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Issue Number 31, October 2008
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Kapatiran Issue
No. 31, October 2008
PHILIPPINE TRIBUTES TO KA BEL
NDFP RENDERS THE HIGHEST HONOURS TO CRISPIN
“KA BEL” BELTRAN, GREAT HERO OF THE WORKING
CLASS AND FILIPINO PEOPLE AND GREAT INTERNATIONALIST
22 May 2008
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP)
and its seventeen allied organisations deeply mourn the
death of Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran, great hero
of the working class and the Filipino people and a great
internationalist in the world-wide anti-imperialist
movement. The NDFP conveys its most heartfelt
condolences to his wife Ka Osang and their children,
grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Ka Bel’s invaluable contribution to the Filipino
people’s struggle for national and social liberation
is ineradicably carved in the more than sixty years of
his militant struggle against foreign and domestic
oppressors and exploiters. From the time he joined the
resistance against Japanese occupation as a courier for
the Filipino guerrilla fighters to his organizing of
fellow taxi drivers, organizing militant workers’
federations, opposing the Marcos dictatorship and
becoming a political prisoner, then escaping and
organising workers and peasants in the countryside,
then becoming the President of the Kilusang
Mayo Uno (May First Movement) and the multi-sectoral
alliance Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), to becoming
an elected representative in the Philippine Congress, he
has compiled a brilliant record of fearlessly fighting
for the interests of the working class and the Filipino
people.
Ka Bel also distinguished himself as an outstanding
internationalist in the world-wide anti-imperialist
movement. He attended international conferences and spoke
at international demonstrations against imperialist
plunder and wars of aggression. He was elected the first
Chairman of the International Coordinating Committee of
the International League of Peoples’ Struggle in
2001.Wherever he went, he made a deep impression on the
overseas Filipino communities, the trade unionists from
other countries, and parliamentarians and officials of
governmental and intergovernmental institutions, thereby
winning valuable international support for the struggle
of the working class and the Filipino people.
For all his great accomplishments and positions of honour
he attained, he remained an unassuming person, closely
integrated with the toiling masses and working people,
exuding a radiant winning style of leadership. He was
fearless and uncompromising in fighting oppressors and
standing up for the interests of the people but very
amiable to the working people and allies, especially to
those suffering from injustice.
His sharp analytical mind has been invaluable to the
people’s struggle for national and social
liberation, especially at critical times. When those who
wanted to derail the people’s struggle aimed to
mislead the workers’ movement in the early 1990s, Ka
Bel stood like a pillar of strength and wisdom to oppose
the renegades and help keep the workers’ movement
and the people’s overall struggle in the correct
direction.
Ka Bel did not hesitate to show his support for NDFP
Chief Political Consultant, Professor Jose Maria Sison,
by attending the hearing of Prof. Sison’s case at
the Luxembourg Court. Whenever a delegation of the NDFP
visited the Philippines, he would welcome them. When an
NDFP delegation visited the Philippines in 2001 to attend
an international peace solidarity conference in Manila,
Ka Bel and his fellow workers warmly received the NDFP
delegation with a rousing candle-lit welcome.
As President of the Anakpawis party list and its
representative in Congress, he epitomised the
worker-peasant alliance, the firm foundation of the
national united front. It is known that after he escaped
from the Marcos prison in 1984, he integrated with and
helped organise peasants in the countryside.
Ka Bel’s unassuming style of leadership is narrated
in innumerable stories of his friends and co-workers. Two
instances while he was abroad also demonstrate this
characteristic of Ka Bel. After joining several
groups that went to Luxembourg for the hearing on Prof.
Sison’s case, when the car he was riding in got
stuck in a stretch of muddy road, he went down and helped
push out the car. His coat and pants got spattered with
mud, but he took all this good-naturedly. After
being one of the main speakers at the international
demonstration in Vancouver, he carried some of the
placards and other materials of the demonstration and
walked back with the organisers to return them. He did
this without much ado. It was all very natural to
him.
Wherever Ka Bel was, whether in the streets of Hong Kong
denouncing the imperialist plunder through the World
Trade Organisation, in Vancouver exposing the Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) speaking to thousands
of demonstrators from different lands, in the parliament
of the streets in Manila and other parts of the
Philippines, or in the halls of the Philippine Congress,
his uncompromising stand for the workers and oppressed
stood high and strong. His message, clearly shown in the
streamers honouring him, with his clenched fist raised
and revolutionary determination written all over his
countenance, rings loud and clear: “The struggle
goes on!”
The inspiration of Ka Bel’s life and commitment as a
great proletarian fighter will live on in the hearts and
minds of those who carry on the struggle and cause he
selflessly lived for.
National Council, National Democratic Front of the
Philippines
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