SOME FIGHTERS FOR FREEDOM, JUSTICE & LIBERATION
Commander Walingwaling (Coronacion Chiva) 1926-1977; Her Struggle for Freedom, Justice and Liberation (Last of 2 parts)
Commander Walingwaling (Coronacion Chiva) 1926-1977; Her Struggle for Freedom, Justice and Liberation (Last of 2 parts)
In Muntinglupa, Fernandito Togonon and Coronacion Chiva were in prison together. With them in jail were convicted rebellion top labor leaders, Jose Maria Nava, President of Federacion Obrero de Filipinas (FOF) , the strongest labor union in Visayas and Mindanao at that time. Also in jail was Atty. Nicolas Centeno, a labor lawyer, who was the legal counsel of Jose Ma. Nava’s Federacion Obreros de Filipinas.
Together, the carried their imprisonment with heads held up. They said, they were not criminals but freedom fighters and defenders of the oppressed Filipino people.
The revolutionary movement headed by the PKP under Jesus Lava, the Secretary General, Jose Lava his brother, member of the Political Bureau was greatly weakened with the election of Ramon Magsaysay, as President. Magsaysay, Secretary of Defence under President Elpidio Querino, was picked-up by Colonel Landsdale, the CIA Chief operator in Manila to be elected president. It was reported that Col. Landsdale, planned and directed Magsaysay’s political campaigns and image buildings during the presidential campaigns.
Ramon Magsaysay was projected as a poor mechanic called to save the Filipino people. He was photographed during the campaigns eating with bare hands on banana leaves. It was a way to identify him as the poor peoples’ candidate for the country’s president. It was used as media exposures, calculated to win over the hearts of the masses – seeing the future President of the country, eating lunch not on plates but on banana leaves. Magsaysay won against President Elpidio Querino.
President Magsaysay’s campaign against the rebels – the capture of Jesus Lava in Manila, the death of Guillermo Capadocia in Panay, head of the revolutionary forces in the Western Visayas and the surrender of HUK Supremo Luis Taruc has greatly weakened the communists movements. By 1966, under the leadership of Commander Sumolong, the PKP started to become moribund. His guerrilla fighters dwindled and were operating only, with a small band in Tarlac. In Panay and Negros the revolutionary movement has become silent.
But in 1965, while a student at Lyceum of the Philippines, I saw the coming of a new dimensions in the developments of people’s politics in the country. The Kabataang Makabayan (KM) was organized by student leaders with Professor Jose Maria Sison, elected chair person. Training, seminars, discussion groups and student demonstrations were made in the university built. And soon, the student movements thundered, exposing the evils of feudalism, imperialism and bureaucratic capitalism, the 3 evil of Philippine society. The call for change reverberated in the country.
Student rallies and demonstrations mobilized by the Kabataang Makabayan, joined by the peasants, some labour unions has become one of the most dynamic forces for social and political transformation never seen in Philippine history. The movement, led to the re-organization of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in December 1968, under the leadership of Amado Guerrero, Chairman who played a great role in revitalization the revolutionary movement. Then, in March 1969 the New People’s Army was organized under the leadership of Commander Dante from Tarlac, the needed force in the armed struggles. And a year later, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) an umbrella of different revolutionary organizations which include broad sectors of Philippine society, Christians, Lumads, Muslims and international partners from countries in other parts of the world.
After coming out of prison, Corazon Chiva, who was released ahead of her husband, went back to Calinog, Iloilo with her son, Eduardo, who was born while she and Fernandito were in prison. She came back to rebuild their lives after imprisonment. She wnt back to the farm to earn their living, alone while Fernandito was still in prison.
Later, with the release of her husband, they dedicated their time to farming their small piece of land. Four younger children were born during the years. The couples planted rice, corn and coffee in their farms. The introduced practical farming – inter-cropping and multi-cropping, the use of organic fertilizers from composts and animal manures and the use of indigenous pesticides to fight pests in their farms.
But the dream and hope for the liberation of the country remained alive in her hearts. It refused to die. She continued to sow this dreams in the hearts and minds of her people –in small group sharing, in barangay meetings, in the farmer’s association meetings where often she was invited to speak during the openings of village fiestas and during openings of barangay dances where her presence was often sought. In the future, the seeds of the revolutionary struggles sown in the hearts of the people, will again sprout for a new struggles and change.
