Heroes are known not by how they died, but by how they lived in the service of the people to the very end. Dr. Aloysius “Ochie” Baes, 58, former Rapu-Rapu Fact-Finding Commissioner and environmentalist, consistently embodied this principle until he died.
By Lisa C. Ito
Bulatlat
Heroes are known not by how they died, but by how they lived in the service of the people to the very end. Dr. Aloysius “Ochie” Baes, 58, former Rapu-Rapu Fact-Finding Commissioner and environmentalist, consistently embodied this principle until he died.
His passing away at the National Kidney Institute last Dec. 21 merited an obituary in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, but there was definitely more to Ochie, as friends and colleagues called him, than what could be immediately said in a few concise lines.
A scientist by profession and an activist by choice, Ochie exemplified the best of what the iskolar ng bayan (people’s scholar) could offer to the country and to the world. At the tributes held last Dec. 23 and Jan. 29 at the Baes residence in Laguna and the Aldaba Hall in the University of the Philippines, Quezon City , respectively, Ochie’s family, friends, colleagues and comrades were all brought together by narratives of his short but multi-faceted life: As a son and brother, student activist and revolutionary, Martial Law survivor, chemist and professor, commissioner, consultant, writer, poet, composer, musician, environmental advocate and scientist for the people.
Famous warrior
Dr. Aloysius Baes used to kid friends about the origins of his first name, claiming in jest that he was named after a mighty Greek god and – if still incredulous – a Nobel Prize winner who discovered a new chemical element.
The truth was that “Aloysius” is a variation of the name “Louis” which means “famous warrior.” Later, this name would exemplify much of what Ochie would become as a student leader and as a scientist.
Ochie was the eldest in a brood of four boys and one girl, a Boy Scout and proverbial “Mama’s boy” born into a traditional, middle-class family. His parents had a piano at home and shared their love of music with the parish and with their children. Little did they then realize that this gift of the arts fostered upon their children would much later on reverberate in the hearts of countless activists.
Jopie Baes, Ochie’s younger brother, has fond memories of his kuya (elder brother) ordering him to sneak out and buy cigarettes after their father’s nightly “roll-call” and using him as a human dummy when Ochie started to study acupuncture. But Ochie was a kuya in more ways than one: He later on recruited his three younger brothers and their uncles into the activist movement.
Ochie’s leadership potential was marked even during his high school days. During their senior year, he led other classmates to boycott a class in protest against their teacher’s oppressive impositions. The school principal punished them with three days of hard labor.
‘Crush ng Bayan’ and campus leader
As a student at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Ochie’s activism started with the UPLB Chemistry Society, where he actively participated in and led teach-ins and group discussions on Philippine social realities.
Ochie was among the original founding members of the Samahan ng Demokratikong Kabataan (SDK). Witnessing the height of the global anti-Vietnam war protests from 1967 to 1968, he and the other members would travel all the way to Luneta in Manila to participate in the mass actions, catching the bus back to Los Baños just in time after police dispersed the rallies. Every Friday, they would sponsor book reviews and discussions of works by Renato Constantino and Mao Tse Tung, drawing more students to join the organization.
Ochie was responsible for recruiting a huge number of contemporaries into the national democratic movement, such as Vic Ladlad. “Siya ang ilaw na nag-attract ng marami sa amin sa aktibismo,” fellow SDK member Agnes Rio recalls. (He was the light that attracted many of us to activism).
“He was an organizational person and a slave driver,” Rio recalls. But, he exercised a democratic style of leadership where decisions were collectively discussed and always emphasized the principle of serving the people.
“Isa siya sa mga pinakamahusay magpaliwanag ng problema. Kapag may tinanong ka, hindi siya agad sasagot kundi magsasaliksik sa kanyang utak kung papaano ito sasagutin” (He was among the best in dissecting problems. He would always pause and think first before answering questions.), she added.
His being a crush ng bayan (campus heartthrob) among UPLB coeds also came in handy during those times when the SDK was fast growing in numbers, his colleagues recall with amusement. “Para siyang si Lito Lapid,” Rio says in jest. (He was like Lito Lapid-a local action star)
