An Inconvenient Encounter

"To the youth…that you may continue the struggle".-- Ka Bel

Many are deeply shocked and sincerely affected by the great loss of a foundation, a hero of the working class, and voice of the toiling masses, that was Crispin ‘Ka Bel’ Beltran, following an ironic incident in his house few days ago. His untimely demise gathered about reactions from different persuasions, and more so, from among his comrades in the labor sector and sympathizers in the working class.

We were on our way to Batasan Pambansa that day when I learned of the breaking news from a friend who works in a media monitoring NGO, shortly before his eventual death. Reading through my cell phone entailed an anxious and uncomfortable feeling. Of prayers, of wishes, and luck. Another message minutes later came, to read: ‘as of 11:48 am, Ka Bel died’. I remained silent, closed my eyes and started a recollection that passed through my mind for about two years now.

I had a first glimpse of Ka Bel on TV as early as elementary but remained clueless of The Man until I entered the university. His unwavering and relentless commitment to the struggle of the working class in the face of political persecution has inspired my personal standpoints of society.

My being active in political roundups and activities in the campus and outside brought me closer to meeting Ka Bel. If my memory serves me right, it was during the SONA 2005 mobilization at the stretch of Commonwealth Avenue that I had personally met him and have interviewed him for a then alternative campus publication. The brief conversation left me in awe seeing the courage and conviction in him.

Then the encounters came as often as I attended subsequent mass actions. At times, the lawmaker would visit the university for some speaking engagement, or en route to visiting mass sectors in the region.

But the remainder of that passive encounter concluded when at these times, two years ago, during our internship, we had the chance, to talk to him in person, in his hospital bed at the Philippine Heart Center where he was under hospital detention pending a rebellion charge and later dismissed by the Supreme Court. Really, it was a very inconvenient, but self satisfying encounter with Ka Bel, having passed through police security, and still managed to bring in our cameras for the said interview.

I say, it was a feat for me having slipped through state elements who at that time, keeping in an innocent man in that solitary room, although they’ve been cooperative that time.

And in the next thirty minutes or so, we engaged in a variety of topics, ranging from family, the labor struggle, his experiences, worries, and hopes and wishes, especially to the youth. That moment, I have seen before my eyes the different sides of Ka Bel. The flexibility in his voice and the humble smiles adds up to the wisdom that Ka Bel nurtured in his lifetime. His aging face, watery eyes, calloused hands and feet and weakening health condition are but reminders of his glorious and continuing past seeing the fruits of the struggle which he once led.

For some who may have encountered him in many ocassions would have experienced the same feeling and impact as we have, if it wasn’t for the unconventional circumstance that brought us together in that setting and setup.

Reaching Congress by lunchtime, I can sense some distress from within the surroundings as the news on his death spread. Just like any other deaths that I’ve encountered, good things are always remembered of the person. In Ka Bel’s case, a continuing act of goodness for the greater good never seizes in the memories and hearts of ordinary Filipinos. A conversation I’ve overheard later on that day, where a jeepney driver lamenting on ‘the outcome of Ka Bel’s proposal to lower electricity by removing E-VAT from it, now that he’s dead’, left me some sort of humble salutations.

The struggle continues.

*Memories with and tribute to Rep. Crispin ‘Ka Bel’ Beltran (1933-2008).