RANDY · 2020-01-21 · vi Tungkol sa Aklat Ang aklat na ito ay isang pag-aalay. Ito ay isang pagpupugay. Isang pagdakila. Nang paslangin si Randy Felix P. Malayao noong Enero 30,

RANDYLarawan ng Huwaran

Isang Antolohiya ng Alaala

Piling koleksiyon ng mga artikulo at sanaysay hinggil sa buhay at pakikibaka ni Randy Felix P. Malayao

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Mula sa PabliserAng mga artikulo, sanaysay, at pahayag na isinama sa kalipunang ito ay

halaw sa mga online news websites at sa mga Facebook posts na libreng naa-akses ng publiko. Walang intensiyon ang pabliser ng aklat na ito na labagin ang anumang intelektuwal na karapatan ng mga awtor sa kanilang sulatin. Hindi rin intensiyon ng pabliser na pagkakitaan ang aklat at gawing komersiyal ang sirkulasyon nito. Humihingi lamang kami ng paumanhin at pag-unawa sapagkat hindi na nagkaroon ng pagkakataong pormal na kumuha ng pahintulot sa mga awtor na isasama ang kanilang mga akda sa koleksiyon. Bilang pagdidiin, walang inaangking intelektuwal na karapatan ang pabliser sa koleksiyon ng mga akda. Nananatili ang gayong karapatan sa mga awtor at sa mga publikasyong kanilang kinabibilangan.

JMP Creative Media

Valencia City, Bukidnon

Unang paglilimbag, Agosto 2019 sa lungsod ng Valencia, lalawigan ng Bukidnon.

Inihanda at disenyo ng JMP Creative Media

Editor: Jay M. Pascual

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Tungkol sa Aklat

Ang aklat na ito ay isang pag-aalay. Ito ay isang pagpupugay. Isang pagdakila.

Nang paslangin si Randy Felix P. Malayao noong Enero 30, 2019 sa Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya habang siya ay mahimbing na natutulog sa loob ng sinasakyang bus, inakala ng kaniyang mga kaaway na habambuhay na siyang mananahimik.

Sila’y nagkamali.

Sa ginawang karahasan laban kay Randy, lalo lamang lumakas ang kaniyang tinig. Lalong tumindi ang kaniyang diwa. At lalong naibudyong ang kaniyang mga adhikain. Daan-daang mga artikulo, sanaysay, tula, pahayag, at personal na testimonya ang walang takot na nailathala na nagpatining sa tunay na kadakilaan ni Randy at sa walang pag-iimbot niyang paglilingkod sa kapwa.

Hustisya ang ating panawagan. At bahagi ang aklat na ito sa nagpapatuloy nating adhikain na kamtin ang hustisya para kay Randy Felix Malayao. Kasabay nito, hinahamon din tayo ni Randy na ipagpatuloy ang kaniyang mga nasimulan. At paano ba ito magagawa?

Pag-alaala. Tuloy-tuloy na pag-alaala. Hindi dapat tayo makalimot na minsan ay mayroong isang Randy Malayao na buong pusong naglingkod para sa kaniyang pamilya, para sa kapatiran, at para sa sambayanang Filipino.

Inilulunsad ang aklat na ito kasabay ng pagdiriwang ng ika-30 taong anibersaryo ng pagkakatatag ng UP Beta Sigma Fraternity sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas Visayas. Nilalayon ng aklat na mapanatiling buhay ang alaala ni Randy para sa susunod pang mga henerasyon ng Beta Sigma. Layon din nitong magsilbing inspirasyon sa mga kabataan na kamtin ang matagal nang inaasam ni Randy: isang Filipinas na malaya sa kahirapan, malaya sa pagsasamantala, at malaya sa pang-aapi; isang Filipinas na sagana, maunlad, may pagkakapantay-pantay, at may paggalang sa karapatan ng mamamayan.

Binubuo ang aklat na ito ng mga piling artikulo at kolum mula sa mga online news websites at mga personal na sanaysay ng mga naging kaibigan, kapatid, at kasama ni Randy. Bagamat hindi definitivo ang pagpili sa mga

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artikulo, sinikap ng editor ng aklat na maisama ang pinakamakabuluhang akda na sumasapol sa buhay, persona, at pakikibaka ni Randy.

