Dr. Aloysius Baes: Scientist, Composer and Revolutionary Par Excellence
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
An artwork created by Dr. Aloysius Baes
while he was in detention at Camp Crame, 1975
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)
"But despite being
macho, isa siyang malumanay na tao at matagal bago magalit," she
added. (He was a gentle person who would not be easily angered)
Ochie's charisma,
intellect and organizational abilities soon helped him sweep the
leadership of the UPLB Student Council (SC) from 1968 to 1970. As SC
chairperson, Ochie regularly locked horns with his "favorite whipping
boy," the late UPLB Dean Dr. Dioscoro Umali, and led so many boycotts in
the UP College of Agriculture that the campus almost went on for a
semester without holding classes.
In February 1969,
Ochie led a student boycott that was soon supported by both faculty and
non-academic personnel. This tri-lateral strike paralyzed the campus for
more than two weeks until the Administration was compelled to negotiate
publicly with the protestors and sectors in front of the College of
Agriculture Library. The debates lasted until night and ended up
successfully for the rallyers.
Barely a few months
later, “Chairman” Ochie graduated with a degree in Agricultural
Chemistry, cum laude and took up a teaching job in UP Diliman.
Word is it that he would have graduated magna cum laude had his
militancy not earned the ire of the College dean.
From student to
revolutionary
Graduating from the
student movement would not dampen Ochie's activism. Instead, it led to
his involvement in the larger people's movement beyond Los Banos'
forested borders.
When the volatile
political uprisings dubbed as the “First Quarter Storm” swept the
country in 1970, Ochie was there to mobilize the youth into militant
action against the Marcos regime.
In response to the
issue of spiraling oil price hikes, Ochie led the SDK in rallies that
successfully barricaded South-bound road intersections connecting
Alaminos, Los Baños, San Pablo, Sta. Cruz and Calamba, later on
organizing an SDK chapter among the youths living in the communities in
the vicinity of the crossings
When the writ of
habeas corpus was suspended, Ochie was among those who led the
Lakbayan, a protest march, all the way from Los Baños to Manila. The
contingent traveled for days and slept in public schools along the way.
By the time the Southern Tagalog protestors reached Manila, many of them
were stricken with sore eyes. Ochie's fellow activists recalled with
amusement that many sectors were afraid to position themselves beside
the predominantly red-eyed Laguna group during the rally for fear of
acquiring the disease.
Ochie was in Los
Baños when Martial Law was declared in 1972. He and other student
activists quickly dispersed to join the armed revolutionary movement
among peasants in the countryside. Ochie and two other comrades narrowly
escaped arrest after the Volkswagen (secretly filled with arms and
medicines for the guerillas) they were driving was accosted by
Philippine Constabulary (PC) elements for “reckless imprudence.” They
eventually fled to the Sierra Madre mountain range, where many tasks -
ranging from peasant organizing to ideological and educational work -
awaited.
"Mula sa
pagiging simpleng aktibista, siya ay naging isang masigasig na
mandirigma," Rio says. (From being a simple activist, Ochie
became a dedicated warrior).
Angeli Ureta, a
younger cousin who was barely in her teens when Martial Law came around,
recalled that Ochie was a “legendary figure” to his younger cousins.
"He was a mythical
figure. Siya ang taong pinag-uusapan pero hindi nakikita," she
recalled. (He was always talked about but never seen). The Baes family
would only talk about Ochie's whereabouts in clandestine whispers and
codes. Whenever he managed to visit his family, it was usually in the
dead of night.
Younger brother
Jopie's favorite memory of Ochie during those days was when he once
received a letter from his brother instructing him to meet up somewhere
at the foot of the Sierra Madre mountain range. Upon reaching the place
at night, Jopie patiently waited for his brother to show up.
"Bago
magbukang-liwayway, nakita ko siya sa may pilapil, hawak ang karit
hanggang dumating ang mga manggagapas at sabay-sabay silang umawit,"
he said. (Before the break of dawn, I saw him on the ricefield armed
with a sickle until farmers came and all sang altogether to greet me.)
The Marcos regime's
military dragnet eventually caught up with Ochie. In a shoot-out along
F.B. Harrison St. while on a mission in Manila, he sustained a chest
wound. He was captured shortly afterwards in Manila in 1973 and sent to
the dictatorship's jails.
Turning prison
into a music factory
Ochie was jailed in
at least four detention centers from 1973 to 1975, experiencing
interrogations and torture by the military.
Detention did not
deter Ochie from pursuing his vision, however. Ever the organizational
man, he quickly teamed up with fellow political detainees to turn
"prison into a musical factory for the revolution", Prof. Jose Maria
Sison recalls.
"Dito
lumabas ang pagiging malikhain niya sa musika," Jopie Baes says.
