Mistakes of the legal left

Mariano Carrasco

EVERYBODY makes mistakes. It is important to accept and recognize them, and make amends if necessary. I have been associated with the left, or left-of-center kind of politics. In a generic sense, leftist politics mean that one is for social change, not for the status quo or existing social order. With massive poverty, graft and corruption, and concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, one can only be for social change.

Way back in May of 1984, at the height of the anti-dictatorship protest movement, I had a heated argument with a protest leader during a preparatory meeting for a transport strike or “welga ng bayan” attended by some lawyers, priests and other leaders. The protest agenda was for the lowering of the prices of oil, hike in wages, and the demand that Marcos step down. The protest leader argued that we should have a “kapit-bisig” at all times, meaning that we should totally physically block the roads by holding on to each other’s arms. I argued that at times it may be necessary to adjust a little bit, that we should consider the circumstances. He stood pat on his position.

The protest day came. I was assigned to lead the motorela drivers group who would protest at the junction of Trendline-Gaisano-Pinikitan-Nazareth crossing. My estimate is that we had only about 25 to 30 motorela drivers, the smallest contingent.

Atty. Edgar Cabanlas was assigned at the Recto Avenue area, Atty. Oscar Musni was assigned to lead the group at the J.R. Borja cor. Corrales area. Other lawyers were assigned at the City Hall Carmen bridge area. The biggest contingent of protesters numbering in the thousands were concentrated at the Licoan bridge or crossing near the provincial capitol. They were led by the late Atty. Fred Gapuz and activist Sonja Pacana, niece of the former provincial governor, Tata Pacana.

Since we were few at the Trendline-Gaisano area, we just moved around across the road, holding on to placards. There was firewood being sold near the street and we placed placards thereon on both sides, almost pinching the road. Then two jeeploads of military men armed to the teeth arrived. The leader, a major, was a bit angry. From afar, I greeted him in a loud voice, saying: “Good morning Sir and thank you for coming!” Then he said angrily:”You are blocking the street with those placards on top of the firewood!” I responded right away by asking the drivers to move the placards just a little bit, and asked the military officer if that was okay. He smiled and said, “Okay, that’s better.” Then the military men left. Our protest continued. We were effective since the roads were empty and the drivers and vehicles cooperated. We were respectful when we flagged down the vehicles and requested them to join us in the transport strike.

Not long after, a monitoring team member aboard a motorcycle arrived and informed us that Atty. Gapuz and Sonja Pacana were handcuffed by some police officials, and brought to Camp Alagar, and that the thousands of protesters were just sitting on the sidelines. Another police official aimed and cocked his firearm at Atty. Cabanlas at the Recto area. I went to Licoan and saw the desperate situation. I asked the protesters (many were farmers) to stand up and flag down the vehicles and to request the drivers to cooperate with the transport strike. I told them to be respectful at all times. And that was it. Soon, traffic at the Velez-Licoan-Recto junction came to a halt and the roads became empty. The next day it came out in the news that the strike was successful also in Cagayan de Oro, and that Marcos had lowered the price of oil, benefiting everyone.

Of course, not long after, Marcos was finally ousted by “people’s power”. Jerry Orcullo, my friend and whose family suffered a lot in the anti-Marcos struggle, and the present press club president here, could attest to the beautiful day when we both stood on top of a jeep at Divisoria and announced the departure of Marcos.

At times, peaceful protest action, as guaranteed by the constitution and as a democratic tool, would be an effective social remedy, especially when the adversary is a public figure, extremely powerful and influential or is being protected by government functionaries.

(Mariano B. Carrasco is a lawyer based in Cagayan de Oro.)