Ka Bel: A servant, a leader

HE SAYS

Aldrin Cardon

05/26/2008

Before his last breath, Crispin Beltran — servant of the masses — devoted his time to a small family concern, fixing the roof of their humble home. That was not a rare occasion for a humble man with big dreams, not for himself but for his countrymen who, ironically, did not see things as Ka Bel had seen the workings of the world.

Even in his last moments, Ka Bel refused to give up, proof of how the man lived his life, one that he had devoted to various advocacies that put him on the verge of death many times; and of various arrests and incarcerations, the last of which he spent in a hospital as he was again included in a short list of comrades being persecuted by this government for their belief, ironically coming at a time of supposed peace and prosperity, when, again supposedly, there is no longer a need for street rallies and various actions.

But reality sets in if one only opens his eyes to see what is happening around him.

On the verge of death, Ka Bel no longer had the strength to open his eyes for one last look at the world he tried to change, or at least defend. He channeled all his strength to his heart, instead, pumping crimson that has become the color of his radical life. It was a vain effort to revive not his life but his ideals and beliefs, until his family decided it was enough.

Ka Bel had served more than half his life for us.

From the streets, as a driver once and then as a leader of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Ka Bel brought his militancy to Congress when the various advocacy groups saw an opportunity to join the “mainstream” through politics, which Ka Bel and many among us still despise for being dirty and lifeless.

But Ka Bel, and his comrades in the party list groups, gave mainstream politics a chance. It was a rare light streaming down through dark clouds after years of fighting from the underground, from which Ka Bel was once believed to be a part of.

Events in his young life may have led Ka Bel to the underground, especially during the dark years of Ferdinand Marcos’ iron rule. It would also had been stupid for a young Bel, persecuted politically and listed in the military’s order of battle, not to have joined the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) or the New People’s Army, which, as various reports had it, gave him protection when he was among one of the hottest possible catch for Marcos as leader of the most militant labor group at a time when Martial Law was supposedly lifted yet still in effect through various Presidential Decrees.

I was actually looking forward to the time when Ka Bel would write his memoir until his death cut my waiting.

I had a couple of chances meeting Ka Bel up close in the past. But I never had the chance to ask him if he was Superman. Not to glorify, nor demean the man, but it will take superhuman efforts for anyone among us to live a life similar to Ka Bel’s.

Ka Bel is rare gem, one who sacrificed his life for Juan de la Cruz even is we did not ask for it. But Ka Bel did not hesitate to give his best even for one last time, even if it was only for that one hole in the roof that may cause his family some annoyance when the rains come.

Ka Bel was known for that, fixing problems, big and small.

Under Ka Bel’s leadership, the KMU became the vanguard among workers groups until the great split of the early 1990s weakened the CPP and its legal and semi-legal fronts. But the KMU stood there, inspired by Ka Bel, who remained respected and admired, even by leaders of the “rejectionist groups” who split from Jose Maria Sison.

Ka Bel’s passing leaves a gaping hole in the workers’ movement, one that would not be filled for some time, maybe until somebody of the same cut comes along.

But, as many have claimed, a Ka Bel is a rare bell. Because only a few could hear it tolling, like a cry wanting to be heard and demanding action, not only for a leaking room to be fixed, but for a country — and a people — that badly needs to change for good.

Or we will follow Ka Bel to his grave unfulfilled.

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