Subversive Lives. Susan F. Quimpo

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       Subversive Lives

      A Family Memoir of the Marcos Years

       Ohio University Research in International Studies

      This series of publications on Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Global and Comparative Studies is designed to present significant research, translation, and opinion to area specialists and to a wide community of persons interested in world affairs. The series is distributed worldwide. For more information, consult the Ohio University Press website, ohioswallow.com.

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      Executive Editor: Gillian Berchowitz

      Southeast Asia Series Editors: Elizabeth F. Collins and William H. Frederick

       Subversive Lives

      A Family Memoir of the Marcos Years

      Susan F. Quimpo

      Nathan Gilbert Quimpo

      with

      David Ryan F. Quimpo

      Norman F. Quimpo

      Emilie Mae Q. Wickett

      Lillian F. Quimpo

      Elizabeth Q. Bulatao

      Caren Q. Castañeda

      Jun F. Quimpo

      Maria Cristina Pargas-Bawagan

      Foreword by Vicente L. Rafael

      Ohio University Research in International Studies

      Southeast Asia Series No. 130

      Ohio University Press

      Athens

      Center for International Studies

      Ohio University

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      Subversive Lives: A Family Memoir of the Marcos Years

      Copyright © 2016 in United States by Ohio University Press

      Copyright © 2012 Susan F. Quimpo, Nathan Gilbert Quimpo and Anvil Publishing, Inc.

      First Ohio University Press edition 2016

      First published by Anvil Publishing, Inc. 2012

      Cacho Hermanos Bldg., Pines cor. Union Sts., Mandaluyong City 1550 Philippines

       www.anvilpublishing.com

      Cover: (top) Nathan presides over National Democratic Front’s first press conference, Dispatch April 1985; (middle) Quimpo family in Manila, late 1960s; (bottom) strikers lie on the road to block trucks going to the Globe Steel factory, photo by Susan F. Quimpo.

      Cover design by Beth Pratt

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Quimpo, Susan F., 1961– author. | Quimpo, Nathan Gilbert, author. | Quimpo, David Ryan F., 1955– contributor.

      Title: Subversive lives : a family memoir of the Marcos years / Susan F. Quimpo, Nathan Gilbert Quimpo ; with David Ryan F. Quimpo [and eight others].

      Description: First Ohio University Press edition. | Athens : Ohio University Press, 2016. | Series: Ohio University research in international studies. Southeast Asia series ; no. 130 | First published 2012 by Anvil Publishing, Inc. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2016019898| ISBN 9780896803053 (hc : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780896803060 (pb : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780896804951 (pdf)

      Subjects: LCSH: Philippines—Politics and government—1973–1986. | Quimpo family. | Revolutionaries—Philippines. | Marcos, Ferdinand E. (Ferdinand Edralin), 1917–1989.

      Classification: LCC DS686.5 .Q56 2016 | DDC 959.904/60922—dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016019898

      For Mom and Dad, for Jan, Jun and other kasama who fought the Marcos dictatorship and for the numerous families splintered by the struggle.

      The Family

      Ishmael de los Reyes Quimpo, 1918–1977

      Esperanza Ferrer Quimpo, 1919–1971

      Elizabeth (Lys) Q. Bulatao, 1943–

      Norman F. Quimpo, 1945–

      Emilie Mae Q. Wickett, 1948–

      Catherine (Caren) Q. Castañeda, 1950–

      Lillian F. Quimpo, 1951–

      Nathan Gilbert (Sonny) F. Quimpo, 1952–

      Ronald Jan F. Quimpo, 1954–ca. 1977

      David Ryan F. Quimpo, 1955–

      Ishmael (Jun) F. Quimpo Jr., 1957–1981

      Susan F. Quimpo, 1961–

      Foreword

      Distinguished historian Vicente Rafael, whose encouragement and support were instrumental in the preparation of this memoir, received an early copy and was invited to provide his reflections. His response was the following essay on the book as well as on communism and its role in shaping Philippine history, one of his current interests as a historian. Some of the authors played important roles in the Communist Party of the Philippines or the National Democratic Front during the period covered by the memoir. Although this book was not intended to be about communists and communism, it does touch on these subjects from a personal perspective, focusing on the collective experiences of the siblings, several of whom found themselves attracted to the same political solution to the Philippine crisis that was laid bare during the Marcos regime. —The Authors

      Radiant Hope, Dark Despair

      THERE ARE NO monuments to communism in the Philippines. Instead, there are numerous statues of nationalist figures. Whereas it is common, perhaps even essential, to commemorate national heroes, the nation seems unable and unwilling to acknowledge those whose nationalism was colored by communism. Even the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, which is run by a private foundation and not by the government, commemorates the victims of the Marcos regime primarily as nationalist martyrs rather than members of a radical revolutionary movement. Why this absence of memorials to communists?

      Since the beginning of the 20th century, communism of some sort has been around in the Philippines. In 1901, Isabelo de los Reyes returned from Barcelona where he had been imprisoned, loaded with Marxist and anarchist literature. Along with other ilustrado nationalists like Lope K. Santos and Dominador Gomez, he led the formation of militant labor unions during