The Crispin ‘Ka Bel’ Beltran Memorial Lectures: Celebrating a working class hero

The Crispin ‘Ka Bel’ Beltran Memorial Lectures: Celebrating a working class hero

“We’ve named the lecture series after Crispin Beltran—labour leader of the largest trade union federation in the Philippines and three term congress member . . . . In our small way, we wanted to honour this remarkable man who died just this past May, on the heels of his visit to Canada where we met with him and got to know him. We spent two and a half weeks with him, night and day, as he travelled to Canadian cities and finally to the House of Commons where he met with his fellow parliamentarians to tell them of the killings being perpetrated by the Philippine military under the protection of the Philippine President. We would like to tell you more about “Ka Bel”—his life story, his humanity, his work as a labour leader, the legacy that he leaves behind and the reasons why there is currently a movement to make him a Philippine national hero.

His life story directly relates to this Phlippine history lecture series. History, as you know, depending on who’s recounting it, can be seen from many different angles and biases. It all depends on what your focus is and what you deem important to include and, equally important, by what you choose to exclude. In this lecture series, we will be looking at Philippine history through a specific lens that focuses on 3 conditions of Philippine society—POVERTY, REPRESSION, AND RESISTANCE. Poverty, repression and active resistance are hallmark conditions of Philippine society.

… we will be hearing about the active resistance of Bonifacio, Tandang Sora, the revolutionary Katipunan group and other key figures in the late19th early 20th century. Today we will be looking at the active resistance started up by the masses of people in the form of early revolts against friar abuses in the late 19th century and other peasant uprisings. Later on in this lecture series we will be looking at the active resistance of organizations like the ‘Aglipayans’ or the Philippine Independent Church, who broke away from the traditional Catholic Church, of the ‘Huks’ during the Japanese time, the work of early trade union movements during United States colonial rule and we’ll also study present day workers rights movements and indigenous rights movements that struggle against neo-liberal policies that aggravate the condition of poverty in the Philippines.

Ka Bel’s life story, as you’ll see, was marked by poverty, repression and active resistance and because the legacy that he leaves behind puts him right up there with the “heroes” and “heroines”/ key figures who struggled against repressive authorities to make a better life for his fellow Filipinos.”

– Diwa Marcelino, Migrante Ontario

By Mithi Esguerra

TORONTO – Members and friends of Migrante Ontario Youth and the Filipino Students’ Association of Toronto (FSAT) gathered Saturday, July 5 at the Charbonnel Lounge, University of Toronto for the first of the Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran Memorial Lectures – “The Birth of the Philippine Working Class and the Katipunan”. Prepared by Migrante Ontario Youth, the lecture series aims to shed light on the workers’ movement in the

Philippines and to celebrate the life of the labour leader turned congressman.

The participants listened attentively, asked questions and most even took notes as former University of the Philippines instructor, Ricky Esguerra, recounted how, from the baranganic societies and sultanates of pre-colonial times, the social structure changed with the arrival of the Spaniards and the opening of the Philippines to world trade, leading to the emergence of a working class, and consequently, a working class movement.

The lecture was followed by an open forum which, surprisingly, did not revolve so much around the history, but was an exchange of ideas and questions about the Filipino people’s current state. The students talked about present-day problems of the Filipino people, asked questions about how they can be solved and possible alternatives to the current system.

Some seemed frustrated about being able to make change, noting that, “a lot of [Filipinos] here don’t want to go back, and once they’re here they feel like they can just forget about [the Philippines].”

Others seemed overwhelmed: “[T]here’s better ways to go about solving the problem of poverty. But the better way is probably bigger than what we think. We probably won’t even see it in this lifetime.”

Yet, a number were hopeful, saying that while we may not see big changes in our lifetime, we can start working on changing our nation’s image now. One student said that like Rizal and the youth who were able to study in Spain in the 1800s, we should also take advantage of what we are learning here to help the Philippines.

It was a modest gathering – a group of 20 sitting on old couches arranged in a semi-circle – much like the man to whose memory the event was dedicated. But the discussion that took place was deep and showed among the participants an eagerness to learn, genuine concern for their community and their people, and a desire for change – an indication that the legacy of Ka Bel, Andres Bonifacio and all our people’s heroes, lives on.

In closing Divine Montesclaros of Migrante Ontario Youth said, “We may know him as the chairman of the AnakPawis Partylist, founder of the KMU (Kilusang Mayo Uno) …. Despite these great titles, Ka Bel was taxi driver, bus driver, messenger, janitor, gasoline boy and farm helper. From his humble beginnings, Ka Bel lived the struggle with the workers, the peasants and the urban poor. He is truly a HERO of the working class and the poor.”

The next installment of the Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran Memorial Lectures is on “The Philippine Working Class Movement in the Era of US Colonial Rule”. Details and updates will be posted on Migrante Ontario Youth’s blog at migranteontarioyouth.wordpress.com.