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Emanuel Lacaba.
Poet. Warrior. Martyr.
By Lisa Cariño Ito
Originally published in the Philippine Collegian, August 31, 2001
Also publisished in Never Again.Net
A
poet must also learn
how to lead an attack.
-
Ho Chi Minh
IMAGES OF the
mythical Icarus flare up in Emanuel Lacaba's poetry. In Greek mythology,
Icarus, son of the master craftsman Daedelus, was the mortal who
dared risk flight, and in doing so, fell to his own death. The images:
scintilla, the burst of light . Icarus "attacking the sun"
with "frail feathers" and "waxen wings," the
struggle in the air. The plunge into the terrifying endlessness
of the abyss below.
In a metaphorical
sense, Eman was an Icarus - aspiring for upward flight, not content
at crouching beneath the shadow of life. Eman's life was one constant
pursuit of "something higher," whether through his studies
or his involvement in the peasant movement. It was this inquisitiveness
and zeal for life which led him through the "labyrinthine ways"
of his sojourn; the scholar-poet, the student-activist in the late
1960's and finally, the member of the rebel movement in the turbulent
years of Martial Law. And, yes, as Icarus fell to his death , so
did Eman. In his decision to defend his convictions and beliefs,
he led himself to the consummation of his ultimate craft: Life.
The 'Brown
Rimbaud'
Emmanuel Agapito Flores Lacaba was born on December 10, 1948
in Cagayan de Oro, the third child in the humble Lacaba brood of
six. Later on, Eman's father, Jose, moved his family to his wife's
hometown in Pateros. It was there where Eman, or Maneng, as his
family called him, spent an idyllic, simple childhood.
Eman proved
to be a well-rounded, inquisitive person, excelling not only in
academics, but in other fields as well. As a high school student,
he became the Editor-In-Chief of the Crusader , the school organ,
President of the High School Council, cadet captain and a leader
in the Chiro Youth Organization, a socio-religious group. By the
time Eman delivered his valedictory address at Pasig Catholic College
in 1965, he qualified for an American Field Service (AFS) scholarship
to the United States.
Eman then enrolled
as a Humanities major at the Ateneo after returning home from a
year of study at Long Beach, California . There, he spent his student
days by "reading, writing and researching." Schoolmates
gave him the monicker "the brown Rimbaud." Like the writer,
Eman continuously labored at his writing, churning out a prodigous
output of works at an early age.
His brother,
Pete, writes in the foreword of Salvaged Poems , "In college
and in writing circles, Eman became 'Pete's brother'". This
was in the beginning and," I noticed how uncomfortable he was
in this role; he wanted to establish his own identity, but in a
few years, in some circles, it was I who came to be known as Eman's
brother."
Sprouting
Wings
While still in his teens, Eman wrote that he "wanted to
be involved in mankind." At the University, this ferment soon
revealed an inner turmoil, a questioning over a life "reflected
instead of lived".
However, it
soon dawned on to him that what mattered was "the search for
reality... the transformation of reality... looking at the world
with fresh eyes." Perhaps, this became the underlying reason
for his frequent treks to Mt. Banahaw and the diverse religious
sects that dwelled there.
Maybe it had
something to do with Eman's search for reality. Or maybe, muses
brother Pete Lacaba, Eman's activism had part of its roots in their
family: their father was a guerilla in a USAFFE unit in Mindanao
during the Japanese Occupation.
Eman's desire
to be "involved in mankind" soon found stable ground in
the shaky political milieu of the late 1960's when he became a student
activist. He joined a group responsible for the drafting of a manifesto
called "Down from the Hill." This document called Ateneans
to "get down" from the "hills" of their elitist
views and to take part in the socio-political movement.
His activism
deepened after the infamous Lapiang Malaya (Independent Party) massacre
of May 21, 1967. Thirty-two members of this millenariarist movement
were killed by government soldiers on that tragic day, as a mob
of about 500 members crossed Taft Avenue towards Malacanang.
Coupled with
his brief sojourns to Banahaw, the incident left Eman roused, and
he incorporated this into Punch and Judas , a novella-length short
story. This work won two literary awards: first prize in the Free
Press short story competition (1969) and second place in the Carlos
Palanca Memorial Awards (1969-70).
As for the heady
counter-culture days of 1967, Eman chanced upon another type of
"truth of reality." It was then that he met Eulalia de
Vera, a UP graduate, at the Cafe Los Indios Bravos. Kindred souls,
they eventually married in 1969, and had two daughters: Miriam Manavi
Mithi Mezcaline Mendiola, who was born on the first anniversary
of the "battle of Mendiola Bridge" and Emanwelga, born
two months after Martial Law.
Flight and
Pursuit
It was at this turbulent period of the Marcos Regime that Eman
graduated from his involvement as a student activist into total
immersion in the labor movement. Shortly after joining the National
Democratic Front, Eman participated in his first major left-wing
cause by joining a support group for the strikers of a Pasig factory.
