Saturday, December 09, 2006 Living dangerously By Ben O. Tesiorna
PEOPLE see him on TV carrying placards and shouting expletives against the government. Whenever and wherever there is a rally or protest, for sure there is Jeppie Ramada among the crowd.
Ramada started getting involved in activism when he was in college several years back. But even when he was still studying high school in their province he was already curious about people who had less in life.
"On my graduation, I got more curious why was it that only some of us can go to college while many of our classmates were forced to earn a living instead of pursuing college education in universities in the cities. My drive for answers to my growing curiosity pushed me to be with the student movement, and later to the people's movement," Ramada recalled.
It was in college when he first got a taste of what he believed was repression in their very own campus.
"In my first year, my ID was confiscated because it was not properly pinned on my school uniform. Trivial it may seem but I wanted answers. The administration neglected my pleas for explanation. Personally, I felt that there was an injustice. Slowly, I learned that in the university where I attended to, you cannot question authority or its onerous policies like the incessant increases in tuition and other fees. Eventually, activism got the better of me. In my years in college, I joined mass actions against the administration's anti-student policies," said Ramada.
Being a militant-activist, Ramada said, a lot of his questions were answered thoroughly "deepening his understanding about the Philippine educational system and the society and the contradictions between the people: why the rich becomes richer, the poor becomes poorer."
But his quest for a deeper understanding did not come easy.
One time he was threatened with expulsion from the university if he continues questioning the policies of the school.
He also experienced the water canon and teargas while integrating with striking workers of the Alcantara and Sons back in the late 1990s.
Ramada said he was almost shot during a confrontation with the police in an urban poor community demolition.
"When I became the Secretary General of Bayan, threats and harassments have become a routine. When my activist-brother, Josephus, was abducted by the military last year, I and my family had to double our security adjustments. My brother was released after so many cause-oriented groups followed up on his case. To me, all these experiences strengthened me more to my vowed commitment in serving the people," Ramada said.
All these trials, Ramada said, he was able to surmount with the help and support of his family. He said his involvement in activism made him realize that people of his kind are not only good daughters and sons of this country but also of their biological parents.
"My activism made me a better son to my parents," Ramada said.
Asked about his greatest fear, Ramada said it is when he will be deprived of his life and rights that he stops pushing and demanding for the rights of people.
Branding President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as his "greatest enemy," Ramada dismissed allegations that progressive groups like theirs are fronts of the
Communist party.
"That's a classic McCarthyist line. The Guardia Civil had been doing that since the time of Andres Bonifacio and replicated by today's fascist Armed Forces of the Philippines. It only shows that the military has been toeing that line to justify their vicious and devious plan to kill, maim and annihilate members and leaders of progressive organizations, which already reached more than 700," Ramada said.
As to his future plans, Ramada said, he can't say for sure what life has in store for him.
"But with the present political condition, I can say that I'll spend most of my life seeking justice for the Filipino people and continue the fight for genuine freedom," he said.
Ramada said his greatest wish for now is for the Filipino people, especially the basic masses, "to ultimately achieve a government that truly represents their aspirations, interests and welfare."
"Second, in the very near future when I will be having a family with an activist-wife, we will also try to raise our children as good sons and daughters for the people," he ended.
