the different CPP regional committees around the Philippines  establish their own YS underground commitees in the schools and communities. In doing this, it used the various chapters of existing nation-wide organizations found in the catholic and protestant churches as legal covers. Needless to say, without these reliable legal covers, the exposed student organizers would have invited suspicion and eventual arrest. 

In the Catholic Church, the organization of choice were the Student Catholc Action of the Philippines (SCAP), and the National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA). The CPP also had a hard time going into SCAP, as it was also controlled by the PDSP, or, as it was commonly called, the "Soc-Dems." In the protestant churches, it was the Student Christian Movement (SCM), the Methodist Youth Fellowship (MYF), and the Division of Youth Ministry (DYM) of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP).  MYF was the youth arm of the United Methodist Church (UMC) in the Philippines.

Setting Up NDF-YS

By the second quarter of 1976, the cadres for NDF-YS had been picked, with a veteran cadre selected to chair it. This cadre, in his late twenties, was a former KM member, who had participated in the violent rallies in 1966 against the Manila Summit Conference. When he was picked for the job, he headed the CPP’s Civil Research Department (CRD), which was directly under the CPP central committee. The CRD was basically an economic research group.

A UP student leader competent in alliance building was selected as a member, along with a UP law student with a vast experience in underground organizing. Another UP student adept at touching base with the so-called “anti-Marcos reactionaries” joined the committee ocasionally as a political officer (PO). The three-man committee underwent several extended orientation meetings, and began to do the tedious spadework. 

The major areas of CPP activity in the YS sector as of mid-1976 were, therefore, conducted by the following organs:  the enlarged party branch in the University of the Philippines (UP), the new party branches in the newly breached tertiary schools in GMA, and the National Democratic Front- Youth and Students (NDF-YS).

The University of the Philippines Delegation to the First National Congress of Students Under Martial Law December 26-29, 1975

On December 26-29, 1975, at Teachers’ Camp in Baguio City (BTC), the first nation-wide gathering of college students under Philippine martial law was held. The University of the Philippines sent a ten-person delegation. 

However, it was not sponsored by anti-Marcos groups. The event was sponsored by the Department of Education and Culture (DEC). Although it was a government sponsored activity, it was better than nothing. For us in the UP delegation, our messianic obsession was to organize the politically dormant Philippine student sector.

The DEC announced it in a circular as early as April 7, 1975. The meeting was officially called “The First National Congress of College Students in the Philippines.” It was innocuously themed “Nation Building Through Youth Civic Action Programs.” 

This was a historic occasion because prior to this meeting martial law had greatly curtailed student activities in the Philippines. I remember President Marcos had ordered his police to consider any gathering of more than three students as subversive!

At any rate, the congress was a statement from Marcos. He was saying his regime was secure enough to sponsor a congress of the student sector, his erstwhile nemesis. He also wanted to tell the world, especially the United States, that things were normalizing in the Philippines.

The DEC letter of invitation was coursed through President Onofre D. Corpuz who channeled it through Dean Armando Malay of the UP Office of Student Affairs (OSA). Dean Malay then gave it to the UP Student Conference, chaired by Diwa C. Guinigundo. I remember Diwa inviting me to a meeting at  2nd floor Vinzons Hall where the composition of the UP delegation was decided by consensus. UP was to shoulder the travel expenses.

The UP delegation:

1. Diwa C. Guinigundo
2. Fides M. Lim
3. Alexander Magno
4. Raul Pangalangan
5. Roberto E. Reyes
6. Marvie Maramag
7. Susan Fernandez
8. Bey Fernando
9.Maria Serena I. Diokno
10. Vic-vic Adea

Widespread student unrest was one of the reasons for the declaration of martial law in the Philippines. For the Marcos government to risk staging this big student meeting spoke volumes about its confidence. From the point of view of DEC, this was a way to coopt the student sector  into the "New Society."  For pro-democracy student leaders like us, it was a big step forward.

No matter how "reactionary" the agenda was, the congress signified that Filipino student leaders were at last being given breathing space. The congress was a big departure from the early martial law days. In that bleak period, student activists were arrested, student councils and organizations banned, and student publications muzzled. 

For the UP delegation, it mattered little if the congress was sponsored by Marcos’ education department, or if its theme served Marcos’ New Society, or if its officials apologized for martial law excesses. What mattered  was the chance for establishing contacts, forming alliances, and doing even a modicum of anti-Marcos advertising. The UP student leaders would not let this opportunity pass.

