Ka Bert Olalia: Patriot-Warrior and Labor Leader

Felixberto “Ka Bert” Olalia was a young shoemaker when he became aware of the need to form unions to protect workers’ interests. Today, he is remembered not only as a labor icon whose union work helped institutionalize workers’ rights such as the eight-hour work and others. He was also a guerrilla who fought the Japanese imperial army during World War II and a foremost nationalist. For all these he found himself in prison several times, the last when he was incarcerated during martial. He died in prison.

By Ronalyn Olea
Bulatlat.com

Labor leaders and other personalities paid tribute to Felixberto “Ka Bert” Olalia as they marked the late trade unionist’s centennial birth at the Religious of Virgin Mary Auditorium in Quezon City Aug. 13.

But the tribute was made more memorable by the presence of Ka Bert’s widow, Nanay (mother) Chabeng Olalia.

More than 200 workers and advocates attended the anniversary celebration with the theme, “Isandaang Taon ni Ka Bert, Isandaang Taon ng Kilusang Paggawa sa Pilipinas”(100 Years of Ka Bert, 100 Years of Philippine Labor Movement).

In a message sent by email, Prof. Jose Maria Sison pointed to the Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement) as Ka Bert’s living monument. Ka Bert was the first president of KMU that was founded in 1980 or five years before the fall of the Marcos dictatorship.

“Tampok at maningning ang anim na dekadang paglilingkod ni Ka Bert sa uring manggagawa at sambayanang  Pilipino” (Ka Bert’s six decades of service to the proletariat and the Filipino people are both exceptional and remarkable), said Sison who was in close contact with Ka Bert from 1962-1968. 

Sison, the current chief political consultant to the National Democratic Front in the Netherlands, also said he learned much from Ka Bert’s dissection of the history of the proletariat in the Philippines and personal experiences as a union organizer.   

“Si Ka Bert ay walang arogansya, laluna sa mga mas bata sa kanya na bagong pasok sa kilusang rebolusyonaryo.  Marunong siyang makisama sa kabataan at hilig niyang palakasin ang loob nila,” (Ka Bert showed no arrogance especially to the youth who are new to the revolutionary movement.  He knew how to mingle with them and he liked to boost their confidence), Sison also said.

Aug. 13, Sison also said, is the 21st anniversary of the “white terror.” On Aug. 13, 1982, Ka Bert and 60 other leaders of KMU were ordered arrested by President Ferdinand Marcos following simultaneous labor strikes. Marcos was also enraged by Ka Bert’s branding of the lifting of martial law the previous year as a hoax.

Sison said Ka Bert once told him that rather than dying bed-ridden he wanted to die fighting in the battlefield.  He said that even if Ka Bert did not die the way he wanted to, the labor icon fulfilled his dream of offering his life to the working class and the Filipino people.  (Ka Bert died while under Marcos imprisonment in 1983.) 

Genuine democracy

Amado Gat Inciong, convenor of Alyansang Nagtatanggol sa Inang Bayan (ANIB or Alliance for the Defense of People), related how he and Ka Bert worked together in forming various organizations, including Lapiang Manggagawa and the National Coalition for the Protection of Worker’s Rights.

Inciong also recalled that Ka Bert walked out of a congress of the Trade Union Conference of the Philippines (TUCP) in protest of election fraud. Following his walkout was a multitude of workers.

Inciong charged that the TUCP’s formation was initiated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). 

“Bakit sinikap ni Ka Bert na pagkaisahin ang manggagawa at iba pang anakpawis?”(Why did Ka Bert persevere in uniting the workers and other exploited sectors?), Inciong asked the audience. “Sapagkat alam niya na ang mga adhika ng anakpawis gaya ng kalayaan sa kabuhayan at kalayaan sa pulitika ay hindi makakamtan sa pamamagitan ng eleksyon.  Ito ang nagtulak sa kanya para magtayo ng mga samahan.” (Because he knows that the interests of the exploited such as freedom in ecomomy and freedom in politics cannot be realized through elections.  This was what compelled him to form different groups.                           

