MANILA, Philippines — Amid the sea of Philippine flags at the UniTeam miting de avance in Parañaque on Saturday, a white flag that had what looked like an upside-down heart stood out: The Kabataang Barangay had joined the last campaign event for Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose father had created the youth organization.
Kabataang Barangay was created by the dictator's Presidential Decree No. 684 in 1975 and included all youth between 15 and 18 years old as members. Scholars have noted that KB was meant to be a "counter-force" to the militant Kabataang Makabayan and other activist groups.
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Archival footage from 1977 shows youths at an event standing at attention in neat rows, holding up banners with the KB logo and repeatedly shouting "Makialam", the group's motto and an exhortation to "get involved." In what could simply be a coincidence of language, it can also mean "to interfere."
Sen. Imee Marcos — Ferdinand Jr.'s sister — was named its national chairperson, an appointment that raised eyebrows because she was too old to qualify for inclusion in KB.
In 2022, Christian Barcenas and Richard Reyes — both past their 50s — proudly waved their flags bearing the KB logo based on the baybayin characters for "K" and "B".
"KB is now the Saungguniang Kabataan," Barcenas told Philstar.com in Filipino at the Parañaque miting de avance. "Since we were created in 1975, we have been [Marcos] loyalists."
Barcenas claimed that KB has organized itself into a party-list, although no entry for Kabataang Barangay appears on the Comelec's official list of party-lists vying for seats at the House of Representatives.
Asked about the party-lists objectives, Reyes and Barcenas said that is up to their leadership in Quezon City. Reyes said they would have wanted KB to focus on education, Metro Manila sports fests for the youth and an anti-drugs campaign.
“Ang Kabataang Barangay may school-based yan dapat ibalik satin. Di yung tinuturo satin puro Kaliwa… 'wag natin ganito… paninira pa rin. Dapat paano natin ipagpatuloy, papano natin ipa-unlad, hindi yung paninira. Pagpapa-unlad pa rin,” he said.
(Kabataang Barangay had school-based [chapters], we should revive them. Not all of these Leftist things we are being taught... and not divisiveness. We should talka bout how we can continue, how to make progress and not tear each other down. Progress.)
The narrative that schools and universities — particularly the University of the Philippines — teach students and the youth to become activists and communists and to go against the government is a persistent one and has survived under the Duterte administration. The narrative has been expanded to include the Church and corporate media.
Reyes is hopeful for the revival of the KB — a related group, the Duterte Youth, has been organized as a party-list and has one seat at the House. "Ang national federation naming sa Kabataang Barangay yun pa rin. Wala pa silang masyadong kongkreto pero ibinababa samin, ipagpatuloy ang kilusan. Buhayin, ibalik," the KB stalwart, now nearing his senior years, said.
(The national federation of the Kabataang Barangay is still the same. They have not told us concrete plans, but they have told us that we will revive the movement. Revive, restore.)
He said the KB will "continue what President Marcos started, under the leadership of Senator Imee."
A case remembered in history
KB was created by a presidential decree that has since been repealed by Republic Act 7610, or the Local Government Code. In its place, the government has put up the Sangguniang Kabataan
Referring to barangay youth, Marcos said in 1975 that: “[I]t would only be by giving them a definite role and affording them ample opportunity to express their views that a complete cross-section of the will of the populace could be accurately determined thereby providing a more democratic and popular basis for legislation and/or other governmental operations.”
But Kabataang Barangay is also known for the case of Archimedes Trajano.
Trajano, a 21-year-old Mapua student in 1977, spoke up at a forum to question Imee’s leadership. Frank Senauth detailed in his book "The Making of the Philippines" how Trajano was forcibly taken by Imee's personal bodyguards from the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, the venue of the forum.
A district court in Honolulu, Hawaii ruled that Trajano was beaten and tortured to death. The same court ruling awarded $4.16 million to the Trajano family and an additional unspecified amount for lawyers' fees.
In 2018, then UP President Danilo Concepcion apologized for his attendance at a reunion of KB as he vowed to join the university community in ensuring that the dark days of the dictatorship will not be forgotten.
A photo of father and son, Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and Jr. was seen on the grounds of the UniTeam miting de avance in Parañaque City on May 7, 2022.
From ‘Bagong Lipunan’ remix to appearance of KB
Marcos’ presidential candidacy did not only see the coming together of powerful political clans to back his tandem with Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.
The UniTeam bit also saw massive disinformation campaigns on social media, with the junior Marcos benefiting the most, according to a study by University of the Philippines-based fact-checkers and scholars. Marcos has denied using troll farms and his campaign spokesperson Vic Rodriguez has said that the candidate has been the victim of what he called "negative campaigning."
Marcos’ gunning for the Malacañang in the family's second attempt since the patriarch’s ouster, also revived nostalgia for a so-called "Golden Age" that the Philippines saw under the elder Marcos.
In the Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur leg of Marcos Jr.'s campaign, people carried framed photos of his father while waiting for the campaign motorcade to pass by. At UniTeam rallies, local band Plethora is a staple guest and their upbeat version of Martial Law anthem “Bagong Lipunan” never fails to make supporters get up from their seats and dance.
And two days before the elections day, the Kabataang Barangay vows they would help to continue what “President Marcos [Sr.] started,” Barcenas said. — with EC Toledo and Jonathan de Santos