Nawa’y magustuhan ng mambabasa ang aklat na ito. Higit sa lahat, nawa’y makapagbigay inspirasyon ito na maipagpatuloy ang nasimulang adhikain ni Randy Felix P. Malayao -- isang mabuting anak ng Kapatirang Beta Sigma, isang huwarang anak ng bayan.

-- Editor

Pambungad

Umaga ng Enero treinta ang isa sa mga pinakamalungkot na umagang nagisnan ko. Katulad ng iba pang umaga sa panahon ng social media, pupungas-pungas pa ako ng araw na iyon nang buksan ko ang aking newsfeed sa Facebook. Subalit tila binuhusan ako ng malamig na tubig nang mabasa ko ang naghihinagpis na headline ng Kodao Productions: “NDFP peace consultant Randy Malayao killed.”

Ako ba’y nananaginip? Bahagi ba ito ng isang masamang bangungot? Ayaw kong maniwala. Sa ilang sandaling pagtitig ko sa headline ay naghahalo ang iba’t-ibang di-mawaring emosyon sa aking isip. “Hindi ito totoo. Baka naman nagkamali lang ang reporter. Hindi maaaring mangyari ito. Si Randy? Na larawan ng sigasig at sigla… hindi ito puwede.” Hindi ko namalayan na pumatak na pala ang aking luha habang binabasa ang ulat. Isang patak na naging dalawa at pagdaka’y dumaluyong na ang pag-iyak. Hindi ko na kinaya pang tapusing basahin ang ulat. Tinakluban na ng gimbal at pighati ang mga matang hinilam ng luha.

Si Randy Felix P. Malayao ay aking kapatid sa UP Beta Sigma Fraternity. Siya rin ay naging kasama ko sa kilusang mag-aaral noong maagang bahagi ng dekada 90 sa UP Visayas. Bagamat maikli lamang ang pagkakataong nagkasama kami sa kampus, ay naging malalim ito… at makabuluhan.

1991 nang unang masalta ako sa kabundukan ng Miag-ao, Iloilo kung saan matatagpuan ang kampus ng UP Visayas. Isa si Randy sa mga una kong nakilala doon. Nagtagpo kami sa bahay ng aking pinsan na noo’y propesora sa Kolehiyo ng Pangisdaan ng UPV. Sa unang pagpapakilala

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pa lamang ay ramdam ko ang mainit at sinserong pagtanggap niya. Mahigpit niya akong kinamayan habang nagsasabing: “Naku! Siguradong magugustuhan mo dito. Masaya dito!” Sabay tawang punong-puno ng sigla. Ganoon naman si Randy talaga; masayahin at laging may pagnanais na ipanatag ang kausap.

Sa mga unang linggo at buwan ko sa Miag-ao ay madalas kaming magkita. Naging tambayan niya rin kasi ang bahay ng aking pinsan na tinutuluyan ko. Sa tuwing magkikita kami ay lagi niya akong kinukumusta. Inaalam niya kung nahihirapan daw ba ako sa lengguwahe, dahil hindi pa ako marunong mag-Hiligaynon noon. Tinatanong niya kung nahihirapan ako sa klase. Masusungit daw ba ang aking mga propesor.

Sa gitna ng kumustahang ganoon ay dama ko ang hangad niyang mapanatag ako. Nagbibigay siya ng ilang payo at mga paalalang kung tawagin natin ngayo’y mga “life hacks.”

Sariwa pa sa pandinig ko ang kaniyang mga imbukadang “Hay Naku.” Gaya nang: “Hay naku, ‘wag ka mag-alala. Mababait ang mga propesor diyan sa AS.” Iisa-isahin niya ang mga bantog na istriktong propesor ko at magbibigay siya ng “tips” kung papaano sila pakitunguhan.

May isang pagkakataon noon na “nasabon” ako nang husto ng aking pinsan dahil hindi ako nakapagpaalam na hindi ako uuwi ng bahay. Siyempre, nag-almusal ako ng sermon pagdating ko ng bahay. Mabuti na lang at naroon si Randy. Matapos akong pagalitan ay nilapitan niya ako. “Hay naku Jay,” wika niya sa kaniyang ‘trademark’ na may lamya at lambing. “Hayaan mo, lilipas din ang galit niyan. Sa susunod kasi magpapasabi ka, para hindi naman nag-aalala ang pinsan mo.” Ganyan si Randy, ipapanatag niya ang kalooban mo subalit hindi ka rin naman kukunsintihin.

