I have always enjoyed singing ever since I was a little boy, even if I would run from my piano teacher who would flick my fingers whenever I made mistakes. Serving as an altar boy when I was still in grade school, I would regularly join my older cousins in the church choir. Singing gratifies me. And I am always aware that songs are a pleasant and effective method of spreading revolutionary thought because they arouse feeling, and touch one’s soul.

That’s the reason why I decided to record some songs, a capella, in the Netherlands. They were recorded on the computer, transferred to a CD and sent to the Philippines for arrangement and musical accompaniment. Creative friends also used "improvised equipment" in the recording, thus making the production of this album "homemade", so to speak.

My sincerent thanks to Kodao and to all of those who helped in producing this album: backup singers, arrangers, and musicians who are working as cultural workers, organizers, teachers, call center operators, writers, and mass leaders. They are also into singing and playing music despite their hectic schedules. They are just like me who find time to enjoy music as a medium of creative energy and as a break from everyday work.

Jose Maria Sison was already "subversive"when I first met him in 1966 at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, at the height of the US war of aggression in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. He had then established the Student Cultural Association of the University of the Philippines (SCAUP) in 1959 and was actively chairing the Kabataang Magabayan (KM, Patriotic Youth), which he helped found on November 30, 1964, the 101st birthday of Andres Bonifacio. Joma was already acknowledged as a leader of the Second Propaganda Movement and a leading advocate of the legacy of the 1896 Revolution led by the Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK).

He was also an avid proponent, especially within the ranks of youth and professionals, of rectification movement and raising the banner of the revolutionary struggle of the workers, peasants and the poor in the Philippines. For us, members of SCAUP and KM at the UP, Joma was a principal guide in our ideological, political and organizational work in 1967, 1969 and 1969. He led discussion groups, edited manifestoes, gave advice on organizing work, and served as our link with workers’unions and peasant organizations.

But Joma has now become a "terrorist", together with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA), according to the governments of US imperialism, the Netherlands, European Union, and the Philippines.

Is it because Joma has not given up but has continued to steadfastly fight and struggle for national democracy and freedom and socialism? Is it because he has not wavered in speaking, writing and practising what he has been advocating since 1959? Or is it because of his unshakeable 45 years of serving the people and humanity? A brilliant friend and defender of the exploited and oppressed majority and a great singer of the people – that’s Comrade Joma!

Also available with the CD is the VCD documentary of DEFEND!