Rep. Crispin Beltran, The Great Hero of the Working Class

Rep. Crispin Beltran, The Great Hero of the Working Class

The Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (Alliance Philippines), with profound sadness, announced the passing of Ka (short for "kasama" or comrade) Crispin Beltran, 75, last May 20, 2008, in the Philippines.

Ka Bel, as we fondly call him, was a representative of ANAKPAWIS (Toiling Masses) Party List, chair emeritus of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May First Movement), labor center in the Philippines, and was the first chairperson of the International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS) from 2001-2004.

As president of the taxi driver’s union, Ka Bel was instrumental in the formation of the KMU in 1980 at the height of the US-Marcos dictatorship. For his labor activism, he was jailed in 1982, but escaped and joined the New People’s Army from 1984-1986.

Ka Bel went back to the legal arena when Marcos was overthrown in 1986, and became the chair of the KMU when Rolando Olalia, the KMU and BAYAN chair at that time, was killed by the fascist military during the US-Aquino Regime.

Ka Bel was elected as BAYAN MUNA (People First) Party List representative in 2001, and again as ANAKPAWIS congressperson in 2006. He was again tortured and jailed by the fascist US-Arroyo Regime when Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a “state of emergency” on February 2006. When he was freed, he continued his tireless advocacy for the nation and its people.

Ka Bel is a consummate fighter for the Filipino people and a hero of the Filipino working class and the international proletariat. We in the Alliance Philippines and the Filipino community in the United States and on behalf of all our allies, salute him and pay tribute to his greatness.

Ka Bel, mabubuhay ka lagi sa ala-ala ng masang Pilipinong anak-pawis!
Ka Bel, you will always live in the memory of the Filipino toiling masses!


AJLPP Political Secretariat
May 20, 2008