Who weeps for Emiliana?

Title

Creator

Cullum, Leo A.

Language

English

Year

1972

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

1971 Jeepney Strike Who Weeps For Emiliana? LAST JANUARY 9 an anniver sary slipped by unnoticed. No cof fins were carried through the streets, no red paint was daubed on walls to recall the event. On this day in 1971 "three unidenti fied men” poured gasoline on a Ma rikina bus on Epifanio de los San tos Ave. and set it on fire. One of the passengers, Emiliana Bejares, 20 years old, was so badly burned that she died three days later in the Jose Reyes Memorial Hospital, a victim of what was far and away the most savage act of brutality perpetrated in the disturbances of that time. A strange silence surrounds the death of this poor inoffensive girl, incinerated by "three unidentified men." We wonder if these men are able to sleep nights. If they are not able to sleep, they must be kept awake by their consciences, for they are not being badgered by newspaper columnists or radio commentators or activist leaders. During the days immediately fol lowing the tragedy, we listened to radio commentators, watched televi sion programs and read the newspa pers. The death was mentioned, of course, but nothing like the mileage was gotten out of it that the atro cious savagery of the event de manded. No Word for Emiliana We wonder why this is. A security guard who threw a pill box was sen tenced to death with what seemed almost indecent speed. We cannot hear enough of the "martyrs of Men diola". But no one weeps for Emi liana. We have heard Mr. Lupino Lazaro explain how his heart not on ly bleeds for jeepney drivers but for all the customers of the oil compa nies. We heard television commen tators like Jose Maria Velez tell how the "police brutally charged on un armed students with truncheons swinging." (Emphasis theirs) We heard Soc Rodrigo plead for the re volutionaries at UP who “are our boys". But no word for Emiliana. She was certainly unarmed. She was not even indulging dangerous Page 10 curiosity on the fringe of activist violence. She was just a victim of a cold blooded act of savagery. She is somebody’s daughter. Somebody's sister. But who weeps for her? Poor Emiliana. Like Thomas Hood’s girl pulled out of the Thames: Take her up tenderly Lift her with care Fashioned so slenderly So young and so fair Alas for the rarity Of Christian charity Oh it was pitiful Near a whole city full Cold inhumanity Burning insanity . . . We have been wondering about the strange silence that surrounds Emi liana. No banners. No coffins. No letters to the press from college pro fessors. No groups of nuns express ing solidarity with her. No univer sity head voicing indignation. No T-shirts carrying the message "Strikers burn girls to death don’t they?" No Chronicle reminding us that it is 400 days since the murder. Just silence. Poor Emiliana. Communist Thought Processes We should like to suggest that a partial explanation of this silence is to be found in Communist mental processes. We are far from suggest ing that all activists are Communists. But it seems to be a fact that they have accepted Communist attitudes and thought processes. After the Mendiola misfortune a priest activist gently opined that the seven victims were a small price to pay. He meant for progress towards some distant Utopia. He was callous to the mis fortunes of men in his concern for humanity. It is this activist thinking which explains in part the pall of si lence which settled upon the burn ing of Emiliana. The Commu nist mind is Utopian not huma nitarian. It is concerned with the human race not with human beings. It aims at a distant earthly paradise for the future human race but is cold to the sufferings of contempo rary man. Marx the ancestdr of all Utopians was absolutely savage with anyone who crossed him in his march toward the promised land. He had no compassion for those who were really down and out — the Lumpen proletariat. His disciples outdid him in callous disregard to human suf fering in the concrete. Lenin had his loyal Kronstadt sailors extermin ated. Stalin liquidated the kulaks. Krushchev brutally crushed Hunga ry. Breshnev smashed the aspira tions of Czechoslovakia. Mao in his agrarian reform executed 1-1/2 mil lion landlords. These were measures necessary for the Utopia of the fu ture ; humanitarian considerations should not stand in the way. That each victim was a man with a fam ily, and loves and ambitions, was not a consideration in the reformer’s de dication to Utopia. These leaders were men with an apocalyptic vision. A strange silence surrounds the death of Emiliana. No letters to the press from college' professors. No T-shirts carrying the message, “Strikers burn girls to death, don't they1 ?" One of them put it callously, Lenin or Stalin, you cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs. The cooks of the Utopian omelet are not the ones to stint on eggs. Men. Other men. Emilianas. “Use Every Trick” Not only are they willing courage ously to accept such sacrifices but they rejoice in them on occasion. If these tragedies promote the cause, far from being reason for lament, they are reason for* rejoicing. Does any serious person think that the activists are genuinely sorry over the death of the students on Merfdiola street? Such incidents are too useful to be real causes of lament. The Communist attitude is wonder fully brought out by what happened years ago in the Bonus March in Washington in 1932. This was orMay-June, 1972 ganized by veterans of World War I demanding a cash bonus. The march was warmly supported by Communists who at that time still cherished hopes of spreading their gospel to the United States. In handling the disturbances, the Wash ington D.C. police killed one marcher Let us hear John T. Pace, an ack nowledged Communist, who later testified concerning the March be fore a Congressional Committee: I led the left-wing or Communist section of the Bonus March. I was ordered by Red superiors to pro voke riots. I was told to use every trick to bring about bloodshed... The Communists did not care how many veterans were killed. I was told that Moscow had orderedriots and bloodshed in the hope that this might set off a revolu tion. My Communist bosses were jumping with joy on July 28 when the Washington police killed one veteran. This is something to remember when you hear activist indignation over police "brutality". They are not against it. Rather they want it. They are glad of it. In fact it May-June, 1972 would be entirely within Communist ethics to produce deaths provided they could be saddled on the estab lishment. As in Washington. Shocking Brutality Provided they could be saddled on the establishment. There is the key to Emiliana’s oblivion. And this is the key to the attitude of those too, who, while not Communist in any sense, are so bitterly anti-adminis tration that they have become insen sitive to every other issue. Not by the wildest stretch of the imagina tion (though it is dangerous to put limits on activist extravagances!) could blame for Emiliana’s death be laid at the door of President Mar cos and the “establishment." If the principle of command responsibility is to be invoked, blame must fall on Lupino Lazaro or the people who were supporting the jeepney strikers and stirring them and their collabo rators to violence. But not on Pres ident Marcos. And so Emiliana is treated with silence because she cannot be blamed on him or on po lice "brutality”. In her case the brutality, the immeasurably more shocking brutality, was in another quarter. Better keep silent about Emiliana. She is embarrassing. Poor Emiliana. If she had only been caught in the maelstrom of Mendio la and been mowed down by alleged police bullets or blown to pieces by activist pill boxes and Molotov cock tails! Then she would have been another Joan of Arc. But none of these things happened to her. She committed the crime of minding her own business. She was guilty of the heinous offense of riding in a bus when the demagogues had decreed that all transportations must cease, to bring the oil companies to terms and the country to the brink of anar chy. So Emiliana remains unwept, un honored and unsung. The champions of humanity do not care how many Emilianas are burned to death. Just an egg for the omelet. A useless one too, since she contributes nothing to the cause. On the contrary let her name be hushed up, she might even reflect discredit on it. Let the “three unidentified men" remain unidentified! —Rev. LEO A. CUL LUM, S.J. Page 11

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