From Firebrand to Torchbearer: A Tribute to Ka Bel

Bayan Muna

Then when the party list system was finally implemented, Ka Bel was one of those who ran for and got elected in 2001 to the House of Representatives representing Bayan Muna.

At the House, Ka Bel fiercely demonstrated his independence by espousing causes like anti-globalization positions that were not exactly to the liking of the coalition of traditional parties that governed the House.

Anak Pawis

At the next elections, Ka Bel ran again as a party list representative but this time under the banner of the Party List group, Anak Pawis. Once more, the people voted him to the House.

As an Anak Pawis representative to the House, Ka Bel was a source of embarrassment to those who trudged the easy path to power, pelf and fame. For instance, it was he who exposed bribery attempts by administration partisans to abort the impeachment resolutions against Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

It was in this capacity as a no-nonsense leader of Anak Pawis in the House that fate decreed that Ka Bel would now leave us and go to his everlasting rest.

Deserved rest

He deserves that rest. In his life, Ka Bel had apparently never been at rest.

In his youth he had to scrap the bottom of the barrel as it were to keep alive. He worked as janitor, a messenger, a taxi driver and many other odds jobs.

In his manhood, he had to fight for his rights and the rights of his fellow workers, to keep his dignity. He is credited with having organized the Confederation of Labor of the Philippines and helped found the Philippine Workers Congress. During the martial law years, he was associated with the KMU, a militant labor organization.