Naging mas malalim ang pagsasamahan namin ni Randy nang ako’y naging kasapi ng League of Filipino Students. Tuwang-tuwa siya noon nang malaman niya ito. Noong mga panahong iyon ay punong patnugot siya ng pahayagang Ang Mangingisda. Madalas ko siyang makita noon sa mga pagtitipon ng iba’t-ibang organisasyon sa kampus. Namumukod tangi ang tinig ni Randy sa ganitong mga pagtitipon. Malinaw ang kaniyang mga pagpapaliwanag sa isyu at mga hakbang na maaaring gawin ng mga mag-aaral. Kapag nagsalita siya, pansin kaagad na nakikinig ang lahat. Humanga ako sa respetong ibinibigay sa kaniya ng iba’t-ibang lider estudyante sa kampus.

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Sa isang rally laban sa pagpapanatili ng base militar ng US sa Pilipinas noong 1991 ay nakasama ko si Randy sa bus ng UPV na maghahatid sa amin sa Iloilo City. Punong-puno ang bus ng mga mag-aaral na dadalo sa rally. Magulo ang lahat, maingay. Marahil upang hindi masayang ang oras sa walang kuwentang kantiyawan habang bumibyahe, ay tumayo si Randy sa unahang bahagi ng bus at pinakalma ang lahat. Ipinaliwanag niya ang mga aktibidad na magaganap sa gagawing rally. Itinuro niya ang ilan sa mga chants na gagamitin sa pagkilos. At ang siste, kumanta pa siya gamit ang maliit na megaphone na hawak niya. Hindi ko na maalala kung ano ang kinanta niya, pero mula Miag-ao hanggang Iloilo ay napuno ng sigla ang bus na sinasakyan namin. Ito ang tinatawag kong “Randy Magic.” May kakaibang karisma si Randy sa pakikitungo niya sa mga tao. Kapag siya’y pumagitna, asahan mong magiging maayos ang lahat.

Mas lalong lumalim ang bigkis sa pagitan namin ni Randy nang ako’y maging ganap na kasapi ng Beta Sigma. Sa pagkakataong iyon, hindi lang siya kasama. Siya rin ay aking itinuring na tunay na kapatid. Nakadalo sa isang sesyon ng initiation rites namin si Randy. Laking pasalamat ko noon dahil sa tuwing matatapat na ako sa kaniyang istasyon ay ipinapanatag niya ang loob ko. “Kaya mo ‘yan,” iyan palagi ang sambit niya sa akin. “Wala namang ibibigay sa inyo ang mga brods na hindi ninyo kakayanin.” Ang mga salitang iyon ang nagbigay din ng lakas ng loob sa akin na tapusin na sa wakas ang initiations hanggang final rites.

Naging abala na si Randy noong mga panahong iyon. Mayroon na siyang ibang mga tungkulin sa rehiyunal na pormasyon ng College Editors Guild of the Philippines at pinagsisikapan rin niyang matapos na ang matagal na nabinbing thesis. Subalit nariyan pa rin siya upang dumalo sa ilang mga espesyal na pagtitipon ng Beta Sigma. Noong panahong naging Hepe ako ng tsapter, umuwi siya sa Miag-ao upang ipagdiwang ang anibersaryo ng fraternity. Walang maliit o malaking tungkulin para kay Brod Randy. Isa siya sa mga sumalampak sa sahig upang buuin ang photo-collage na papasinayahan sa gabi ng pagdiriwang. At pinakamahalaga sa lahat, isa siya sa nagluto ng mga ihahanda sa anibersaryo. Masarap ang tinimpla niyang adobong manok. Kaya naman pala’y ang premyadong toyong KiKoman ni Prop. Mimi ang ginamit niyang pambabad sa tinimplang manok.

Gitnang bahagi ng dekada 90 ang huli naming pagkikita ni Brod Randy sa Iloilo. Nasumpungan ko siya sa opisina ng KMU sa Lapaz at bitbit niya ang kaniyang de-katad na briefcase, na kung tawagin ko’y “Ang Maleta ni Randy.” Masaya at may halong lungkot ang pagkikita naming iyon.

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Matapos ang mainit na kumustahan, napag-alaman ko na lilipat na pala siya ng larangang kikilusan. Sabi niya noon: “O, aalis na ako, mag-iingat kayo palagi.” Ganoon naman si Randy, napakamaaalalahanin.

