100ARAW.com

By Tonyo Cruz

Crispin Beltran smiles at the premilinary investigation at the DOJ sometime in 2006. Photo by Tonyo Cruz.

As the country veered closer to Election Day, workers today honored the great life story of trade union leader Crispin B. Beltran at the unveiling of his bas relief sculpture at Plaza Miranda.Beltran died in May 2008, after falling from the roof of his simple house. Beltran left behind a wife and a big brood of children and grandchildren, and workers and other working people who now feel orphaned by the loss of such a great yet humble leader.

The story of how Beltran died and lived in utter simplicity and humility exposes the fantastic tales of those who now seek to be elected as leaders of the country.

When Beltran died, he was an esteemed Member of Congress. So feared was his tongue, his deep knowledge of domestic and foreign affairs, and his commitment to social change that the Arroyo administration found it necessary to illegally arrest and detain him — first on the basis of an expired arrest warrant, and later based on a fabricated rebellion charge which the Supreme Court would later throw down the trash bin.

Ferdinand Marcos also imprisoned him for being one of a few brave leaders who inspired the first strikes and helped form the KMU in the middle of the long night of terror we now know as martial law.

While other legislators routinely milk the powers and perks of the House for their personal benefit, Beltran died like a pauper. He did not even own his own house. The story goes that he took out a loan from the Government Service Insurance System so he could buy an austere house and lot package. The story, by the way, is true.

Unions too present endless temptations to leaders. There are union dues and collective bargaining agreement negotiations where capitalist grease money could change hands. There are strikes and attempts to pay off leaders for them to call off strikes in the name of “industrial peace” (also known as “the peaceful acceptance of slavery and destitution”). Workers elected him several times as chair of the biggest federation under the Kilusang Mayo Uno and of the KMU itself.

Various sectoral organizations recognized his role as a workingclass leader and repeatedly elected him as chair of the country’s biggest activist alliance, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan.

It wouldn’t end there. Beltran was known globally as a respected voice and representative of Filipino workers, speaking on their behalf before the International Labor Organization and various labor gatherings. When the world’s cause-oriented groups decided to form the International League of Peoples’ Struggles, Beltran was there too and his role was nothing less than as the global chairperson.

Imperialism (foreign domination), bureaucrat capitalism (graft and corruption) and feudalism (landlordism) were standard terms Beltran used in his speeches inside and outside Congress. He mentioned them not so much to proselytize about the Left which bannered those terms. He did so to remind and stress that the multi-faceted problems we face are not as simple as some would like to believe and could never be simplified. The social cancer indeed cannot be cured by aspirin or chicken soup.

Tributes poured from across the political spectrum when he died because he was a genuine workingclass leader, who put the welfare of workers and the people even before his own family — a position that could be labeled as scandalous at the moment — and chose to devote time, energy and skills to show that people like him can competently become legislators and leaders. Even the traditional politicians recognized in Beltran a champion of New Politics and paragon of Proletarian (read: workingclass) Leadership.

Beltran’s life story and that of his death should remind us not to bring down our standards as we prepare to elect our leaders. We must look for those with clean records, yes, but also those with the proven track record and life-long commitment to inspire and lead our people to overcome poverty and build a better country.

Yes, we feel orphaned that Ka Bel is no longer with us. But let his life and death inspire us to search for and create new Beltrans who are the leaders the country needs.