Ka Bert Olalia - a great hero of the working class
The 100th birth anniversary of Felixberto "Ka Bert" Olalia, an outstanding communist, militant unionist, veteran of the militant labor movement and founder of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), was commemorated on August 5.
The life of Ka Bert mirrored both the sufferings endured and the victories attained by the country's labor movement.
He was born to a poor family in Tarlac on August 5, 1903 and began to earn a living at the age of 16. He first found work at a shoe factory in Manila where he led the establishment of a union to fight for more humane working conditions for the workers. He established the Uni�n de Chineleros y Zapateros de Filipinos, one of the country's first industrial unions. He served as its secretary from 1920 to 1925 and as its president from 1925 to 1940.
Since the beginning, Ka Bert did not divorce his unionism from his participation in the overall democratic movement to uphold the interests and welfare of the greater majority of exploited and oppressed people. In 1939, he became the general secretary of the Katipunan ng mga Anakpawis sa Pilipinas where he joined Ka Crisanto Evangelista and other patriotic leaders fighting for independence against American colonialism.
When the Japanese imperialists invaded the Philippines, Ka Bert became the commander of the Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon in the Manila Capital Region. After the Second World War, he became one of the founders of the Congress of Labor Organizations (CLO), then the largest and strongest federation. Among its affiliates were large unions in private companies and government offices such as Meralco, Nawasa, National Devel-opment Corporation, Manila Rail-road and Railways and Engineering Island. He became the president of the Katipunan ng mga Kaisahang Manggagawa (KKM). During the first National Labor-Management Conference which took place in July 1951, he served as the representative of the labor sector.
The KKM was disbanded when Ka Bert was arrested in 1951 in a massive repression campaign against militant unionism. Also among those arrested and imprisoned was Ka Amado V. Hernandez.
When Ka Bert was released in 1954, he founded the Con- federation of Labor in the Philippines.
He was arrested and imprisoned once more in 1956 on charges of rebellion. Despite state repression, he persevered in organizing the workers. Not long after his release, he established the National Federation of Labor Unions (NAFLU). He became vice chairman of the Katipunan ng Mang-gagawang Pilipino in 1959, vice president of the Lapiang Mang-gagawa in 1962 and chairman of the Malayang Samahang Magsasaka in 1964. He also became active in the Movement for the Advancement of Nationalism in 1966.
When martial law was imposed in 1972, Ka Bert and militant unionism once more suffered the mailed fist tactics that illegalized all unions and strikes. Ka Bert was arrested in October 1972 and imprisoned for more than four months on charges of subversion. Despite this, he courageously stood for the welfare not only of workers but of all people yearning for freedom and democracy. He became part of the National Democratic Front Executive Committee in the early 1980s. Ka Bert also became a member of the reestablished Communist Party of the Philippines.
In 1980, after almost a decade of leading the militant labor movement's efforts to advance despite intense fascist terror, Ka Bert led the daring establishment of the KMU. Tens of thousands of workers and people from other sectors defied the restrictions imposed by the Marcos dictatorship and gathered at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City to ratify the establishment of the patriotic and militant labor center. Since then, the KMU has effectively led in strengthening and advancing the genuine, militant and patriotic labor movement in the Philippines.
The dictatorship was shaken by the courage and solidarity shown by organized labor and the struggling people. Not long afterward, the Marcos regime once again attempted to strike at the militant labor movement. Ka Bert and other militant worker-leaders were arrested on August 13, 1982 on charges of sedition and subversion.
Despite his age and frail health, the regime kept Ka Bert in solitary confinement, which was too much for his delicate constitution. It worsened his heart ailment and he died of pulmonary complications on De-cember 4, 1983, on the eighth month of his incarceration.
A day before he passed away, he managed to send a message to workers rallying at Plaza Miranda. Despite the frailty of his body, his message radiated his strong fighting spirit and his class hatred for his captors and the people's oppressors. Philippine society under the US-Marcos dictatorship, he said, was one large dungeon. The people are enslaved, exploited and destitute. The dogs and puppies owned by the dictator's daughter Irene Marcos, Ka Bert said, were more fortunate because they ate on time, received medical attention and even lived in a palace.
If Ka Bert were alive today, he would be at the forefront of the struggle of the working class and other exploited and oppressed people, especially in the face of unprecedented attacks by the state on their rights and welfare.
Almost all of the things that Ka Bert and the militant labor movement have fought for, such as the reduction of working hours from 12 to eight hours a day, the Magna Carta of Labor, the Women and Child Labor Law and the Minimum Wage Law, among others, have been junked by the puppet and reactionary state, that are instruments of foreign capitalists and the local comprador-bourgeoisie.
On the centenary of Ka Bert's birth and two decades after his demise, his fighting spirit and his heritage vibrantly live on in the militant labor movement that persists in the struggle of the working class for the immediate liberation of their class and the entire Filipino people from foreign and local exploitation and oppression and for socialism.
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