Lean Alejandro - Samasa Alumni

Leandro “Lean” L. Alejandro

July 10, 1960 – September 18, 1987

“In the line of fire is the place of honor.” The Filipino people, said Leandro L. Alejandro, proved this in the four days of February 1986 that led to the fall of the Marcos dictatorship. He must have thought the same many times in his life as an activist between 1979 and 1987, during the dark days of the martial law regime, to the continuing fight for democracy after EDSA.

The chess, sinigang, and Lord of the Rings-loving Lean entered the University of the Philippines in 1978. He carried with him the salt-of-the-earth values of his hometown of Tanza, Navotas and his conservative Roman Catholic upbringing. When the Chemistry major applied to be a feature writer of the Philippine Collegian, it was with the purpose of being a counterbalance to what he considered to be the student paper’s too radical stance. But the Collegian was trying to provide an alternative to the silent mainstream media and assigned stories on the grinding poverty and blatant repression outside the campus. Lean’s world suddenly grew much bigger. Soon, he was writing of the elite domination of Philippine economy, the greed of transnational corporations, and the dangers of imperialism.

Lean matched his social critique with action. During his student years in the early 1980s, he became founding member and chairperson of the Anti-Imperialist Youth Committee (AIYC). He chaired the Youth for Nationalism and Democracy (YND) and the student council of the UP College of Arts and Sciences, before chairing the UP Diliman University Student Council. These student organizations spearheaded struggles around the burning issues of the day, such as tuition free increases, democratic reforms in the educational system and oil price increases. They took up issues of urban poor communities, farmers, workers and protested the intensifying human rights violations and political repression in the country.

With the rising tide of the people’s resistance against dictatorship, Lean widened his political involvement beyond the student movement. Even while still a student leader, he helped organize many broad multi-sectoral campaigns. In 1981, he worked alongside nationalist stalwart Senator Jose W. Diokno and anti-Marcos national politicians like Salvador Laurel in the campaign against Marcos’ fake Presidential Elections.

When Ninoy Aquino was suddenly assassinated in 1983, the country was momentarily numbed with shock – but Lean was one of the first to rally students, condemn the assassination, and take the protest to the streets. He soon became one of the leading figures in the Justice for Aquino, Justice for All (JAJA) movement, the Coalition for the Restoration of Democracy (CORD), the Nationalist Alliance for Justice, Freedom and Democracy (NAJFD), and a slew of other mass organizations and cause-oriented groups.

In 1985, he was elected as the first Secretary General of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), then representing the largest nationalist and democratic front resisting the dictatorship and initiating popular struggles and campaigns.

In January 1986, at the height of protests during the Snap Elections, Lean wed his girlfriend, Lidy Nacpil, who was a fellow activist and one of the leaders of Gabriela women’s coalition.

Lean was a tireless leader and servant of the people up to the four days of uprising in February 1986 and beyond. His loyalty was to the people, and to the cause of national freedom and democracy. In Mendiola, he led a people’s march during the downfall of Marcos, as well as a peaceful farmers’ rally when agents of the Cory administration opened fire, leaving many dead and wounded.

When the Cory administration called for local and national elections in 1987, Lean was one of the first from the cause-oriented sector to test the new democracy by running for congress. He wished to promote a new brand of ‘people politics’, one that didn’t advance the agenda of ‘trapos’, but rather placed people’s issues at the center.

In his home district in Navotas and Malabon, he went on house-to-house campaigns, wading through floods to hold dialogues with the urban poor communities on their issues and aspirations. Relying on the support of grassroots organizations and volunteers, Lean’s campaign ran against the tide of elite politics – of ‘guns, goons and gold’ – that had plagued the country for so long. He lost by a margin – charges of fraud against his opponent were highly publicized. He did not regret the decision to run, however, for the people had become much more aware of the bigger issues at stake, and politics in the district was never the same again. He may not have won a seat in Congress, but to many people from Navotas and Malabon, Lean Alejandro was their own homegrown hero.

Lean attracted many to his brand of activism. He was both serious and fun-loving. He made it hip to be a lover of life and country, literature and revolution, freedom and the masses; to be a passionate crusader for one’s causes and a courageous seeker of truth and justice.

Lean took the place of honor until the end. His brief and full life was brutally ended by an assassin’s bullets 20 years ago, on September 19. He was 27 years old.

Lean was survived by his wife, Lidy Nacpil, and daughter Rusan, who was six months old at the time of his death.

