NOTEBOOK: Nick Atienza, A Tribute

NOTEBOOK: Nick Atienza, A Tribute

(Published in the column Notebook, page 10 of The Philippine Reporter, January 1-15, 2007 issue, Toronto, Canada)

The year 2006 has ended with a big bang.

Shortly before we had started jotting down our new year’s resolutions, we were almost inundated with news about deaths – ex-U.S. President Gerald Ford died and given a state funeral; former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein executed in a humiliating way; Dr. Aloysius “Ochie” Baes, people’s scientist and environment advocate, died in a hospital in Manila; Fely Villasin, advocate for migrant workers and anti-martial law activist, died in Toronto.

And there were many stories of friends, relatives and associates having serious illnesses that raised concerns in us and served to remind us of our own mortality. This after a very hectic and raucous year that saw the mighty Bush regime showing signs of weakness and the Republicans nearing the end of its two-term rule in the White House with the Democrats dominating the Congressional elections. And this is not even speaking about the quagmire it has sunk itself into in the war in Iraq.

But that is getting into world politics. This being the end of a year and the start of a new year, I’d like to write on something personal though significant to a lot of people.

On page 35 you will find a letter of appeal to help Monico M. Atienza, a professor at the University of the Philippines who is in coma at the Philippine General Hospital in Manila fighting for his life. (Latest update: his ventilator has been removed and he is breathing by himself.)

To those who don’t know him, I am not asking for a donation. I just want to share what I know of the man.

Nick, as he is known fondly by countless friends, was my classmate in the Far Eastern University Boys High School (FEU-BHS) up to 1964. He was our class president, valedictorian and student council president. With those distinguished achievements at a very young age, our teachers predicted he would have a very distinguished career in whatever profession he would soon choose.

Indeed, he did build a very distinguished “career” but in a field most people who knew him then least expected he would devote his life to. He joined and eventually became a leader of the national democratic movement that spearheaded the broader movement that toppled the Marcos regime. To this day this movement continues to shake the foundations of an old society ruled by corrupt and oppressive regimes.

As a freshman at FEU taking business and financial courses in 1965, he was introduced to Kabataang Makabayan (KM), the fiercely nationalistic student youth group that invoked the revolutionary tradition of Andres Bonifacio and other Filipino heroes and called for a genuinely independent Philippines free from the clutches of U.S. political, economic and cultural interests.

Attracted by the intellectual and activist ferment in the University of the Philippines then, Nick enrolled at the UP in Diliman and immersed himself with literature in ideology and politics and enthusiastically joined student protest actions like the anti-Vietnam war rallies and teach-ins and the demonstrations that opposed the U.S. military bases and the over-all U.S. control in the Philippines.

His energy, dedication and leadership qualities led him to become the president of the Student Cultural Association of the University of the Philippines (SCAUP), then the core of the leadership of the UP student activism. He later became the Secretary General of Kabataang Makabayan (Patriotic Youth), the militant organization that spearheaded what is now known as the First Quarter Storm, the massive demonstrations and grassroots organizing and mobilizations in the first quarter of 1970 that aroused a nation from decades of stupor.

When the writ of habeas corpus was suspended by Marcos in 1971, Nick was in the wanted list of about 70 student activists, labor and peasant leaders, journalists and prominent personalities opposed to the Marcos regime. Nick evaded arrest, went underground and continued his political activities.

When martial law was declared in 1972, Nick deepened his involvement further. He was arrested by intelligence operatives in October 1974 and was heavily tortured physically and mentally. While he was being tortured in a room in Camp Crame military headquarters in Quezon City, he was made to believe his wife would be raped in the next room. He was beaten black and blue, exposed naked to an air conditioner and threatened with attack by an intimidating Doeberman. Nick’s torturers must have been irritated by his fierce refusal to give any information that would lead to his comrades.

Nick’s severe torture caused him a mental breakdown that led to his confinement at the V. Luna Medical Center for months. When he was brought back to detention, he would occasionally show signs of extreme agony and would not sleep for days. As a political detainee in the same quarters with Nick at that time at the 5th CSU and Stockade 4 in Camp Crame and later in Camp Bicutan, I personally saw how he suffered with his lingering illness under the severe stress of tensions in prison especially during hunger strikes and the daily encounters with oppressive detention officials and guards.

Nick would be shuttled from detention to hospital and later released after a few years as a political detainee. He would still suffer the symptoms of his illness until he was able to go back to university, finish his course and take masteral studies. He has since then been teaching at the UP Department of Pilipino and Philippine Literature, has written a book on linguistics, while also continuing his political involvement.

In 1987 after Cory Aquino became President, Nick suffered serious injuries after the vehicle he was riding in was sprayed with bullets reportedly by military assassins. He just came from a television interview. Two of his friends in the same vehicle died and another was injured. His leg injury has not healed completely to this day and shrapnels were detected still embedded in his head when he was examined in hospital recently.

He is the president of the First Quarter Storm Movement, a group composed of the leaders of that historical era who continue to inspire and mentor the next generation of youth and students. He is a regular speaker in political and academic events and a well-respected and loved professor as shown by his legion of visitors at the Philippine General Hospital where his medical attendants continue to ask who is this man that there seems to be no end to the stream of visitors wanting to see him and concerned about his condition. There is also a 24-hour watch for him composed of friends, relatives, students, teachers, union workers, activists, farmers, etc.

He is also currently the board chairperson of Citizens’ Disaster Response Centre, a non-government national network that has helped more than three million people in Philippine disaster areas in the past more than 30 years of its existence. I didn’t know he had that title until recently when I saw Nick’s picture with the Japanese ambassador and two other CDRC officials after the signing of a contract in 2003 for an aid to help 4,000 displaced families in Mindanao. (See photo on page 35.) I wrote to my ex-classmates of the FEU Boys High batch ‘64 that Nick’s selflessness is clearly shown by the fact that he has helped thousands of people in need and in the process has neglected his own health.

Behind these outstanding deeds and dedication to people’s interests, Nick is a very down-to-earth person. Being one of his closest friends since high school, a confidante and a close comrade-in-arms on campus, in the KM, in the underground, in detention and after, before my move to live in Canada, I would say he is an outstanding human being. Like all of us, he had his faults and weaknesses. But for all that he has done so far to champion the cause of the oppressed and the exploited, these are minuscule. What shines in him are his true patriotism and a firm decision to dedicate his life in the service of the people.

I would have wanted to write longer about him and the many funny and poignant stories in his life but that might take another article. I am heartened by the fact his condition is improving and that means the world hasn’t seen the end of this man’s humanity and greatness.