Muli kaming nagkita sa Maynila, bago magsara ang dekada 90. Nabalitaan niya marahil na dumalo ako sa isang kumperensiya sa pambansang tanggapan ng LFS. Sumulpot na lamang siya sa opisina ng LFS at hinila ako upang kumain sa SM Sta. Mesa. “I-treat kita ngayon, Brod.” Iyan ang sabi niya habang hila-hila ako papuntang SM. Di-magkamayaw ang pangungumusta niya sa mga kasama at kapatid sa Iloilo. Batid ko noon na kahit na nasa malayo ay nananatili pa rin sa puso at isip ni Randy ang Miag-ao at Iloilo. Ang dami naming napag-usapan: ikinuwento niya ang mga aktibidad niya at ano ang mga gusto pa niyang gawin. Tulad ng dati, punong-puno ng saya at tawa ang kuwentuhan. At tulad ng dati, hindi pa rin nakalimot si Randy na magpaalala at magbigay ng inspirasyon.

Lumipas ang maraming taon na nawalan kami ng personal na komunikasyon ni Randy. Muli lang nabuhay ang ugnayan namin matapos siyang dukutin ng militar at ikulong sa Isabela. Nagpadala siya ng email sa akin at ikinuwento niya ang buhay sa loob ng kulungan. Sabi niya, “mahirap din brod, pero nakakaya pa naman.” Ganyan si Randy. Ang ultimong larawan ng optimismo. Nakikita niya ang pinakamaliit na positibong liwanag sa gitna ng anumang pagsubok.

Nitong mga nakakaraang taon ay naging madalas ang palitan namin ni Randy ng DM sa Twitter. Ito na lamang ang tanging naging komunikasyon namin sa isa’t-isa. Marami akong tanong na naipadala sa kaniya tungkol sa eleksiyon, peace talks, at iba pang isyu. Gaya ng dati, matiyaga niya akong sinasagot at pinaliliwanagan. Minsan ay humingi siya ng isang dagliang pabor ukol sa pagsulat ng isang artikulo para sa binubuong souvenir program ng Beta Sigma. Pinaunlakan ko naman siya kahit na tambak rin ang aking mga deadlines. Ang sabi ko na lang, “sige itabi ko muna ang deadlines ko.”

Simple lang ang sagot ni Brod Randy sa akin: “labyu.” Limang letra, isang salita, punong-puno ng kalinga.

Jay M. Pascual

UP Beta Sigma Fraternity – UPV Chapter

Batch 92-B, KAMAO

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MGA NILALAMAN

I. By way of Introduction

Seeking Randy

By Gail Ilagan

Randy on my mind

By Gail Ilagan

II. Randy Writes

Bloom where you are planted

By Randy Felix Malayao

Persecuting political dissent


On my inclusion in the DOJ list of terrorists


Terror tag the chef at a panciteria?


III. Remembering Randy

Eulogy for Felix Randy P. Malayao

By Willie Vergara

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Isang kolektibong pag-alala

By Dolores Patria

The undying flame

By Jose Randy DelaCruz

Randy Malayao’s song

By Raymund B Villanueva

KABBI GAPA (Kawawa Naman)

By Raul Ting

When doves cry

By Jerly Menchavez Van Berge Henegouwen

The tale of the flag

By Raymund B Villanueva

A brave son of the north

By Tinay Palabay

To Manong Randy

By the National Union of People’s Lawyers - Baguio Benguet

Mensahe ng pagkilala at parangal

By Riley Joey Ricarte

Requiem for Randy

By Tonyo Cruz

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Murdered activist Randy Malayao yearned for lasting peace

By Raymon Dullana

IV. Tributes

Tribute to Comrade Felix Randy Malayao

By the National Democratic Front of the Philippines

Hustisya Para Kay Randy Felix Malayao!

By BAYAN MUNA Rep. Carlos Isagani T. Zarate

To write, to choose, to live gloriously

By CEGP

Tribute paid to slain NDFP consultant

By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.

Tributes pouring in despite PNP vilification vs Malayao

By Kodao Productions

Slain NDFP peace consultant mourned across political groups

By Inday Espina Varona

V. Final Rites

‘Che Guevarra of the Philippines’:

Beta Sigma vows to keep Randy Malayao’s name alive


By Way of Introduction…

ANTOLOHIYA NG ALAALA • 3

Seeking RandyBy Gail Ilagan

(From the author’s column, WAYWARD AND FANCIFUL, published in MindaNews.Net on May 25, 2008)

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/24 May) — It’s official: Randy Felix P. Malayao, 39, had been arrested for the murder of an ex-military-

man-turned-Governor.