At the time of the congress, there were three bodies that were spearheading the anti-martial law effort in the University of the Philippines. These were: The UP Student Conference, the Philippine Collegian, and the Student Committee for Student Rights and Welfare (SCSRW).

The UP Student Conference was an officially sanctioned body representing various UP student organizations. It was only a consultative body, albeit an elected one. Because of its consultative status, it was a poor replacement for the UP Student Council.  The latter would not be restored until far-off 1980.

The Philippine Collegian was the official UP student publication, and its editor-in-chief was Abraham “Ditto” Sarmiento. Unfortunately, Ditto was not included in the delegation. Representing the Collegian instead was Fides M. Lim, its managing editor and workhorse.

Ditto Sarmiento's term as Collegian editor was one of the celebrated paper's finest moments. The Collegian  had just participated in a successful protest movement against a memo-circular by President Corpuz, which was implemented by Executive Vice-president Emanuel V. Soriano. The infamous order prohibited any public discussion of Presidential Decree (PD) 823, which banned workers' strikes. The intense and widely supported campaign forced Corpuz to rescind his order.

Ditto Sarmiento's Collegian was at its fiercest when it put out a special issue  which had the UP Oblation occupying almost the entire front page. Under the Oblation was printed, in bold, red letters,  --- "Kung hindi ngayon, kailan pa?" (If not now, when?)  Its Christmas 1975 issue featured on the front-page a a motley list of political issues and demands shaped like a Christmas tree!

The SCSRW was an unofficial alliance of about seventy UP student organizations. It was activated by consensus, and on an issue-to-issue basis. Along with the Student Conference and the Collegian, SCSRW also participated in the anti-PD 823 campaign, having provided the required warm bodies.

I remember waking up at 3 am in our home in Bulacan, Bulacan so I could reach by bus the Tutuban Philippine National Railways (PNR) station in Divisoria at 5 am. That was the meeting place for the entire delegation, where we would board the green PNR bus bound for Baguio. The bus left Tutuban at 8 am. We shared it with non-UP delegates and immediately made friends.

The last time I was in Baguio was in 1968, so I was very excited to see the City of Pines again. The trip lasted more than four hours. The bus negotiated treacherous Kennon Road with ease. Kennon was much greener and more picturesque then. In those days as well, Baguio felt cooler than now. And, one could actually smell the inspiring scent of pine as the  bus approached the city outskirts.

When we arrived at BTC, we were guided to our assigned dorm room which delightfully smelled of old wood and fresh linen. It had double-deck beds covered with dark brown woolen blankets, the kind not used in the lowlands. Settled and refreshed, we were ushered to the spacious dining hall where we had a sumptuous late lunch with the delegates. It was my first time to this hallowed Baguio camp. The opening session was still in the early evening, so we all decided it was Session Road to gallivant. Most of us were in our early twenties, with one or two being teenagers.

In late afternoon the next day, the men, inspired by the cool Baguio weather, decided to partake of a large bottle of Ginebra San Miguel in their  dorm. This was against house rules, but that was far from their minds.  Each wanted to impress the others of his drinking adeptness ---- the bottle was emptied straightaway. They reported to the dinner table noisy, inebriated, and stinking of the stuff. The ladies were resentful and would not talk to them. They apologized the next morning.

The Secretary of Education then was President Marcos’ uncle, Juan Manuel, who gave a boring speech, rambling most of the way. The chairman of the congress was Undersecretary of Education Narciso Albarracin whose forgettable welcome address also meandered. Other officials included youthful and promising technocrats Mindanao Razon, Manuel Cobarrubias, Jose Suva, and George “Butch” Albarracin.

The congress was well attended. There must have been about 300+ delegates. I remember very well the opening plenary session. Each delegation proudly stood from their seats as the name of their school was announced.  The different tertiary sectors were there ----- private schools, vocational schools, and state colleges and universities.

I especially made friends with the De La Salle University (DLSU) delegation. One of its female members treated me to a dinner of steak and mashed potatoes in a Session Road bistro called Mario's. Among other things, we talked about student activities in DLSU, and how UP could help. 

The UP delegation made sure that UP was represented in all the workshop committees, so it could reach out to the universities represented. The recurring theme in all the workshops was "nation-building" which was a well-known Marcos catchphrase in those days. 

