A tribute to the NAMFREL volunteer

In the past week, the EDSA People Power Revolt of 1986 has occupied the front pages and programs of media. First person accounts of the principal players and of ordinary people have provided pieces of the mosaic of that historic event, most of them accurate to the truth of their individual roles, others clearly an attempt at revisionism to suit their personal purposes.

Indeed there were many genuine heroes at EDSA. But the picture would not be complete without the story of the NAMFREL volunteer. There were 250,000 of them in 1984 and 500,000 in 1986, each one a hero in his or her own right, driven by the dream of peaceful change that many said was hopeless. Embattled and belittled, the NAMFREL volunteer was the triumph of the ordinary citizen long before EDSA was a reality.

These volunteers were never really thanked except with a small certificate of appreciation that was the same for everyone, whether a national chairman or a pollwatcher. For it was the essence of NAMFREL that every contribution was as valuable as another. However, up to today, in many households all over the country that simple certificate has a special place of honor.

In a book entitled “Bantay ng Bayan – Stories of the NAMFREL CRUSADE from 1984-1986” Baa Byington wrote – “All NAMFREL is people and you’d have to talk to half a million of them to get it down. I have never enjoyed doing anything as much as I enjoyed researching this book, as I went over the interview transcripts, I found myself laughing and remembering the people I was lucky enough to meet and their perils and triumphs. They were ordinary folk in ordinary life, who transcended themselves to uplift a nation. Theirs is a story that goes beyond national bounderies, a story for all humanity. Maybe only a foreigner, an American even, could write it.”

Kaa died in the United States a few years ago, still in love with the Philippines. But for those interested in that part of our history, her stories about the experiences of individuals at the frontlines is a rich source of facts and inspiration, specially of the nine volunteers who “died in the night” protecting the ballot.

Since this may be the only time their names will see print in the accounts of EDSA, I will name them – Jaime Alcala, Cresensio Barcuma, Hamlet Canales, Fructuoso Javines, Ireneo Magbanua, Samuel Moulic, Alexis Parao, Rodrigo Ponce, Dan Sarmiento. Most of them were gunned down in remote rural areas, which attest to the reach and depth of the volunteerism that was the lifeblood of the movement. They, and the 500,000 other volunteers they represent, deserve a lot of the credit in the restoration of our democracy and the role people power played in that restoration. They undertook a task they did not have to assume. They had no other agenda but the country. These volunteers know who they are. And they are content in their anonymity. But this is a good time as any to salute them and to tell them “Thank you”.