As penned by Jeannie Manipon and Becky Lozada, for the “Being Lean” photo exhibit mounted in UP Diliman by the Student Christian Movement (SCM) Senior Friends-Philippines (Batches 1979-1986), in cooperation with the Leandro L. Alejandro Foundation (LLAF)

Historical timeline and milestones

1978: Studied BS Chemistry at the University of the Philippines Diliman before shifting to Political Science
1979: Joined the UP student paper, Philippine Collegian, as a features writer
1980: Served as the founding chair of the Anti-Imperialist Youth Committee (AIYC), later known as the Youth for Nationalism and Democracy (YND)
1981-1983: Junior fellow with the UP Third World Studies Center
1982-1983: Chaired the UP College of Arts and Sciences Student Council
1984-1985: Chairman, University Student Council (UP Diliman)
1985:

Student representative to the UP Board of Regents
Dedicated himself to the “Parliament of the Streets”
Served as Founding Secretary-General of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN)
Propelled by the assassination of Benigno Aquino, he built a broad anti-dictatorship movement and became heavily involved in the following organizations:

Coalition of Organizations for the Realization of Democracy
Justice for Aquino, Justice for All (JAJA) movement
Kaakbay, or Movement for the Philippine Sovereignty and Democracy
Partido ng Bayan
Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (SELDA)

February 13: Along with Jose Virgilio Bautista, was arrested while negotiating on behalf of students marching to Camp Aguinaldo. They were held on a Preventive Detention Arrest (PDA), a Marcos decree that authorized the detention of any person for one year without charge.

1986: Led various mobilizations during the People Power Revolution
1987:

Sought a congressional seat in Malabon-Navotas with a platform of new politics
September 19: Announced plans for a nationwide strike against the military’s role in government during a press conference at the National Press Club. Afterward, on his way to the BAYAN office in Rosal Street, Cubao, he was fatally shot in the face and neck by an unknown assailant in a van. To date, the killing remains unsolved.

Memorable Quotes

“The struggle for freedom is the next best thing to actually being free.”

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“Universities are arenas of struggle, as important as other areas like factories, farms, and slums. A radical presence in this intellectual world was necessary, especially under Martial Law. A student movement must not only be a propaganda movement but an intellectual movement, conscious of its responsibility to confront conservative ideas.”

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“I am quite convinced that in a few years’ time, the nature of our struggles will change drastically. We shall have to launch a democratic version of the socialist revolution. The national democratic struggle will be left behind by history and we shall be buried with it in the heap of antiquity if we do not shake ourselves awake and really lead.” (A letter to his future wife Lidy Nacpil in 1983)

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‘‘The socialist man must know how to compute the distance of the stars, how to differentiate a fish from a shark, a mammal from a reptile. He must know how to distill wine into liquor and how to arrive at E=MC². He must know how to cook bacon, butcher a pig, and roast a lamb. He must be capable of leading armies into battle. He must know how to follow orders, and give orders and he must know when to disobey them. He must be able at debate, at lobbying, at open struggle. He must know how to analyze difficult political situations, how to get out of one, and how to convince others that they must do the same. He must know how to sail a ship, dig a latrine, construct a pigsty, wash clothes, wash dishes, plan an offensive, plan a retreat, mix martinis, drink martinis, differentiate brandy from whisky, keep quiet, participate, take care of babies, manage a state bureaucracy, soothe pain, comfort the sorrowful, maintain his composure in hot water, when to watch, when to participate, repair appliances, maintain a car, purge revisionists, ride a horse, run from a bull, swim, play tennis, drown gracefully, sink with his ship with honor along with the mice, discuss Mao, debunk Zinoviev, ridicule Stalin, appreciate a beehive, raise chickens, cook chickens, play boogle (respectably), correctly read Mabini, recruit members into the movement, motivate members to struggle, host a party, play at least one musical instrument, be critical, self-critical, honest. The socialist man is the total man. Specialization is for ants.” (A letter to his future wife Lidy Nacpil in 1983)

As remembered by family and friends

“He enabled me to hear the cry of the exploited and oppressed among our people. Ano man ang gawin ko, siya ay lagi kong katulong. Siya ay aking kanang kamay.” — The late Senator Lorenzo Tanada

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“Lean selflessly spent many nights with us just to impress why it was important to read about the commitment of Frodo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey (of the Lord of the Rings) to partly help us situate ourselves in a rapidly polarizing society; why, in confronting the evils of the real world, one can learn much in understanding Sauron the Great and his desire to repossess the one ring that shall make him ruler of Middle Earth; and why, in reading through the life of Gollum, one discovers that even in his miserable and deceitful life, he still would bring something good in a society threatened with darkness.” — Patricio N. Abinales, former roommate at the Narra Residence Hall

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“After the fall of Marcos, Lean continued to play a high-profile role in the social change movement, and even ran for congress in his hometown of Malabon. He was such an effective advocate for social justice that he apparently was considered a threat by right-wing forces seeking to preserve the old order. They saw the need to have him eliminated.