The congress secretariat created workshop committees based on the the following topics:

1. Nation-building through political action;
2. Nation-building through social action;
3. Nation-building through economic action; and
4. Nation-building through education action

Another objective was to inject as much anti-martial law content into the workshop committee reports and the congress declaration. These were to be read in the plenary session and published in the Marcos media, so it was an excellent propaganda opportunity.

The UP delegation succeeded in this only moderately. The other delegates, except for a few like those from DLSU and St. Scholastica’s College, were still too cowed by martial law to agree to have their views publicly known. They agreed to much of what the workshops daringly discussed about Marcos and martial law. However, they balked when we suggested that all of it be put in writing.

Finally, to satiate our anti-martial law urges, we decided to write a no-holds-barred "position paper" about student rights and welfare, the restoration of student councils in all colleges and universities, and the evils of martial law.  After the group discussed the nuances thoroughly, I remember Diwa Guinigundo  assigning Fides M. Lim to pen the essay.

Somehow, we got hold of a typewriter, some mimeo stencils, and a mimeograph machine. We mimeoed the statement surreptitiously, and even made a plan for its sly distribution. Most of the copies were distributed secretly in the dormitories. When the delegates came to the plenary session, many were carrying copies of the statement.

The congress ended its Baguio segment with the organizers vowing to forward the resolutions to President Marcos. I doubt very much if that happened. They were probably shelved.

The trip back to Manila was uneventful. We were all tired and eager to go home. The UP delegation separated ways in Tutuban, looking forward to the coming New Year's Eve celebration. There was to be another congress session  on December 30, 1975 at the National Library Auditorium along T.M. Kalaw St. in Manila. Its agenda escaped us. We did not attend it anymore.

Little did we know that when classes were to resume that coming January 1976, Marcos would order the arrest en masse of UP student leaders. But that’s another story. 

A Brief History of the CPP Movement in the University of the Philippines in 1975 Part II

The SCSRW Led Campaign

With its forces well placed in the Student Conference, the Philippine Collegian, and in the organizations, the CPP in the summer of 1975 girded for action. At this point, the issues and rallying cries it was championing were limited to student rights and welfare concerns. It was time to test the effectiveness of the SCSRW.

In a general meeting in mid-semester, the SCSRW launched a “mass campaign” to finally force the UP administration to restore the student council. There was an extensive planning session, and the body was divided into committees with clearly delineated tasks. All the organizations represented pledged to mobilize their memberships and resources for the campaign. In the ensuing week, the newly formed alliance tried hard to provoke student passions. It did so with position papers, posters, Collegian press releases, and symposiums.

The results were moderate at best. The students attended the symposiums, shouted the prompted slogans, and read the SCSRW propaganda ---- but that was all. For example, an energized SCSRW symposium in a jam-packed University Theater, which was attended by a pestered EVP Soriano, fell short of expectations.

The indoor rally did not erupt into spontaneous protest march outside the theater as the CPP had hoped. The intended march would have gone around the academic oval in a dramatic show of force. The party branch later speculated that student welfare issues were too shallow for such an idealistic lot like the UP student body. In a “summing-up” paper, it concluded that the students would not be moved to action just because they had no council, much less because the laboratories were ill equipped, or the toilets were clogged and filthy.

Soriano would later comment that he did not recognize the SCSRW students, because he expected to confront the leaders of the Student Conference and the Philippine Collegian, with whom he was familiar. “I do not know these people from Adam,” Soriano lamented. He warned that there was something suspicious and sinister about the SCSRW, implying that it was a CPP front organization.

The October 31, 1975 Via Crucis Procession

On October 31, 1975, the CPP had a golden chance to mobilize UP students against martial law, albeit in a religious setting, and outside the UP campus. On this date, the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP) sponsored a “Via Crucis” (Way of the Cross) rally and procession in front of the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, Manila.

This was, of course, an anti-martial law rally in disguise. It was taking advantage of the legal cover provided by the activist church elements, who were in fact, CPP elements themselves. Moreover, it was not as expressly anti-martial law as the UP activists wanted it to be, but they had to make do with it for the time being.

The Philippine Collegian, Student Conference, and SCSRW all called on the UP students to attend this rally. The assembly point was at the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) steps, the assembly time being around 1:00 pm. Around three hundred students assembled. There were some tense moments as the group lingered on the CAS steps for some 30 minutes to wait for more participants. They were expecting a police response. Finally, the marshalls gave the green light. Under the afternoon sun, the protestors discreetly marched to Vinzons Hall to board buses for Intramuros.