(It was here where his musical
talents fluorished). Ochie turned to cultural work –composing songs,
playing the guitar, singing and painting - as another way of serving the
people while in prison.
While trying to
organize a parangal (tribute) for another comrade who was killed
by the military in Tarlac, Ochie led fellow inmates in the Camp Crame
Stockade to form a cultural collective, recalls Arthur Castillo, a
fellow political detainee and a member of the Kabataang Makabayan's
cultural arm NPAA. For the tribute, Ochie and his 'bandmates'
appropriated a church song, rewriting portions of it to add
revolutionary content to the song's existing lyrics.
Ochie composed some
of the "top hits of Martial Law" while detained at the Camp Crame
Stockade 4 and the IPIL Rehabilitation Center in Fort Bonifacio. One of
his better-known works is the prison song Mutya, an adaptation of
Kundiman ni Abdon (an anti-colonialist song dating back to around
1900). The song speaks of the longing to be free and of the love for his
real muse, the Motherland.
Kay taas ng pader sa aking paligid
Munting pisngi ng langit
Ang tanging pasisilip.
Mutya kong tinatangi laging naiisip
Pagkat pagtangis ng mutya'y
Lubusan kong batid...
...Huwag kang malungkot sinta
Sa aking pagkawalay
Anuman ang sapitin gunita mo ay taglay,
Ang lahat ng aking lakas,
Nalalabi pang buhay
Sa iyong kapakanan aking iaalay.
Another song that
Ochie composed on June 12, 1975 at the Stockade 4 of Camp Crame, may
well have been singing of the dark times now:
May kalayaan ba kung ang bayan
Ay dumadaing sa hirap?
Kung kayamanan ay hawak ng dayuhan
At masa ay salat?
Kung manggagawa ay dusta
At magsasaka ay inaapi?
Huwad, sadyang huwad ang kalayaan
Kung ang bayan ay ganyan.
May kalayaan ba kung bayan
Ay may gapos sa kamay?
Kung ang katotohanan
At katarunga'y nilulupig?
Laksang nagtatanggol
Ay pinarurusahan at inuusig
Huwad, sadyang huwad ang kalayaan
Kung ang bayan ay ganyan.
The escapades
behind Ochie's songs can shame even McGyver himself. Despite the tight
security enforced by his captors, Ochie managed to smuggle his songs out
of prison through the most unlikely, creative and clandestine means.
Jopie recalls that
Ochie was able to sneak out a copy of Mutya by having a
visiting nun hide it inside her habit. Diwang Walang Takot was
similarly smuggled out of Camp Crame with the help of a friendly priest
with a hearing aid.
"Pinatanggal
niya ang baterya ng hearing aid ng pari at doon isinaksak ang kopya,"
Jopie recalls (He had the battery of the priest's hearing aid removed
and plugged the copy of the song in.)
During one visit,
Ochie saw a huge blood clot forming under Jopie's nail. He instructed
his brother to clean up the space filled with the clot and pushed
another copy of his prison songs under the nail bed.
Ochie's
compositions served as a salve to his spirit and as a source of strength
for other activists during the dark days of the Marcos dictatorship.
"Their songs inspired the political detainees and the people outside the
walls. To this day, the people still sing their songs," Sison writes in
a statement.
During the two
tributes held for Ochie, even veteran and middle-aged activists were
surprised to discover that Ochie was the lyricist behind these songs
that defined the periods of activism they themselves went through.
Sterling
academic and migrant organizer
Upon his exit from
prison in 1975, Ochie was compelled to pursue his academic inclinations
abroad due to implicit discrimination against political detainees.
Migrating to the
United States after his release, Ochie became involved in international
solidarity work for the national democratic movement and organizing work
among Filipino migrants while taking up higher studies in his field.
Ochie's curriculum
vitae during this period stretched to more than a dozen pages, attesting
to his sterling academic record and numerous pursuits as a scientist. He
earned a Master of Science degree in Soil Chemistry and a Doctoral
degree in Physical Chemistry and Geochemistry from the University of
Minnesota. Later on, he also finished Post Doctoral studies on the
Synthesis of Organometallic Catalysts from the University of Sydney,
Australia.
As an environmental
chemist, Ochie specialized in Toxic and Hazardous Waste Management
Monitoring and Treatment in Water/Terrestrial Systems, Pollution Control
Technologies, and Environmental Management Systems.
An academic
powerhouse through and through, Ochie became involved in international
associations related to environmental work. He served as a consultant in
Hiroshima to its Zero Waste projects, and Removal of Oil Pollutants in
Seawater and Alternative Water Treatment Technologies. He also became a
member of professional societies such as the International Association
on Water Quality, the International Humic Substances Society, the Japan
Society on Water Environment, the National Research Council of the
Philippines and the Chemical Society of the Philippines.