In 1969, she joined a labor union, Philippine Association of Nationalists Employees, Laborers and Farmers Unon (PANELFU), organized by Atty. Nicolas Centeno, Atty. Cesar Beloria and Ms. Dolly Centeno Javellana. They worked together to call the people to the need for land reforms in the country. The lawyers knew that genuine land reforms cannot be implemented with an emasculated land reforms law passed by the land owners dominated Congress, but the people must be educated and mobilized for change, under a very limited legal opportunities.
Corazon Chiva was elected Chairperson of PANELFU Chapter in Barangay ---------- Calinog. She helped organized the union in the village, making it a strong chapter, providing members with nationalist education and orientations the three evils of Philippine society – feudalism, US imperialism and bureaucratic capitalism. It was during PANELFU’s rallies that thousands of peasants and workers from the countryside came to Jaro Plaza and joined the march with red, blue and white baners, to Plaza Libertad demanding implementation of land reforms and dismantling of the feudal system in the country.
In September 21, 1972 President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law. That was his only alternative to remain in power. To appease the peasants, Marcos declared land reforms on the rice and corn lands. He did not touched the sugar and coconut lands. He did not touched the fish ponds. This were the three power blocks in the country – the sources of votes for the bureaucratic capitalists.
With the declaration of martial law, the militants – students, peasants, workers, professionals, clergies –were arrested and brought to the Philippine Constabulary stockades and jailed. Coronacion Chiva was jailed in the stockade for about 6 months. Rev.Delfin Dianala, Pastor of Katipunan Baptist Church in Tapaz, Capiz, who was 70 years old that time was arrested and jailed, , together with hundreds of activists and militants. Some militant students, peasants and employees, to remain free, went underground.
In August 17, 1973 at age 51, Coronacion Chiva alyas Commander Waling-Waling was assassinated in cold blood, in broad daylight, while walking with some women on their way home from the market in the town of Calinog. That morning, she brought food - rice, eggs, fruits and vegetables for her 4 children who were studying in high school in the town. She rode a jeepney with other passengers going home. They alighted from the jeepney in a river in Toyongan and were to cross the river going to their homes, when 3 soldiers , riding with them, crossed her way at the river with their guns drawn. She asked them, “Mga Toto, ano bala ang sala ko?” (My young brothers, what’s my fault?”
Then the soldiers shut her. Two bullets found their fatal marks on her breast. She died that bright Tuesday afternoon on the river bed. She was another victim of President Marcos martial rule, while living a peaceful life in the foot of Mt. Baloy in the Calinog. She died with a vision in her mind – the liberation of her people from poverty, tyranny, oppression, inequality and injustice.
“Napatay sia kay wala sia ikabato”. (She died because she was defenceless.), a woman who was a witness of her assassination said.
Several months before her death, Corazon Chiva was warned by some friends with connection in the military and police leadership that she was in the military hit list and might be assassinated. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “ Isa ka tion ang kamatayon maga-abut. Wala sang makapalagyo diri. Wala sang makahibalo kon san-o, kon paano kag sa ano nga paagi. Kon kita nagaalagad sa mga tawo, indi kita mahadluk sa kamatayon.” (Death will one day come. No one can escape from it. No one will ever know how and by what means. If we serve the people, we need not be afraid of death.)
After her death, her husband Fernandito, 65 years old, joined the New People’s Army full time in 1977. Why? He has no chose anymore. The military wanter to kill him after they killed his wife in cold blood already. They raided their homes several times during the nights. He cannot remain anymore as a civilian. He joined the NPA even he was already old and had suffered stroke twice already. He was assigned to help revitalize the movement in Iloilo’s coastal villages. He worked their with dedication. But he was gunned down in military ambush in Dumangas in 1985.
A year after Coronacion Chiva’s death, the Coronacion Chiva “Commander Walingwaling” Reginal Command of the New People’s Army in Panay was born. She became the inspirations, symbol, rallying point and icon of Panay Revolutionary movement, waging a protracted war in search for land, food, equality, freedom and justice.
The New People’s Army was declared by the United States, the European Community and the Philippine government as a terrorist organization. But the NPA said, they are not terrorists. They are freedom fighters –fighting with the poor Filipinos from foreign and local oppression and exploitation.
The story of Coronacion Chiva (Commander Walingwaling) showed that military solution is not the answer to rebellion in the country. The government need to go back to the negotiating table with the revolutionary forces, and together look deep into the root causes of rebellion from colonial times to the present and address seriously and sincerely the problems of extreme poverty, inequality and injustice.
(Last of 2 parts).
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