Beltran a ‘kasama’ in word and deed

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:05:00 05/22/2008

MANILA, Philippines—First and foremost, Anakpawis party-list Rep.
Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran was a “kasama” (comrade) in word and deed,
peasant leaders said Wednesday.

Expressing grief over Beltran’s sudden death at 75 on Tuesday,
Southern Tagalog farmer-leader Orly Marcellana recalled how the
lawmaker went with him to retrieve the body of his wife, Eden, who was
slain in a remote area in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, in 2003.

“Ka Bel, even in his old age, did not have second thoughts going with
me and my family to claim my wife’s body,” Marcellana, Anakpawis
regional coordinator for Southern Tagalog and secretary general of the
Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka ng Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK),
told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in San Pablo City.

Eden Marcellana, then secretary general of Karapatan-Southern Tagalog,
and Eduardo Gumanoy, then chair of Kasama-TK, were abducted and killed
on April 21, 2003. Their case remains unresolved.

“Ka Bel is a true leader and a kasama as he accompanied farmers,
workers and urban poor in their struggle, both in word and in deed,”
Orly Marcellana said.

Beltran’s body was taken late Tuesday to his house in Francisco Homes
III in Barangay Muzon, San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan, for an
overnight wake.

At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, under a slight downpour, it arrived at the
Cathedral of the Holy Child, the national cathedral of the Iglesia
Filipina Independiente (IFI) on Taft Avenue in Manila.

The initial crowd of mourners at the 800-seat cathedral—mostly from
the labor, peasant and urban poor sectors—numbered more than a
thousand. Most of them had met the funeral convoy a few blocks away
and marched with it to the cathedral.

Beltran’s remains will stay in the cathedral until Friday, after which
it will be flown to his hometown of Bacacay, Albay, according to
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr.

“It was a wish of his, when he was still alive, to have a wake in his
hometown,” Reyes said.

The remains will be brought back to Manila after the weekend and taken
to the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Kasama-TK media liaison officer Oscar Lapida Jr. said Beltran was a
man close to their hearts.

“He did not want us to call him ‘Congressman,’ ‘Honorable,’ or ‘Sir.’
He wanted to be called simply Ka Bel—a companion in the struggle to
liberate the poor,” Lapida said.

Marcellana said the last time he saw Beltran was on May 14, when
Southern Tagalog farmers trooped to the House to witness the
lawmaker’s filing of an alternative genuine agrarian reform bill to
replace the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.

Applause from crowd

He said Beltran’s steadfast commitment to the poor and the working
class had given him and other farmers the reason to continue what they
had started.

Men dipped the red and white flags of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and
Anakpawis as Beltran’s casket, carried on the red carpet by family
members and friends, was brought to the IFI cathedral.

The crowd applauded and shouted “Tuloy ang laban (The fight
continues)!” as the coffin draped in the Philippine flag passed.

The KMU anthem was sung as the mourners led by the lawmaker’s widow,
Rosario “Ka Osang” Beltran, approached the altar.

A Mass was held, with a KMU memorial service scheduled late Wednesday night.

“Ka Bel taught us that another society, a society free from
exploitation, free from abuse, is possible, and that the struggle is
the path that the Filipino people must take,” said Vencer Crisostomo,
chair of the League of Filipino Students (LFS).

Crisostomo said the LFS admired Beltran for remaining firm and
courageous despite the constant harassment and acts of violence
imposed on him by the “enemies of the Filipino people.”

Anna Leah Ecresa, program officer of the Quezon City-based Ecumenical
Institute for Labor Education and Research, said the nongovernment
organization knew Beltran from its research and education programs.

“We learned a lot from him in promoting genuine trade unionism through
mass education and skills training for workers and worker-leaders. His
life tells us of how it is to fight for the cause and welfare of the
ordinary Juan Obrero,” she said.

Police guard

Some 40 neighbors were present at Beltran’s wake in the family home at
the time of the Inquirer’s visit. At least five policemen, sent there
by the city police, stood guard.

No expensive vehicle belonging to Beltran’s colleague was seen in the
vicinity. But House leaders sent flowers.

Family members and police officials said San Jose del Monte Rep.
Arturo Robes arrived at the wake Wednesday noon. Councilor Noli
Concepcion and barangay captain Gerry Sarmiento also came to pay their
respects.

Beltran died of head injuries hours after falling from a ledge while
fixing the roof of his house at about 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

Ka Osang said her husband had become strong and healthy since his
“hospital arrest” last year at the Philippine Heart Center, and that
“ni sa panaginip” (not even in her dreams) did she think that he would
die soon.

She described Ka Bel as a good family man who never neglected the
concerns of the poor.

Showered with love

“I am very thankful for the love he showered me in our 50 years of
marriage. I also thank him for bringing up all our children and
sending them to school. He was a former taxi driver, but he made sure
that all our children would get college degrees,” Ka Osang said.

“But while he did not neglect his children’s needs, neither did he
neglect the working class, the Filipino masses,” she said.

Residents of the subdivision remembered Beltran as the “old man” who
was generous with a smile and genuinely concerned about the problems
besetting the community. Reports from Romulo O. Ponte in San Pablo
City; Carmela Reyes in San Jose del Monte City; Jerome Aning and
Christine O. Avendaño in Manila

23rd May 2008 | Filed under: In The News | Click here to follow any responses to this entry: RSS 2.0 feed