“Gusto niyang matatag sa Pilipinas ang tunay na demokrasya, hindi ang demokrasya ng mga elitista at ng gobyernong Amerikano” (He wanted to build genuine democracy in the Philippines, not the democracy of the elite and the U.S.’ government), Inciong went further, eliciting an applause.

Inciong ended his fiery speech with a challenge, “Ang rebolusyon sa Pilipinas ay hindi pa tapos. Kailangang paramihin ang manggagawang mulat, magsasakang mulat upang ang rebolusyon na sinimulan ni Bonifacio ay matapos natin” (The revolution in the Philippines is not yet over. There is a need to organize and educate more workers and peasants so that we may finish the revolution initiated by Bonifacio).  

At 92, Nanay Chabeng, could still relate vividly stories of her fruitful life with Ka Bert. Nanay served as cashier while husband was treasurer of the Center for Labor Organizations (CLO) during the 1950s.

Nanay Chabeng related an incident where the owners of a company tried to bribe the couple.  Ka Bert said, “Kung ako’y matigas, lalong matigas ang aking misis” (If I am incorruptible, my wife is more so).

Victory

Elmer Labog, KMU national chairperson, said that Ka Bert’s description of the Philippine society remains true: “Malaking bartolina ang lipunan at ang mga manggagawa ay nananatiling alipin at pulubi” (The society is a huge prison cell and the workers are slaves and beggars).

Labog cited cases of repression of workers’ rights.  He lambasted the amendments to the Labor Code and the Anti-Terrorism Bill, saying these would only intensify oppression and repression of workers’ rights.

Labog said if Ka Bert and his son - Rolando ‘Ka Lando’ Olalia – who succeeded him as KMU chair, were alive, they would say, “Hindi kayo mabibigo, magtatagumpay kayo (You will not fail, victory will be yours).

Shoemaker-turned-labor leader

Born and raised in poverty in Tarlac north of Manila on Aug. 5, 1904, Ka Bert started working at the age of 16. He left his family in 1920 for Manila to work in a shoe factory. There he took the lead in establishing a labor union and fought for better working conditions.

He organized the Union de Chineleros y Zapateros de Filipinos in 1920 and served as its secretary from 1920-1925 and as its president from 1925 to 1940. The union was one of the first industrial unions in the Philippines.

In 1929, Ka Bert was with the finance committee of the Collective Labor Movement in 1929, and was secretary-general of Katipunan ng mga Anakpawis sa Pilipinas in 1939. He worked with veteran union leaders like Crisanto Evangelista, considered as the Father of the Philippine trade union movement.               

Huk commander  

Ka Bert entwined his championing of the workers’ cause with defending the country’s sovereignty and national interest. Together with nationalist colleagues, he formed in 1942 the League for National Liberation and served as lieutenant colonel from 1942-1943. Later he joined the Allied Forces’ Intelligence Bureau, to monitor and document the activities of the Japanese occupation forces in the Philippines. He was commander of the Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon of the Manila Capital Region from 1944-45.     

Right after World War II through the 1950’s, Ka Bert co-founded and led several national labor unions such as the Congress of Labor Organizations, then the biggest and strongest labor federation in the country with such big government and private companies like the Manila Railroad and Railways (MRR), NAWASA, MERALCO, NDC, and Engineering Island as affiliates.  Thereafter, he became president of the Katipunan ng mga Kaisahang Manggagawa (KKM). He also served as the Chairman for Labor in the first National Labor-Management Conference in July 1951.

KKM was disbanded after Ka Bert was arrested in 1951. Upon release in 1954, he founded the Confederation of Labor in the Philippines (CLP), and later, the National Federation of Labor Unions (NAFLU) in 1957.