Like Old Times

Upon arrival in Intramuros less than an hour later, they joined a rally crowd of around two thousand, composed of priests, seminarians, nuns, students, and laborers. As was typical of the Left, representatives from each sector took turns speaking, lambasting the martial law regime in a veiled (no pun intended) manner. The emcee was the goateed Fr. Toti Olaguer S.J., who wore leather sandals and stood on an improvised stage.

After the tempered speeches, the crowd held a “procession” around the Manila Cathedral, through historic Calle Real. It passed in front of the cream colored Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) building, many members of which were still uncommitted regarding martial rule. The students, many not coming from UP, carried candles. The nuns thumbed rosaries, while the laborers, seminarians, and priests clung on to streamers.  

Yet, all avoided shouting raucous slogans, or carrying placards. The participants were being careful not to stretch their luck. Metrocom vans were waiting to accommodate them. There were truncheon wielding formations of police and “Barangay Tanods” in one corner, ready to pounce. Solitary, and burly looking men took pictures of the event.

Most of the UP students who attended this procession had become organized activists after the declaration of martial law. They were rightly called “martial law babies.” Quite a few, however, were veterans of the First Quarter Storm (FQS) of 1970 and the Diliman Commune of 1971. For them, it was almost like old times.

The Campaign Against PD 823 and the Corpuz Memo-Circular

On November 3, 1975, President Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 823, which prohibited strikes and lockouts. A few days later, a big indoor rally protesting the decree was held at the Vinzons Hall 4^th floor auditorium. It was sponsored by the Church -Labor Center (CLC), a committee under the AMRSP. The CLC had apparently made arrangements with the Student Conference or the Philippine Collegian. Many UP students attended the indoor rally, but making up the bulk were laborers and church people.

The main speakers were Fr. Luis Hechanova C.Ss.R. , who was the Executive Director of the National Secretariat of Social Action (NASSA) of the CBCP, Bishop Julio Labayen, a left-leaning bishop of the Prelature of Infanta, Mr. Elsie Estares of the Gelmart garments factory labor union, the shadowy Ka Berong from the leftist Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), and Fr. Lope Castillo of the CLC, chairman of the AMRSP.

The URC sensed that the issue was a potential game changer. At any rate, it was instructed by the CPP Manila-Rizal Committee to pursue the issue in the campus. Accordingly, the party branch immediately instructed its campus machinery to mount an intensive campaign against PD 823. In the days that followed, well attended forums occurred in the different colleges, opposing the decree, and supporting the right to strike. The Student Conference, Philippine Collegian, and SCSRW put their usual information campaigns on higher gear. Even the faculty began to get involved, pitching the issue in the classrooms.

These results attested to the UP community's receptivity to the issue. They also showed the increasing sophistication of the CPP apparatus in the UP campus. 

Onofre Corpuz Bans PD 823 Discussion

UP president Corpuz responded to this ferment by issuing a memorandum circular prohibiting the discussion of PD 823 in the university. In doing so, Corpuz was unknowingly accommodating the CPP. This was the ideal situation the CPP was looking for. PD 823 was an issue that appealed to the UP students' idealism, and forbidding its discussion in the campus hit a sensitive nerve. It was like creating the perfect storm.

In an instant, by limiting free speech in the campus, Corpuz converted PD 823 from a solidarity issue, into a grudge match. Many students and faculty, including non-activists, resented the memo-circular, and vented their ire particularly at his feisty EVP. They felt that the UP "admin" was terminating a right they had increasingly exercised that year, after cowering in relative silence in 1973 and 1974.

By the 2^nd week of November 1975, a reoriented information campaign was launched by the CPP machinery, demanding the rescinding of the controversial memo. This time around, the forums were more impassioned, the position papers more combustible, and the crowds bigger.

More and more, EVP Soriano assumed a high profile in facing the angry gatherings. About two weeks into the campaign, Corpuz and Soriano sat side-by-side on the stage in one unforgettable symposium at Abelardo Hall. They were trying with might and main to defend the memo during an open forum. 

In fairness, Corpuz and Soriano were holding their own. However, when the students couldn't handle Corpuz and Soriano's argumentative skills, the seasoned faculty, like Joel Rocamora of the Philippine Center for Advanced Studies (PCAS) came to their rescue. Otherwise, the duo's rebuttals were drowned out with shouts of disapproval and militant chanting.

