February 6, 2011 marks the 10th death anniversary of our leader and slain comrade Filemon “Ka Popoy” Lagman.
Ten years have passed, but there’s still no justice for Ka Popoy. A working class hero, Ka Popoy was the president of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) from 1995 until he was killed by assassin’s bullets on that fateful day in 2001, nearly two weeks after the Edsa Two revolution. But his assassins can’t kill his ideas. They had wiped out his body but not his legacy. We’re still here to pursue Ka Popoy’s dream – our dream – to emancipate the working class from the bondage of capitalist oppression, corruption, poverty and deceit, a dream of a socialist revolution to be led by the working class.
Our dream, like Ka Popoy’s, will continue to inspire us to work hard with the fire in our hearts, carrying our socialist ideals to pursue what Ka Popoy has dreamed – a society where there are no slaves of capital, a socialist revolution to be led by the proletariat, a classless society, a victory for the working class. Ten years since his death, poverty and injustices still continue to plague our nation, continue to cripple the life of the poor, contractualization is rampant, the system of greed that Ka Popoy wants to get rid of still continue to destroy the honor and dignity of the working class.
Ka Popoy was an embodiment of a great socialist revolutionary, a hero of the proletariat, a leader beloved and feared, a great teacher, a fearless activist, a prolific writer, a great agitator. More than any activist of his generation, Ka Popoy is the most conscious about developing the proletarian line. He thought and wrote about Philippine society and the working class revolution through Marxist-Leninist line; and even criticizes the Stalinist-Maoist line that led to the split in the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1991. A Marxist-Leninist through and through, he viewed the working class as the main force of change instead of the peasants, which Joma Sison advocates. Ka Popoy advocated the working class-led revolution that will emancipate all the toiling masses from the claws of capitalism.
We started this day by a wreath-laying activity at Ka Popoy’s monument at Marikina on 7am, then we proceed at Loyola Memorial Park to visit and pay respect to Ka Popoy. After that, hundreds of workers and urban poor marched from Loyola to UP Bahay ng Alumni, where he was gunned down a decade ago. We ended the program there, but we didn’t end our crusade.
As we commemorate this day, we are renewing our vow to continue Ka Popoy’s fight, to pursue his dream for system change, to carry on the fight until socialist victory will be achieved. We will continue to organize the workers and the poor to fulfil our goal of a socialist system that will emancipate us, most especially the working class, from the onslaught of capitalism, from the bondage of greed. Ka Popoy’s spirit lives on.
Justice for Ka Popoy! Justice for the working class!-30- Julian Zacharias, PLM