Lobbying for workers’ cause

Ka Bert engaged in active dialogue and lobbying with the legislators of his time; and was instrumental in the adoption of various pro-labor resolutions and laws by the Congress, such as the shortening of the 12 hour-work day to the current 8-hour work in 1934; Republic Act No. 875 or the Magna Carta of Labor; Women and Child Labor Law; Minimum Wage Law; the creation of an Agrarian Court; and other legislations.

In 1970, Ka Bert was sent as an emissary to China and helped in the establishment of diplomatic ties between the Philippine government and the Peoples Republic of China. 

Despite the government’s violent repression of workers, Ka Bert persisted in labor organizing and served as vice chairperson of the Katipunan ng Manggagawang Pilipino in 1959, vice-president of Lapiang Manggagawa in 1962, and chairperson of Malayang Samahang Magsasaka (MASAKA) in 1964. He was also active in the labor committee of the Movement for the Advancement of Nationalism (MAN) in 1966.

The government under then President Elpidio Quirino sought to crush the burgeoning trade union movement, and discourage labor leaders. Quirino had Ka Bert arrested for subversion, and later charged him with rebellion in 1956.  Ka Bert, however, persisted in his work.

Anti-Marcos activist

During the height of martial law when strikes and labor unions were outlawed, he founded and became the first national chairperson of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) in 1980, and of Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawang Pilipino (PMP).  Two years later, on Aug. 13, 1982, the dictator Ferdinand  Marcos had Ka Bert arrested and detained. Aug. 13 is known among workers and activists as the day of the infamous labor crackdown.

Imprisonment was nothing new to Ka Bert. He was arrested and detained in September 1951-1956 for simple rebellion; detained for four and a half months in October 1972 for alleged subversion In the 1982 arrest, he was accused of inciting sedition and conspiracy to commit rebellion. He was placed in solitary confinement, which led to the rapid deterioration of his health. He was transferred to the Camp Crame Hospital and later, on May 1, 1983, to the V. Luna Hospital, due to the recurrence of his rheumatic heart disease; 

In his eight months of detention, Ka Bert’s body grew weak and later, he developed a heart illness. He died of pneumonia in prison.  A day before his death on Dec. 4, 1983, he was still able to send a message to the workers gathered in Plaza Miranda:

“How can I describe Philippine society? It’s a one big isolation cell. Without a doubt, under the U.S.–Marcos dictatorship, Philippines is one big and stinking prison cell. What is the condition of the people? Slaves…exploited…and beggars! Because rights are repressed, livelihood is deprived; the soul is blatantly being sold to the foreign capitalists… The puppies and dogs of Irene Marcos are luckier. They eat on time, they are well–provided with medication, and they even live in a palace!”

Tribute from the House

In the House of Representatives, Bayan Muna Rep. Crispin Beltran has filed two bills giving tribute to Ka Bert. The first is a bill providing for the inclusion in social studies and history books of elementary, secondary, and collegiate curricula the lives of Ka Bert and his son, Rolando ‘Ka Lando’ Olalia who was assassinated allegedly by members of the military in 1986. The second is a resolution paying tribute to Ka Bert’s 100th birthday. So far, some 50 solons have signed the resolution.

“It’s only fitting that the House of Representatives give due respect and recognition to a man who dedicated his life to the cause of Philippine Labor Movement. Ka Bert worked untiringly and without thought of self to secure economic equality, justice and democracy for the toiling masses of workers and peasants. His struggle spanned six decades of his life in time of peace or in time of war or even under a repressive martial law regime. The lessons of his life and how he lived it continue to inspire millions of Filipino workers and members of other laboring classes to continue the struggle not just for the recognition and respect of labor rights, but also for genuine freedom and sovereignty,” said Beltran.

Beltran served as Ka Bert’s secretary general in KMU from 1980 to 1983. When Ka Bert’s son Ka Lando became KMU chair, Ka Bel became his vice-president. After Ka Lando was assassinated, Beltran became chairperson, up until May 2003. With file report by Ina Silverio / Bulatlat.com

Back to top

We want to know what you think of this article.