I’m moving back nineteen years ago, imagining myself crossing the hall to the Ang Mangingisda newsroom and announcing that to a lanky kid who had a poet’s eyes. Or maybe I’d find that lanky kid with the eyes of a poet in the LFS office two doors down. That was Randy then.

I would tell him that it really wasn’t an arrest. If it were, Randy should have been taken to jail and allowed to call his lawyer within the hour. Instead, nobody heard from him until the 5th Infantry Division announced four agonizing days later that they would present him to the media.

I could imagine Randy listening to that with wide eyes. And he would have said, “Ay, ano ba ‘yan?”

Randy’s signature “Ay, ano ba ‘yan?!” was so catchy that even Vic Sotto was soon dropping it all over the place.

If you were among the first batch of students of the UP system that was consigned to the Miag-ao Campus the year it was opened, you couldn’t have missed Randy. He was not flamboyant or colorful, but he had a quiet presence. He was always polite, cheerful, and well-spoken. He was a gentleman – perhaps the most difficult thing to be at nineteen.

He was a student leader who was always at the forefront of issues that touched the lives of the UPV constituency and the student sector. No issue was too small for Randy Malayao and his cohorts. Dorm issues, tuition fee increase, US Bases Out Now, Oil Price Rollback, student rights, or Let’s

4 • RANDY: LARAWAN NG HUWARAN

Lampoon the VCA… you name it, they’ll give you the rundown on that one. The position papers they put out – and they never tired of putting them out – were informed, well-argued, and of course, very biased.

Under Randy’s editorship, the official student organ of the College of Fisheries, Ang Mangingisda, regularly put out such well-written issues that told just how vibrant the intellectual life in Mig-ao was and how, despite the campus being in the boondocks in the pre-SMS, pre-wifi era, the UPV studentry was kept abreast of national concerns. In fact, it was like that Vic Sotto and the “Ay, ano ba ‘yan?!” thing. Those guys were soon sitting in the CEGP hierarchy and creating the driving force to push student issues of the day.

It would have been so easy for me to be at odds with Randy. I was the liaison for the Office of Student Personnel Service. The school rules said that postings should bear my office’s stamp before they could be put up. So everyday that God made, I would find a 4-inch stack of position papers for stamping on my desk. Issues that wouldn’t die down had to be provided the venue for expression. Oh, they never ran out of issues. I just about ran myself ragged setting up fora and dialogues, documenting the proceedings, and following through on agreements arrived at between the students and the administrators.

Things got a lot more hectic for me when Chancellor Dodong Nemenzo chose to take up residence in the Miag-ao Campus. He liked talking to the students. In fact, even when the students weren’t agitating for an audience with him, he’d want to get them together anyway to improve their education on, for example, why there was a call to boycott the elections.

The students came to hear Dodong, but they never cozied up to him. Tribal lines divide. By virtue of my employment, I was on the other side, too – a representative of the oppressive administration bent on suppressing the voice of the students and denying them their right to oh, just about everything they should have.

Still, Randy and I were friends who sometimes took a stroll together under the moonlight. We laughed a lot. How Randy laughed. It looked like he were dying.

We talked about issues and I came to respect the depths of his passion. He, I’d like to think, came to respect my endless capacity to understand. We did each other the utmost respect of never trying to force our views


on the other. He was that quiet presence that was there for me as I tried to work out frat tensions, disciplinary sanctions, problematic love affairs, and girls going on a bad trip.

Every morning, the dorm residents got informed of my impending arrival at my office because the loudspeaker they used for rallies would blare out Sheryl Cruz’ Mr. Dreamboy the minute I stepped out of the dining hall and crossed the green to the other building. Five minutes after I would have entered my office, a 4-inch batch of postings would be delivered along with coffee just the way I liked it.

I stamped away all day with nary a whimper and I allowed them their say whenever, wherever. In return, they’d follow me to the slopes to plant as many trees as we could on weekends. This despite the fact that they loudly criticized my idea that planting trees there could help solve the global ecological crisis. I didn’t mind their complaining because they did it while pulling their weight. At the end of the day, Randy’s group would have planted the most number of trees.

They were a very young bunch of idealists, yes. They were also a hardworking bunch of individualists who knew how to channel their talents. While they were at it, they honed their writing and power of argumentation. The organization and division of labor were most effective at getting things done. They ably handled regular critique sessions without expert help, which says how good they were at managing their ranks.