In 1993, Ochie left
his teaching job in UPLB to continue his academic pursuits in Japan,
staying there for around five years.
Ever resourceful
and loyal to his alma mater, he got research grants for UPLB's scholars
while serving as a University professor in Japan. He also witnessed the
hardships of fellow Filipino OFWs who had to contend with jobs that were
dirty, dangerous, and were underpaid in comparison, and served as
Executive Director for a Filipino migrant support center there.
"If you can show me
a Filipino who went to Japan to teach Toyota how to make cars—I would
say that would be quite impressive. Well, Ochie did something
analogously similar: He conducted classes in water, wastewater, and air
quality and monitoring to graduate students of Hiroshima University and
Kinki University in Japan...In short, Ochie really did his county proud
by being recognized as the expert in Japan on matters that Japan does
best—like pollution control after Minamata," contemporary and fellow
Rapu-Rapu Commissioner Charles Avila said in his eulogy to Ochie.
Environmental
activist and people's scientist
Ochie returned to
the Philippines in the mid-1990s, giving back to the country the
scientific expertise he acquired abroad. He served as a Board Member of
the Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines (CEC-Phils) and was
instrumental in defining what specific issues the NGO should address.
Ochie also served
as a consultant for various government and non-government organizations,
formulating new projects such as programs for fortified rice and other
foodstuffs. In between breaks in his consultancy work, Ochie continued
to give educational discussions and lectures on pressing environmental
issues.
His contribution to
environmental activism is such that and Kalikasan-Peoples Network for
the Environment National Coordinator Clemente Bautista acknowledges
Ochie as one of the people who defined their basic principles as
environmental activists.
Activist scientists
from AGHAM also credit to Ochie the vision of defining the “five
concerns that a scientist could work on in order to make science and
technology serve the people”: the environment, public utilities, food
security and self-sufficiency, scientific and mass culture and national
industrialization.
Ochie figured in
several big environmental tragedies to befall the Philippines in recent
history. Colleagues from Kalikasan-PNE, for instance, attest that he was
one of the brains behind the national campaigns against the U.S.
military toxic wastes left by U.S. troops in Subic and Clark. To
scientifically show the culpability of vacating foreign troops, Ochie
initiated landmark toxicity pathway researches that would link the
rising incidence of cancers among the local community to the toxic
contaminants left by the U.S. military, such as fuels and armaments.
In the wake of the
Marinduque mine spill tragedy, Ochie initiated field visits and
community education seminars among the people living in the mine's
direct impact areas. At a time when the local community was reeling from
demoralization and hopelessness in the face of flagging government
support, Ochie and other peoples organizations strove to revive the
struggle for environmental justice in the island, CEC-Phils Executive
Director Frances Quimpo said.
A hero to the
end
Ochie's last stint
as an environmental expert was as former Commissioner to the Rapu-Rapu
Fact Finding Commission (RRFC) chaired by Bishop Arturo Bastes. As part
of the commission tasked to investigate the two chemical spills incurred
by Lafayette Mining Limited in Rapu-Rapu island, Albay, Ochie quickly
took the company to task for irresponsible mining practices, easily
exposing the Lafayette project as an environmentally-destructive one
that should be terminated immediately.
"He was a natural
cross-examiner," fellow Commissioner Atty. Ron Gutierrez says of Ochie.
"He really put Lafayette to task and was quick to come up with
counter-rebuttals to Lafayette's lies," he added.
By that time,
Ochie’s health was already turning for the worse. Halfway through Day
One of the RRFM's visit to the Lafayette project site, Ochie had to be
brought to the clinic because of difficulty in breathing.
But Ochie continued
to contribute his services whenever he could. "[All through March to the
present], Ochie worked so hard even as his health gave him so much
suffering. He would not cease giving of himself for the people's cause
that so very badly needed his talent, his dedication, all to a degree
that can only be called plain heroic," Avila recalls.
The months that
followed after the RRFM released its findings and recommendations were
hardly encouraging. The Arroyo government and the DENR ignored the
RRFM’s report and recommendations, even granting Lafayette two more test
runs.
"Whatever the final
decision of the DENR, it is already part of our national historical
records and let it be so, that together with his colleagues, Ochie
warned the nation and the world about the shortcomings of Lafayette's
strategy to prevent and control Acid Mine Drainage (AMD)," Avila said.
"AMD, as everyone
by now knows, has been called mining's multi-billion-dollar
environmental time bomb that can harm the environment and the people's
health for generations to come. Mining areas where AMD has caught on
become the equivalent of nuclear waste dumps in the sense that they must
be tended to in perpetuity and at such great expense. Thinking of all
this could not put Ochie at rest. He was not a scientist in the
abstract. He was a scientist of and for the people," Avila continued.
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