By ROLENDES FABI

After almost two years, the liberal posture of the Aquino government is now being questioned. The basic sector of Philippine society, the workers and the peasantry, point at recent manifestation of the resurgence of the more complex phenomenon of open fascist measures coordinated with formal structures of democratic rule: the constitution, legal and judicial systems. These systems, however, do not function the way people are made to understand.

And to supposedly make things worse, the present reforms being implemented by the present regime are nothing but cosmetic and merely nurtures the communist hysteria allegedly propagated by the counter-revolutionary program of the US in its neocolonies: the Low Intensity Conflict (LIC).

Knowingly or unknowingly, it is also the Total War policy of the Aquino government where the Filipino people are pitted against each other. These can be seen clearly in the sudden increase in number of the different vigilante groups, the continuing militarization in the countryside and the elimination of the key figures in the progressive sector.

Confronted by these situations, several progressive groups are keeping a close watch on the present government, formulating courses of action against the will of the people. 

Revolutionary artists and writers who have been in the streets long before this government was installed have never before been as intent on propagating a pro-people, scientific and mass-oriented culture. Being the forerunners themselves of the lightning plays and other propaganda words–concretizing and articulating the tasks of the cultural revolution, in relaying to the people the oppressive structures of the present dispensation, is just one of their immediate objectives. Starting their revolutionary works during the height of the Marcos rule, this unique breed of committed artists regained their momentum after Ninoy was killed and were responsible for raising the consciousness of people power that resulted in the February uprising.

The creation of Artista at Manunulat ng Sambayanan (ARMAS), the underground organization of artists and writers in the countryside and urban areas, highlighted the importance of disseminating the goals of the national democratic movement through the use of revolutionary art and literature.

The sentiments and apprehensions of the underground writers toward the present government can be clearly seen through the reflection of their writings. An example of these is the short story of Juan Jacinto, “Sa Pamumulaklak ng Tabako”:

Kahit sabihin mo pang magakiba si Marcos at Cory, may pagkakatulad pa rin sila. Halimbawa, walang bukas na daan papuntang Malacanang. Bawal pa ring tumawid sa Mendiola kung wala kang balak mag-ala turista. Parang daan iyong paakyat sa langit, kaydaming bawal kaydaming bantay. Sa magkabiso’y may disgrasyang naghihintay.

Isa pang pagkakamukha ni Marcos at Cory … ay ang kanilang mga bantay talagang kautak ni Bantay. Bawa-waw at kagat lamang ang alam na lengguwahe.

Tracing back the history of underground writings before the creation of ARMAS revealed that the beginnings of the underground literature were laid down when Martial law’s strict censorship was imposed. Progressive writers were hunted down and open publications were declared illegal.

The attempts of the fascist Marcos regime to protect its legitimacy by systematically controlling the media, then coming out with a lot of literary works praising its “goodness and beauty” to popularize the New Society while the underground left is struggling against oppressive structures to its height.

They developed pieces that would radicalize the consciousness of the people to counter the deception of the ideological and state apparatuses exercises by the dictatorial regime.

A good illustration of this is Edward Montenero’s “May Babala ng Unos ang Bundok,” the first underground poem published in November 2, 1972 issue of “Ulos,” literary magazine of the underground left. It uses metaphors of storm, death and growth to render the theme of people rising for freedom. A later poem in the same periodical “Sapagkat ang Bukas ay sa Masa Lamang” contains more topical references to the people’s struggle against the dictatorship (Diliman Review, 1986).

According to UP Professor Elmer Ordoñez, in his article Literature and Social Change, some of the underground poems deal with the internal struggle of the masses in the course of transforming themselves as they transform the external world. These poems negate feudal values or they affirm virtues which strengthen the will to fight and persevere in the revolution.

For instance, this can be seen in the following poem written by a poor settler in the foothills of Sierra Madre:

Ngunit alam ko kung bakit

ako'y nagkakaganito,

ito’y di bigay ng Diyos

o ng kahit sinuman

kundi gawa ng mapang-aping lipunan

at ang tanging makalulunas

sa aking kaapihan,

pakikiisa sa sambayanan

at pakikibakang walang katapusan.

