“Ka Bel is a true champion of genuine unionism,” – Labor NGO
The Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research, Inc. (EILER, Inc.) expressed condolences to the family of Rep. Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran who died this Tuesday morning due to an accident in his home and calls Ka Bel as a true champion of genuine [...]

FIL-AMS MOURN THE DEATH OF GREAT FILIPINO LABOR LEADER, CRISPIN BELTRAN
Bayan USA Statement on Ka Bel’s Passing
It is with great sadness that the US Chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, or BAYAN USA, mourns the death of great Filipino labor leader and proletarian Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran. News of his passing at 11:48am on Monday, [...]

SIKLAB – Canada (Advance and Uphold the Rights of Overseas Filipino Workers)
National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada
Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance
Filipino Nurses Support Group
Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights
Press Statement
May 20, 2008
Overseas Filipinos in Canada and Canadians mourn loss of ‘Ka Bel’; staunch advocate for Overseas Filipino Workers
The community of progressive Filipinos and Canadians in Canada [...]

PRESS STATEMENT
May 20, 2008
Working class hero Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran leaves a living legacy
Today, Rep. Crispin B. Beltran, ANAKPAWIS Party list representative on
his 3rd term in Congress, a great labor leader, an incorruptible
parliamentarian, staunch fighter for national freedom, democracy and
international working class solidarity, died at 11:48am at the FEU
hospital in Quezon City due to severe [...]

GABNet Statement on the Passing of Ka Bel
From Dr. Annalisa Enrile
National Chairperson
GABRIELA Network USA
GABRIELA Network USA, its entire membership singly and collectively,
and all sister organizations under the Mariposa Alliance, hereby give
our last clenched-fist salute to the indomitable labor leader and
revolutionary Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran, standard bearer of the
Anakpawis Party and chair of the Kilusang Mayo [...]

Inaanyayahan ng Anakpawis Partylist ang lahat ng mga kasama at kaibigan sa Parangal ng Bayan para kay
Crispin ‘Ka Bel’ Beltran
“Dakilang Lider Manggagawa,
Magiting na Lingkod Bayan”
May 22 – Parangal ng mga Kabataan (IFI Cathedral, Manila )
May 23 – Misa ng mga Obispo ng IFI – 6:30-7:30 ng umaga
Parangal ng [...]

It would be so easy to dismiss the accidental death of Rep. Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran as senseless, silly even, as one blogger put it. What a way to go — falling off a roof! — for a man who fought and survived repressive regimes. The thinking by some seems to be that dying by an assassin’s bullet, like many of Ka Bel’s friends and comrades, would have left a deeper impact on the public and would have lend Ka Bel’s death that profound political, perhaps heroic, significance fitting for somebody who raised hell against oppression and inequality practically all his life.

Rep. Crispin Beltran, 1933-2008

Breaking News
Rep. Crispin Beltran of the AnakPawis party-list group died this morning after falling off the roof of his house in Bulacan. Relatives said he was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced “brain dead” due to severe head injuries.