The First Quarter Storm Network (FQSN)-USA pays tribute to retired Navy Captain Danilo “Ka Dan” Vizmanos, military officer turned political activist, who died Monday night (June 23) at the age of 79. Ka Dan Vizmanos had fought martial law and crusaded against the United States military bases in the Philippines, among other patriotic causes. A Philippine Navy captain, a graduate of the famous US Merchant Marine Academy and an expert in submarine warfare, he joined the national democratic movement, blazing a trail for others like him in the military to follow. Upon the declaration of martial law
Ka.Dan Vizmanos, Ret.PN Captain,79.
The First Quarter Storm Network (FQSN)-USA pays tribute to retired Navy Captain Danilo “Ka Dan” Vizmanos, military officer turned political activist, who died Monday night (June 23) at the age of 79.
Ka Dan Vizmanos had fought martial law and crusaded against the United States military bases in the Philippines, among other patriotic causes. A Philippine Navy captain, a graduate of the famous US Merchant Marine Academy and an expert in submarine warfare, he joined the national democratic movement, blazing a trail for others like him in the military to follow. Upon the declaration of martial law
in 1972, Vizmanos retired from the service, citing “incompatibility with an armed forces that was converted into a huge private army and oppressive instrument of the Marcos dictatorship.” The US-Marcos regime suspected him as a prime mover of the Corpus-Tagamolia Movement (CTM) in the AFP during martial law. He was also implicated on the MV Karagatan and MV Andrea arms smuggling case.
Thesis on People’s War
He wrote a famous thesis about the People’s Republic of China and the primacy of people’s war in a third world country like the Philippines. At the time when the Philippine Navy was still a good navy, he criticized the reliance of the Philippines to the protective umbrella of the United States and stressed the need of a self-reliant and a free armed forces.
“ Kahit ipunin mo ang lahat ng barko ng Philippine Navy, ikonsentra mo sa Mindanao, hindi nito kayang patiigilin ang mga smugglers sa Sulu seas.” That’s how he sums up the capability of the AFP. The latest tragedy of sinking of MV Princess of the Sea in Sibuyan Sea that underscores the ineptness and helplessness of the Philippine Navy and the Coast Guard and its dependence on the US Navy again highlighted Ka. Dan’s thesis on national depense.
He was incarcerated for more than two years at Camp Crame, Fort Bonifacio and Bicutan with no formal charges filed. While in detention, he was subjected to physical and psychological torture, including being injected with “truth serum,” in an effort to get him to betray his friends in the resistance movement.
“My mind was slowly giving up but I still had control,” he had recalled. After he was tortured, Vizmanos said he left the “reactionary organization” that was the military to become a “militant activist.”
From A Military Man to a Committed Activist
On his release from detention, he assumed leadership positions in leftist organizations like Bayan, Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya, Ibon Foundation and Philippine-Cuba Friendship Association. In 1992, he testified at the US Federal District Court of Hawaii about the atrocities committed during the Marcos dictatorship. The same court would later hold Marcos liable for human rights violations.
Vizmanos authored three books, “Through the Eye of the Storm,” “Martial Law Diary” and “A Matter of Conviction.” His writings were described as “a critique of a social order that has chained the country to its colonial moorings and perpetrated social injustice.”
He also wrote a scathing criticism of the book written by renegade AFP general Victor Corpus “The Silent War”. He debunked Corpus failed theory. He again reiterated his thesis about the eventual victory of people’s war in the Philippines and the futility and eventual defeat of US counter-insurgency war in the Philippines.
In May, a month before he died, his family, friends and comrades paid tribute to him in a special ceremony at the University of Makati. Vizmanos is survived by four children, Diane, Erwin, Alice and Danny, and 12 grandchildren, A.G., Joseph, Demi, Veron, Angelique, Japeth, Shem, Carolyn, Kevin, Vince, Danmark and Josheil.
His daughter, Diane summed up his feelings before he died: “It’s as though his life had become complete. He had done everything he set out to do,” she said.
To Captain Dan Vizmanos, who always inspires the FQSN-USA- we salute you sir!
Pugay Kamay, Na!
First Quarter Storm Network (FQSN) –USA
San Francisco,CA
June 26, 2008