After 45 years, UP honors former student activists

L-R: Bayan chairperson Dr. Carol Araullo, NDF consultant Jaime Soledad (covered), Rafael Baylosis, Rey Casambre of the Philippine Peace Center, consultants and couple Benito and Wilma Tiamzon (Photo by Gino Estella/Bulatlat) — L-R: Bayan chairperson Dr. Carol Araullo, NDF consultant Jaime Soledad (partly covered), Rafael Baylosis, Rey Casambre of the Philippine Peace Center, consultants and spouses Benito and Wilma Tiamzon (Photo by Gino Estella/Bulatlat)

Former student activists were awarded with the sablay, symbolizing UP’s recognition of them as honorary alumni.

MANILA — The University of the Philippines (UP) community on September 15 witnessed the homecoming of students-turned-activists who have left the university 45 years ago.

NDFP consultants Wilma and Benito Tiamzon walk along the sunflower path towards the Diliman Commune marker, commemorating the historic mobilization they were involved in during the Marcos regime. The former political detainees are preparing for the next round of the peace negotiations between the GPH and NDFP. (Photo by Gino Estella/Bulatlat)

National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultants Benito Tiamzon, Wilma Austria-Tiamzon and Jaime Soledad were recognized as “honorary alumni” by UP Diliman Chancellor Michael Tan. The three peace consultants were recently freed from political detention to join the resumption of the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the NDFP.

Benito and Wilma Tiamzon entered UP in 1969 as state scholars. They left the university in 1971 to be full-time organizers of workers.

Soledad, meanwhile, was also a state scholar taking up geodetic engineering in UP when the Diliman Commune happened. He joined the barricades against the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos despite being a cadet officer of the military training corps in the university. He soon dropped out from UP and went to Leyte.

They were joined by UP alumni Randy Felix Malayao, Philippine Peace Center executive director Rey Casambre, and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) chairperson Dr. Carol Pagaduan-Araullo.

L-R: Dr. Carol Araullo of Bayan. NDFP peace consultant Jaime Soledad, UP Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs Nestor Castro and Chancellor Michael Tan, Wilma and Benito Tiamzon, Rafael Baylosis, Randy Malayao, join in the march towards the Diliman Commune marker (Photo by Gino Estella/Bulatlat) — L-R: Dr. Carol Araullo of Bayan, NDFP peace consultant Jaime Soledad, UP Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs Nestor Castro, Diliman Chancellor Michael Tan, Wilma and Benito Tiamzon, Rafael Baylosis, and Randy Malayao, lead the march towards the Diliman Commune marker (Photo by Gino Estella/Bulatlat)

The former student activists visited the marker for the historic Diliman Commune, the weeklong display of solidarity and protest in 1971 by UP students, faculty and residents who formed barricades and stood their ground against the Marcos regime before martial law was declared.

L-R: NDFP peace consultants Wilma Austria-Tiamzon, Benito Tiamzon, Randy Malayao, and Jaime Soledad in front of the Diliman Commune marker along University Avenue (Photo by Gino Estella/Bulatlat)

The seven, along with supporters from different organizations and alliances, marched around campus, then headed to a forum which discussed updates about recent developments in the peace negotations. The Tiamzons, who were formerly detained at Camp Crame, were the keynote speakers of the forum.

The stories of the students-turned-consultants were similar; leaving life as a student and becoming full-time community organizers in the countryside.

Text and photos by GINO ESTELLA