More than 60,000 people attended his funeral. Many of us honored his memory by naming our children after him.” — Benjamin Pimentel, writer

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“Lean was unlike other student leaders of our time. He stood out not only because he was a beanpole. There was something about him that made people stop and listen. He was very smart, very witty, ergo very convincing when he tried to explain vague concepts like fascism and imperialism to freshmen students like myself, who had nothing else to do but warm our buns at the AS steps in between classes. So many times before we had been turned off by others who simply unfurled a red banner and burst our eardrums with, “Ibagsak ang Diktadurang US-Marcos!

Not that Lean was not given to mouthing slogans. Let’s put it this way: at least he knew what he was sloganeering about. He was one activist who, according to his friends, actually read anything from Doonesbury to Trotsky.” — Marites N. Sison, “Remembering Lean”, Philippine Daily Inquirer. First published in the author’s column First Thoughts, Philippine Post on September 19, 2000.

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“The youth of this generation ought to have and ought to know someone like him, someone so passionate and dedicated to a vision and a cause— and yet so endearingly likeable. Ask his friends and comrades.” — Ma. Ceres Doyo in “Remembering Lean”, Philippine Daily Inquirer, August 12, 2007

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“People Power I, however, exposed the brittleness of the people’s allegiance to the Revolution. The masses ignored the party and rooted for Cory Aquino. They then convened at EDSA to protect the clumsy RAM boys. Labels proved inadequate to understand these moderates; careful analysis proved to be equally important. This was why Bayan leader Lean Alejandro was reading the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci when he was assassinated. Like Gramsci, he wanted to know how communists could survive periods of retreat. — Patricio N. Abinales in Sison’s (Fatal) Greetings, Newsbreak

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“On the eve of Lean Alejandro’s 27th birthday, Lidy stumbled on this photo taken by photo and video journalist Luis Liwanag. Lean reaching out to her as they walked the streets of Belwang, Sadanga in the Cordilleras to commemorate the death of Macliing Dulag. The year, 1985. Two years hence, Lean would join Macliing among the list of heroes who died fighting for their dreams.

September 19, 1987. Remnants of Marcos rightist vigilantes managed to put a fatal bullet to Lean’s face that pierced through his head, killing him instantly. On his lap was a book on Italian Marxist theorist Antonio Gramsci, which Lean was reading. His assassination marked the official separation of the critically supportive Left from the Cory Aquino administration.

But this is not about his death. This is about Lean’s life.

Lean had always been different. A cut above the rest. In grade 4, his parents were called to the principal’s office because he insisted on reading the Encyclopedia Britannica which was allowed only among the upper grades. He had to find out what could cure his grandmother’s ailing cat. A borrowed encyclopedia from his cousin appeased Lean where he found the cure: cod liver oil.

How do pigs give birth? Why did the moon always follow him? These and countless more questions were answered when his family was able to raise money to buy him his own encyclopedia.

Lean was insatiable at learning, but also at teaching. He was known to bring a whole group of classmates to his house to give tutorials. In UP, he would be found among clusters of students, talking about Trotsky, Karl Marx, even Mao, in his famous “tsinelas.”

Yes, Lean was the originator of “tsinelas” politics, attending classes, forums, meetings in his rubber slippers, even among the esteemed company of Lorenzo Tañada, Jose Diokno, or Chino Roces.

He was a rock star and his professors found him no less so. He was known to frequent the homes of then Dean Francisco Nemenzo to play chess in between talks of their visions for the future, or that of Prof. Randy David to play ping pong in between hearty talks on campus and national politics.

Ferdinand Marcos watched Lean’s rise closely, as closely as he did Ninoy Aquino. Lean was the one budding thorn that pricked the ego of the dictator. Then defense secretary Juan Ponce Enrile was known to have invited Lean after he had a not-so-pleasant encounter with daughter Kristina in campus. Enrile wanted to see for himself what the dictatorship was up against.

For it was Lean that led the historic May 1984 students march to Mendiola to protest tuition fee hikes, a first after Martial law was officially lifted in 1981 to have ended successfully after the First Quarter Storm of 1970. The recapture of Mendiola was crucial because it was right at the doorstep of Malacañang. And Marcos didn’t like being threatened.

In a letter addressed to Lidy in his detention cell 1985, after Lean was arrested during a rally he wrote: The struggle for freedom is the next best thing to being free.

Many speculate where Lean would stand today amid all the killings, corruption; amid all the political accommodation and divisiveness charged against the Left. There is only one answer. He would still be making a choice for the next best thing: the struggle to be free from social injustice.

Maligayang Kaarawan, Lean.” — Beng Allanigue

Media and Additional References

Talambuhay ni Leandro L. Alejandro, Bantayog Foundation.
‘Lean the Musical’ Timely Restaging Rides Public Clamor for Change. Bantayog Foundation.
Lean the Musical. YouTube.
Sino Ba Si Ka Lando? Pinoy Weekly.

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