Corpuz Rescinds the Memo

President Corpuz rescinded the memo circular the day after. The eminent Tarlaqueño couldn't take the heat anymore. Even during the fateful forum, I saw the pressure on his face. Yet, I thought he mustered enough decency and rationality to withdraw such an imprudent order. I wondered to myself: what could he have told Marcos to justify the historic revocation? 

In all, the three-week campaign in November 1975 that made Corpuz eat humble pie was the most assertive display of student power I had seen in UP after three years of martial law. Yet, its historical significance goes beyond its vigor. It was a vigorous campaign that was successful. It called for the rescinding of an unloved university order, and achieved its objective.

The Student Conference and the Philippine Collegian both issued euphoric declarations of victory. Even the underground publications like the Rebel Collegian joined in. The CPP, meanwhile, was able to harvest scores of recruits out of the energizing campaign. It significantly increased its clandestine presence in the university.

This renewed strength, in turn, showed in the big UP delegation to the first ever unequivocally anti-dictatorship rally held in Bustillos, Manila, in the early evening of December 6, 1975. This rally, which snaked through the narrow streets of Sampaloc and Quiapo, was attended by more than 5,000 people. PD 823 was still the issue, but this time with a pronounced anti-martial law streak. The CPP smartly timed it to coincide with the state visit of President Gerald R. Ford, during which time the regime was expected to be at its “friendliest” best.

The First Student Congress Under Martial law

After the Bustillos rally, the UP activists, Marxists as they were, looked forward to the beloved Christmas break. It was customary for them to spend this three-week hiatus to unwind. Vacation meant laid back “summing-up” meetings usually in an out of town venue, like Baguio City, or a resort in Laguna province. The meetings usually started the day after Christmas which, propitiously, was the CPP founding anniversary.

The Student Conference leadership used the break to attend the first gathering of college students under martial law. It was held at Baguio Teachers Camp on December 26-29, 1975. It was sponsored by the Department of Education and Culture (DECS) and was officially called “The First National Congress of College Students in the Philippines.” Its theme was “Nation Building Through Youth Civic Action Programs.”

For the nine-person UP delegation, it did not matter if the congress was sponsored by the dictatorial government or if the agenda served Marcos’ purposes. What mattered to them was that the gathering was a venue for making contacts, establishing a network, and discreetly conducting anti-Marcos propaganda. They felt they had the obligation to spread the protest spirit to other schools. They would not let this opportunity go away.

The congress was well attended. The different tertiary sectors were represented ----- private schools, vocational schools, and state colleges and universities. The UP delegation did groundwork to ensure UP was represented in all the workshop committees.

The January 1976 Arrests and Failed Protest Rally

Nineteen-seventy-five ended with the UP activists giddy with success. For them, November 1975 was like a democratic spring, and their participation in the December 6 Bustillos rally was their coming of age. They were looking forward to a groundswell in 1976.

But that was not to be. When classes resumed in the second week of January 1976, President Marcos ordered the arrest of the chairman and vice-chairman of the Student Conference, and the editor and managing-editor of the Philippine Collegian. Many rank and file student activists whom the military had tagged as CPP cadres and leaders were also arrested. Those apprehended were either picked up in their homes, or in the campus. On the day of the arrests, Vinzons Hall was visited several times by Metrocom arresting parties.

On the first day of the arrests, the party branch managed to assemble a small indignation rally of around a thousand in front of the College of Arts and Sciences. (CAS). In the absence of the legal leaders who would have coordinated and policed the rally, high ranking UP CPP leaders who were not arrested came out of the woodwork and did the job. 

In doing so, they were exposing themselves to intelligence agents who were also called “spotters.” Being members of the URC-KT, they were jeopardizing the safety of the entire UP CPP organization. Under their command, the rally was able to march about a hundred meters in the direction of the main library.

The authorities were ready for this demonstration. As the rally was nearing Gonzales Hall, it was accosted by a phalanx of riot police. The students stood their ground and shouted slogans demanding freedom for their leaders. But the police would not budge. There was a brief standoff. 

Upon prodding from the secretary of the CPP MR committee who was monitoring the action, the UP CPP leaders briefly toyed with the idea of forcibly occupying the main library and hostaging the hapless but revered university librarian, Prof. Marina G. Dayrit. The only demand would have been the release of the student leaders. In the heat of the confrontation, they rejected the plan as too reckless.

Finally, after about fifteen minutes, the cops received orders to violently disperse the crowd. They did so with truncheons, with the protesters fleeing in different directions. The indignation rally was over, and with it, the fleeting period of freedom in the Philippines' premier campus.