There, he faced
threats and truncheons from the nearby police force. Along with
his companions, Eman was briefly incarcerated in the Pasig town
jail but was later released with the assistance of human rights
lawyer Rene Saguisag.
This may have
been the reason for the non-renewal of his contract at the University
of the Philippines, where he taught Rizal's Life and Works.
Eman reached
a point where the involvement in the rebel movement symbolized the
convergence point of two things he held dear: his 'introverted'
art and his social responsibilities." Kapag may pinaniniwalaang
siyang bagay," remembers Pete Lacaba" pinaninindigan niya
ito." For, as Eman perceived, reality was not only meant to
be understood, but to be transformed as well. Perhaps, was captured
in the echo of Rimbaud's words: Life was meant to be changed.
And Eman stuck
to his guns. In the latter year of 1974, Eman bid his brother Pete,
who was then a political prisoner at Camp Crame, farewell. He was
going, as a rebel, to Mindanao.
It was there
in with his guerilla comrades in the hills, that Eman's transformation
to poet-warrior took place," How much has changed the wild
but shy poet/Forever writing poem after last poem;/You hear he's
dark as earth, barefoot/A turban round his head, a bolo at his side/His
ballpen blown up to a long-barreled gun:/Deeper still the struggling
change inside. (Open Letters to Filipino Artists, November 1975)
As part of a
three-member semi-legal expansion team in General Santos City, Eman
specialized in propaganda. He took up several jobs in the city,
as a janitor in a karate club and a conductor of a minibus.
Despite the
circumstances, he continued to write. Whenever he lacked paper,
Eman used the backs of cigarette foil. Gradually, his works began
to take form as subversive literature. His story, "Sa Bawat
Gubat", which was written shortly after the onset of martial
law, illustrated the hardship endured by many under the regime's
detention centers, guised in the setting of the Japanese Occupation.
His poetry, which was highly complex and obscure at the start, entered
a new phase. Eman tried to shift his former, high-brow style to
a clearer, simpler one - a style that the masses could relate to.
After learning the Visayan dialect, he soon incorporated revolutionary
lyrics to a couple of folk songs.
Despite the
hard life, the daily danger and peril faced as an NPA guerilla,
Eman seemed to be happy. " I think I belong here," he
wrote to a friend,"I feel no sadness anymore; I can only remember
the world we left behind, whose wiles of momentary farce and luxurious
living we have to continue to struggle against."
The Fall
of Icarus
Three
years before his death, in 1973, Eman set about gathering his 1969-70
poems into a collection: Salvaged Poems . The collection, as Nick
Joaquin put it, was "curiously prophetic," salvaged poems
by a soon-to-be-salvaged poet.
For Eman, dusk
came at dawn, in the far-flung barrio of Tuccan Balaag, Davao del
Norte. Eman, along with three other companions, spent the night
at a peasant's hut, leaving their wet clothes and shoes outside
to dry.
Nearby, an armed
patrol of the Philippine Constabulary (PC) men and Civilian Home
Defense Forces (CHDF) drew nearer. Unknown to Eman's group, Martin,
one of their comrades, had fallen into the patrol's hands.
As they passed
by the hut, Martin recognized the tell-tale clothes and turned traitor.
At once, the patrol opened fire. Eman's group quickly took cover
and tried to retaliate. When the gunfight ceased, their commanding
officer and another comrade lay dead; Eman and Estrieta, a pregnant
18-year old, were wounded. The PC-CHDF team ordered the barrio folk
to carry the two corpses to the neighboring town of Tagum.
Along the way,
the sergeant decided to salvage Eman and Estrieta. The woman was
killed first. The officer then shoved a .45 caliber pistol into
Martin's hands and ordered him to shoot.
Seeing his initial
hesitation, Eman calmly told Martin to finish him off. Two bursts
of gunfire, and the poet-turned- warrior slumped to the ground.
Upon reaching
Tagum, the four bodies were dumped into a mass-grave, where, a few
weeks later, Eman's brother Pete and mother found their Maneng ,
the brown Rimbaud--a martyr.
Eman, perhaps,
was aware of his own mortality, Kung Ako'y Mamamatay a poem written
while in Mindanao, stood testament to his conviction that his own
demise would not be in vain if he, in some way or another, was able
to leave the world better than he found it. He, as Pete offered,
did not limit his craft to personal expression, but extended it's
scope to encompass the social realities of his time as well.
Subalit pareho
lang sa akin kung
Sa kasukulan lang ako malugmok...
Sapat na kung masang minahal ang magbangon:
Magwasak ng ating piitang bulok!
Lumikha ng lipunan ng liwanag, oo!
Liwanag na sa loob kung ako'y mamamatay.
Sources: Lacaba,
Emanuel. Salvaged Poems (Manila: Salinlahi Publishing House, 1986)
Young Martyrs
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