Chapter 48
Mrs. Leonila Antonio – NPA Baptist Leader, Translate CPP Educational
Materials in English and Tagalog to Ilonggo
When Pastor Samuel Antonio decided to join the NPA, he asked his wife to join him in the NPA camp in the hinterlands of Upper South Negros. This district composed the 4 towns of Kabankalan, Candoni, Sipalay and Hinobaan.
It was dangerous to leave Mrs. Leonila Antonio in their home alone. It may be hard for her to accompany Pastor Sam Antonio in the hills, but that’s much better options under the circumstances. Alone in their home, Pastor Antonio will never be able to protect his wife. And with many military atrocities during martial law, a lovely and young woman as Mrs. Antonio , could be a vulnerable consumptions for some military in the hinterlands during those times.
It was hard decision for the couple. But they have to make the decision. The decided to be together in the struggle, with the Filipino poor in the work for freedom, justice and liberations.
After some months of briefing, study, training and involvements, Mrs. Leonila Antonio was accepted as member of the NPA’s Propaganda & Organiziang Team (POT), assigned in the hinterland villages of Upper South Negros.
Before their marriage, Mrs. Antonio studied at La Consolacion College (LCC) in Bacolod City. She worked for several yours in some business companies. Then she met Pastor Samuel Antonio. After some months of courtship, they were married. It was quite difficult for her, living for years in the city and join Pastor Antonio in Upper South Negros and visiting the 24 village churches that he and their father, Rev. Victorino Antonio have helped built in his 35 years of ministry in the hinterland areas.
With her marriage to Pastor Sam, it seemed that Mrs. Antonio was thrown into a very hard life in the mountain villages, where she had to re-adjust much facet of her life and way of living, from a city girl, to a revolutionary educator in the villages of South Negros. She adjusted fast to the challenge of a new life and a new calling.
When she was assigned to the Propaganda and Organizing Team (POT), their main responsibility was translation works. They were 3 in the team, sometimes 4. They work and study with the farmers in the villages. But the main task was translation works – translating the communist party’s educational materials which were in English and Tagalog to Ilonggo or Hiligaynon. Her education in college and wide readings, suited her for the job of education and translations.
The translated materials in Ilonggo were then printed. It was used in the education works among the masses. These was needed as a party responsibility, so that the masses involved in the studies would knew the situations, their basic rights, understand their responsibilities as good citizens and learn the political directions of the party.
The translated materials in Ilonggo were then printed. It was used in the education works among the masses. This was needed as party responsibility, so that the masses involved in the studies would knew the situations, their basic rights, understood their responsibilities as good citizens and learn the political directions of the party.
When I asked Mrs. Antonio how many farmers and farm workers in the barangays were reached by the POT, she said, on normal situations, some 50-70 per cent of the masses in the barangays participates in the studies of the NPA. There were some people who do not want to participate in the education of the Party. Some felt, the do not need it. Other fears their involvements will put them in difficulties with the military.
She said, “Education is very important for all people, even those who were only primary grades and even those who have no formal education. For education were not only for those who have attended formal schooling. Education will be learned by living, working and involving in the daily struggle for their basic rights. The masses, all of them, need to understand the “mass lines” of the party.
“With this understanding, the masses of the barangays will be able to know what were good for the people, specially, the poor and the weak. They will also learn and understand, the evils of some government policies & the military, oligarchs and elites with their greedy and exploitative business interests. “
According to Mrs. Antonio, more than 40 per cent of the masses in the barangay hinterlands, now understood their political rights, they understood their business rights thru cooperatives and farmers’ associations studies in the mountains.
The masses have learned to understand their rights as consumers. And a growing numbers of the masses can now stand and have the courage to fight and defend their rights.
In our conversations last in January 2017, I asked Mrs. Antonio, how she looked at the present efforts of President Rodrigo Duterte and the Peace Talks between the Government of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.
She said. “ I am hopeful and I pray for the success of the Peace Talks. The people of the Philippines need to learn thru the Peace Talks…the real reasons for the war in our country. Through the Peace Process, all of us, specially those who were not and never involved in the fighting, must learn the real reasons for the armed conflicts and how the conflicts can be solved.
“The war between the government and the New People’s Army have now killed more than 40,000 Filipinos, Filipino soldiers, the New People’s Army and the civilians. It’s a costly war.”
How did she lived with her 4 children away from her, and living and cared by relatives and her friends in masses, when he was still with the party?
“I suffered so much anxiety every day for the security of our children, because sometimes, they were used as guide or investigated on the whereabouts of there parents. During normal situations, we visited them, but not frequently. We worked hard on projects that will supplement our children’s subsistence, in the hands of their guardians. We really hoped and prayed that after the storms is over, we can also live normal, peaceful lives and society.”
What are the hopes of the masses in the hinterlands of Upper South Negros? She looked at me.
She looked at the blue sky. Her lips seem to quiver a little. Then, she smiled. She said: “After the battle is won, people and their children would someday live a happy, peaceful and prosperous living.”
After working with the NPA, Mrs. Leonila Antonio, together with her husband, Pastor Samuel Antonio, accepted President Fidel Ramos call for national reconciliations. The President invited those who were fighting the government to a reconciliations process for change.
They reflected on the call of the President. They accepted the call. They participated in the reconciliation process. They both decided to go back to the fold of the law. They fought their battle for change on another ground. The battle for the mind and hearts of the people, in Upper South Negros.
They also started to work and build Farmers Associations in village. In some villages, they organized cooperatives. There organizations have grown and developed. They were now serving the several communities thru the organizations they have organized and whose officers and members were trained.
Part of the series The Ministry Years (chapter 48 of 48)
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