On November 30, four National Artists join forces in a concert to
remember the work and words of the extraordinary Amado V. Hernandez.

The Blood of a Poet
By Eric S. Caruncho
(Published in  Sunday Inquirer  Magazine, 18 November 2007)
MANILA, Philippines - “Poets, too, must know how to fight.” Uncle Ho
Chi Minh might have had Amado V. Hernandez in mind when he penned that
line. While Ho was rallying his countrymen to drive the French out of
their homeland, Hernandez—a poet who knew how to fight—was languishing
in the New Bilibid Prison on a subversion charge. This, however, did
not stop him from composing his greatest masterpieces.The grateful
Vietnamese named their capital after Ho, but how many Filipinos
remember Ka Amado, our first National Artist for Literature? How many
are still stirred on first reading “Panata sa Kalayaan” or “Isang
Dipang Langit”? Or have their conscience awakened upon reading “Mga
Ibong Mandaragit”?

All too few. Yet Hernandez’s work is as relevant today as when he
first wrote them half a century ago: the social injustices that he
railed and fought against are still here, and so are the forces that
put him in jail. The more things change…

On Nov. 30, a much-deserved tribute will be paid to Ka Amado’s legacy
as the Cultural Center of the Philippines, in cooperation with the
Amado V. Hernandez Resource Center, stages “Amado, Minamahal…,” a
concert featuring the poet’s works. No ordinary concert, “Amado,
Minamahal…” brings together the collective talents of National Artists
Bienvenido Lumbera (Literature, 2006), Napoleon V. Abueva (Sculpture,
1976), Ben Cabrera (Painting, 2006), and Salvador Bernal (Theater and
Design, 2003), who collaborated on the script, stage design, posters
and visuals, and costumes, respectively.

The concert will also feature the music of the late National Artist
Lucio San Pedro (Music, 1991), which will be performed by a
hundred-voice choir composed of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra,
the Philippine Madrigal Singers and the Bonifacio Choir, and
accompanied by a pure dance performance by the Ballet Philippines. Set
to be staged at the CCP main theater, “Amado, Minamahal…” will be
directed by Chris Millado.

Says scriptwriter Bien Lumbera: “The script for ‘Amado, Minamahal…’
has been structured according to the three dominant themes of his
poetry, namely, freedom, justice and human rights.” He adds, “The
three themes are the pressing concerns of our society today as the
present administration has allowed the military to exercise
unwarranted power to enforce compliance with its political designs.”
Lumbera believes that Hernandez’s works, though written in the 1950s,
still have a message for contemporary Filipinos.

Explains this National Artist for Literature: “After he was released,
Ka Amado was simply transported from the repressive confines of a
prison cell to the repressive world outside where an anti-subversion
law hang like a sword of Damocles over the heads of writers whose
ideas could be interpreted as bearing traces of socialist or communist
ideologies.” But Hernandez, says Lumbera, continued to think and write
as a free individual. His works have much to say to Filipinos today.
“His ‘Panata sa Kalayaan’ is a message to the post-EDSA and post-9/11
Philippine society under the Arroyo regime, where the Human Security
Act hangs over the heads of men and women who vigilantly struggle for
freedom, justice and human rights.” Hernandez was the epitome of the
engaged artist, a man of action who nevertheless still had the
sensitivity to give voice to the inchoate cries of the suffering
masses. The need for men like him hasn’t diminished, says Lumbera.

Hernandez was born in 1903 in Hagonoy, Bulacan but grew up in Tondo,
Manila. He was only 19 when he joined Aklatang Bayan, a literary group
which included established Tagalog writers such as Lope K. Santos and
Jose Corazon de Jesus. In 1932, he married stage actress Atang de la
Rama, who would also become a National Artist. When the Japanese
invaded the Philippines, Hernandez became a guerrilla. It is believed
that he first encountered the ideas of socialism through the
Hukbalahap movement. After the war, Hernandez became a Manila
councilor and a labor leader, organizing the biggest strike ever in
Manila in 1947, and coming to the attention of the military. In 1951,
during a crackdown on the Huk rebellion then raging in Central Luzon,
Hernandez was arrested and eventually charged with rebellion with
murder, arson and robbery—a complex crime unheard of in Philippine
legal history. The case became a celebrated civil rights issue,
drawing the support of such legal luminaries as Claro M. Recto, Jose
P. Laurel and Claudio Teehankee. Nevertheless, Hernandez wasn’t
released until 1956, and he wasn’t acquitted until 1964 in a landmark
decision that is still invoked to this day.

By that time, Hernandez had already written the works that he would be
remembered for. He died in 1970, but his words live on: “Pilipino
akong sa pambubusabos ay hindi susuko! (I am a Filipino who will
never, ever give in to oppression).”
Tickets available at all Ticketworld outlets. For discounted or group
sales, contact the Amado V. Hernandez Resource Center at (02 )412-
0909 or 0916-7900671, or email avhrc_philippines@yahoo.com

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