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BRIEF MESSAGES & LETTERS, 2001 - Present |
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TRIBUTE TO COMRADE WILSON BALDONAZA SECRETARY GENERAL OF KILUSANG MAYO UNO By Jose Maria Sison Chairperson International League of Peoples' Struggle July 3, 2009 As Chairperson of the International Coordinating Committee, I wish to express the deep sorrow and grief of the member-organizations of the International League of Peoples' Struggles in various countries and continents over the passing away of the oustanding Filipino patriot, labor leader and internationalist Comrade Wilson Baldonaza, Secretary General of Kilusang Mayo Uno. We convey wholehearted condolences to his beloved wife, Ka Lily, and all his relatives and to all his comrades and friends in the working class movement and in the struggle of the Filipino people for national liberation and democracy against foreign monopoly capitalism, domestic feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. Ka Wilson began the patriotic and progressive course of his life by joining a militant youth organization in the period when the Marcos regime was suppressing the mass movement and was preparing to impose a fascist dictatorship on the people. He persevered in the youth movement even as he subsequently worked as a security guard at the Manila Domestic Airport and then as a quality control employee at the Mabuhay Textile Mills. Even under conditions of fascist repression, he was a conscientious and effective labor organizer and trainor. In 1985 he became vice-president and then president of the workers union at Mabuhay Textile Mills. He led successful strikes for workers’ rights. He eventually became the secretary-general of the Valenzuela chapter of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) from 1987 to 1990. He served as an educator and a project evaluator at the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (EILER). Then he decided to go back to full-time work in organizing workers’ unions under the Alliance of Nationalist and Genuine Labor Organizations (ANGLO), a KMU federation, and was elected as its president in 2002. In recognition of his high competence and long service to the working class, he was elected Secretary General of KMU at its 9th Congress in 2007. Ka Wilson was firmly dedicated to the revolutionary cause of the proletariat and people for national and social liberation. In this regard, he always strived to do his best in arousing, organizing and mobilizing the toiling masses and the rest of the people. He aspired for the realization of the national democratic and socialist stages of the Philippine revolution. Ka Wilson was a proletarian internationalist. He propagated the teachings and achievements of the international working class movement. He cherished every occasion to stand in unity with workers of other countries during the annual International Solidarity Affair and during his travels abroad. He had no greater ambition than to contribute all he could to the advancement of the historic mission of the working class to build socialism and ultimately do away with class exploitation and oppression. Ka Wilson was in militant solidarity with the broad anti-imperialist and democratic struggle of the people of the world. He did substantial work for the International League of Peoples' Struggle. He was the coordinator of Commission No.5, which is concerned with the promotion of trade union and other democratic rights of the working class, the improvement of wage and living conditions against all forms of intensifying exploitation of labor and the destruction of working class organizations in their pursuit of the historic mission of fighting for social liberation. We are sad that Ka Wilson has left us at the age of 57. But we celebrate the fact that he has lived an exemplary life of revolutionary commitment and arduous work. We are inspired by and learn from what he has accomplished. Ka Wilson has left to us a legacy that enriches our lives and future generations. This strengthens us in our struggle for greater freedom, democracy, social justice, development and peace. Ka Wilson lives on in our hearts and minds and in our relentless struggle for national and social liberation.###
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