Press Release for Sunday, March 1, 2026

Yesterday the Jose Maria Sison Legacy Foundation (JMSLF) wrapped up a month of celebrations for the birthday of Jose Maria “Ka Joma” Sison and the one-year anniversary of the Foundation. The JMSLF held three events this month under the theme “Rejoice, Rectify, Remember: Commemorating the Life and Legacy of Jose Maria Sison:”

• February 8: A film screening of The Guerilla is a Poet and birthday party for Ka Joma’s 87^th birthday
• February 21: A panel discussion on the legacy of the First Quarter Storm (FQS) in the Philippines, featuring Julie de Lima, Siegfred Deduro, Boni Ilagan and Judy Taguiwalo
• February 28: Special-edition poetry-themed museum tour featuring Ka Joma’s poetry and panel discussion on the importance of art and culture to revolutionary struggle

The events brought together community members, old friends, and activists from various local organizations who had supported the Foundation’s work over the past year. The different generations of activists who came together for these events shows the enduring influence of Ka Joma’s guidance.

During the birthday celebration, activists presented Julie de Lima, Ka Joma’s comrade and wife, with a birthday cake for Ka Joma’s 87th birthday, while the poetry tour featured a lively discussion on cultural revolution and the critical role of art and culture to agitate and awaken peoples’ consciousness. With that said, the event which most showcased the continued relevance of Ka Joma’s analysis for current and future generations of activists was the Foundation’s February 21st FQS panel, which coincided with Bantay Katarungan Week in the Hague, a series of events put together by the Duterte Panagutin Network in the Netherlands revolving around the confirmation of charges hearing of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte. As one of the lead-up events to Bantay Katarungan Week, the FQS panel drew parallels between the situation of the Philippines under Marcos, Sr. during the 1970s and the present under Marcos, Jr.

M. Ossewaarde, a member of Maya Solidarity, a local Philippine solidarity organization, remarked that it was enriching that the event complemented the educational activities they had been to in the past, because “hearing from the experiences of these activists was so practical.”

Ka Julie kicked off the program with a keynote speech giving an overview of the FQS and the hard work that had built it up: “The FQS did not just happen. It was the result of a long process of arousing, organizing and mobilizing masses of people that started in the late 1950s,” she reminded the audience.

Each panelist shared their own personal stories of their introduction to activism and the lessons they learned through participating in FQS and their experiences as activists.

Siegfred Deduro, a member of Filipino Refugees in Europe (FREE) who during the FQS was an activist with Kabataang Makabayan (KM), a patriotic youth organization, recalls that being part of the FQS was “a life changing moment for me, from striving to be a good student to getting a scholarship, landing a good job and improving the life of my family, I decided to serve the people as my main mission in life, and I became an activist. First, I became a member of the cultural association SCAUP [Student Cultural Association of the University of the Philippines] and Panday Sining and eventually Kabataang Makabayan. The continued studies and my actual participation in the practical movement deepened my commitment until I later on became a full-time activist, and I never turned back.”

In addition to anecdotes on the first demonstration or activity they attended that exposed them to activism, and how they navigated their parents’ opinions on them becoming activists, the panelists also recalled how influential Jose Maria Sison’s writings were to their political development.

Judy Taguiwalo, an FQS activist who during the Marcos, Sr. dictatorship joined the Makabayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan (MAKIBAKA), a militant women’s organization, and who was imprisoned twice during that period, remembered the impact that Ka Joma’s articles like “Student Power” had on her understanding of how students needed to integrate with the workers and peasants in order to make revolutionary and lasting changes, and how that encouraged her to participate in the “Learning from the People” drive, which shattered her petty bourgeois notions of why the peasants were impoverished. She described how she and her fellow classmates would cut out the articles of “The Philippine Crisis” (what would later be compiled in Philippine Society and Revolution [PSR]) and paste them in their notebooks so they could read and share them.

Like Taguiwalo, Boni Ilagan, the current Spokesperson for Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresta (SELDA), who was the Chair of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman chapter of KM from 1970-1971, remembers reading Ka Joma’s articles in Struggle for National Democracy and PSR, and recited an excerpt from a sabayang bigkas (an interpretative choral play) he wrote in 1971 that made special mention of Amado Guerrero (Ka Joma’s nom de guerre).

There were many parallels that the panelists made between the sociopolitical environment of the time of their youth and today’s climate of youthful political upsurge. Just like Palestine activists today barricade their university campuses, asserting the names of martyrs over colonialists and capitalists, the communards of the Diliman Commune in 1971 did the same when they occupied the UP Diliman campus, renaming the Faculty Center the Jose Maria Sison Center.

The in-person audience, comprised mainly of youth from local organizations, came away inspired by the words of wisdom the panelists shared with them, like Ilagan’s encouragements to “serve the people,” because the masses are “the makers of history,” that “to rebel is justified,” and that they must “dare to struggle, dare to win,” reminding them that these are not mere slogans, but “comprise your way of life.”

“The panelists really helped to demystify the process of activism. That to be an activist is not something that only the few special or extraordinary individuals can do, but that anyone can do their part,” exclaimed P. Evers from Maya Solidarity following the event.

Similarly, Fig, a local cultural worker and organizer in Balik/bayan, an organization for Filipino diaspora in the Netherlands, ended the February 28^th by reminding attendees that anyone can participate in cultural production and become a cultural worker.

The JMS Legacy Foundation thanks all the panelists, volunteers, and attendees who attended the month of celebration. To keep informed of the Foundation’s upcoming activities, book a museum tour, or inquire about the Foundation, please contact the Foundation at jms.foundation@proton.me.