Another example is “Magsasaka: Ang Bayaning Di Kilala” which is popular among the peasant audiences, written by a peasant activist from Pampanga. It exposed the exploitation conducted by the landlords as the real cause of peasant poverty. 

Dahil dito, makikibaka sa taksil na kay palalo,

Dahil dito, ang magandang kabuhayan ay itayo,

Kaya bayan, ukitin mo nito ng balang kumukulo

Ang ngalan ng magsasaka, ang bayaning hindi tanto.

These poems were originally published in some thirteen underground and national periodicals and collected by some literary scholars and being produced openly. The volume “Mga Tula ng Rebolusyong Pilipino” contains hundreds of poems chosen from the regional publications which include “Asdang” (Cebu); “Himagsik” (Central Luzon); “Silyab” (Bicol); “Kalatas” (Southern Tagalog); “Larab” (Waray in Eastern Visayas); “Paghimakas” (Negros) among others.

Ordoñez cited that, the editors (“Mga Tula ng Rebolusyong Pilipino”) subsumed these literary pieces under two main subjects: first, the general political line of the national democratic struggle and its particular application in various phases of struggle of people’s war, and second, the experiences, thoughts and feeling of the organized mass of workers, peasant, red fighters, party cadres, cultural workers, and mass activities in the performance of their revolutionary tasks.

“Taliba ng Bayan,” published during the early years of Martial Law, which came out from 1972 to 1974 carried resistance stories and poems. Another periodical, “Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win,” intended as a general periodical for the middle forces, came out from 1972 to 1973. One prominent story included in this periodical, “Action,” depicted the heroism of Crispin Tagamolila, a Philippine Constabulary officer turned NPA fighter in Isabela.

All these publications and periodicals were short-lived. The arrest of some of the underground writers responsible for putting these publications caused the irregular release of the issues of these early revolutionary journals. The underground movement itself suffered in the critical years following Martial Law. With the government’s employment of different counterinsurgency plans like Oplan Tag-araw and Oplan Katatagan and with the aid of foreign advisory groups like the Joint United States Military Advisory Group (JUSMAG), not to mention in the increase in armaments and weapons, they were able to weaken the strength and propaganda work of the underground left.

However, instead of falling apart with the arrest of many key personnel, the movement was able to sum up its strengths and weaknesses. A preparatory commission of the NDF issued “Liberation,” which carried news, articles, poems and songs of struggle and was able to come up consistently since then. (Diliman Review, 1986).

In the years 1972 to 1983, the underground literature suffered setbacks and criticisms in terms of quality and framework and among some of the literary scholars and civilians who were at close watch with the development of the underground literature.

It can be traced to the lack of competent writers during that period who were not able to raise the level of the underground writings simultaneously with the progress of the legal protest literature.

A survey of the pages of their past fictional works, for instance, revealed that instead of depicting the material reality of the sufferings of the people—its struggles in revolt the forces that dehumanize them, most of the authors tend to create extraordinary characters which make their works implausible to most of their readers.

An example of these is the character of one of the short stories printed in “Ulos” during the early eighties which showed a new member of the NPA, from the petite bourgeois class whose experience of a first military encounter, involved defeating the might of the military men after separating himself from his squad with the use only a .45 caliber gun.

But while the need for uplifting the state of underground literature is indeed a continuing process, the richly potential forms of art and literature are a necessity.

The underground writer is effective if he interprets his external world and generates literary pieces based actually on his experiences, and with these, he can formulate criticisms, likewise acting out in looking for possible alternatives or solutions for his own criticisms.

And with the creation of ARMAS, the development and the efforts to improve the revolutionary literature shows the success of the underground left in increasing the level of the national democratic movement’s literary works. ●

Published in print in the Collegian’s February 16, 1988 issue, with the headline “Traversing the pages of red zone literature.”