I still see some of them today. We’ve drifted apart somewhat, but I’m glad to be proven right on my observation. Nineteen years ago in boondocks of Miag-ao, those guys were making their destiny.

And planting trees? Well, I heard they’re all coming back to Miag-ao for the centennial celebration and they’re going to mark the reunion by planting trees. Randy had plans to be there.

I last saw Randy days after I gave birth to my firstborn. I never knew then that I would miss seeing him again this much. I wish I could just cross the hall and burst in on him and everything would be alright again. He was a lanky kid with the eyes of a poet. I love him like a brother. #

***


Randy on my mindBy Gail Ilagan

(From the author’s column, WAYWARD AND FANCIFUL, published in MindaNews.Net on January 31, 2019)

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/31 Jan) – Death came like a thief in the night up north.

And don’t we all wish that? – That, when we die, we die in our sleep?

But surely not halfway down the long road, in a place uncharted in our cognitive map. Not in some out of the way stop the overnight bus takes from the chaotic seat of power where bad things we know about happen to somewhere in the far, far fringes where some bad things we rarely come to know about are still happening. Public transport commuters sleep through those. They’re just a geographical point that gets us from where we come to where we are going. No matter how ever so often we pass that way, we retain very little memory of places like this because at 2 a.m. we’d rather be asleep.

We leave our safety to the bus drivers who in turn have been known to rely on shabu to keep alert. As soon as the driver sets the bus in motion, his passengers doze off to slumberland.

Aritao in Nueva Vizcaya. Where is that?

That was Randy’s last unceremonious stop. It was probably not a rude awakening for him. A cold-blooded murderer boarded the bus he was sleeping in and ushered him to the door of unending slumber.

Pasa bilis in the age of digital messaging. I suspect there’s a real-time picture of him sleeping on that bus, most likely relayed by particle accelerator to his killer’s phone. Instant messaging. Oh, they knew where exactly he was seated on that bus, and they got away clean as soon as the dastardly deed was done. The bastards probably filmed it, too.


Hours later and hundreds of miles away in the middle islands, my daughter Sage would light a candle and send the image to us on viber. That circle of light from the candles looked fragile, threatened by the ocean of darkness crowding it in from all around.

There, where my young self had lit many a candle for those among us who unceremoniously fell by evil hands, my daughter lit a light to defy the gathering gloom. Her smallness had abandoned chemistry exam review to be there, just as her dad and I used to abandon study allnighters to light a candle. She probably, as we had, wished the light to guide home a kindred soul unceremoniously taken from the light.

We would never know then exactly how, why and who, though we’d know for certain they took from us.

Down south, I now know sorrow again. This dark, cold, heavy winter of the soul that makes me run to my husband’s arms. Urging me it was time to find shelter, the skies agreed. It too was dreary and downcast; the clouds heavy with impending rain, as heavy as the heart that lost the ability to decide whether to spill or to hold grief in.

At the airport, on the plane, on the bus, the waterworks started leaking unbidden. There ambled among the crowd a lone, shell-shocked public transport commuter silently crying. I wanted to assure curious strangers who glanced at my dejected ghost in puzzled sympathy:

I’ll be okay. Somebody died, is all.

Someone always dies every day.

It’ll happen to you, too.

But, no words would do. No other arms would do.

I feel keenly Sage’s sorrow. She whom we raise to believe we do our part to shape a better world where her generation can speak what’s on their minds; better, because ours was a generation that had a lot to say but was not allowed to speak out, else we’ll end up dead. We survived that dark history and lived to fight for the future we wanted our children to live today.

Sage was barely a child the first time I was desperately seeking Randy. I heard he’d been abducted. Later, I’d find out that what actually happened to him was that he was abducted, blindfolded, and tortured for days. He


was surfaced a few days after my article came out. I was told they then jailed him up north.

We sent him books so he could open a library for his fellow inmates. To read is to learn, he once said. Thirty years ago, he had helped me set up a reading corner in my office for his fellow students. Where ever he was, for him it was “Ang sigaw ng kabataan: Edukasyon, edukasyon!”

Finally meeting him years later, Sage understood why Randy was our soul brother.

Randy Felix Malayao was a true child of UP Visayas. He chose to live his life fighting for that better world for the next generation. We lit candles together, but now Randy is no more.

Obviously, his death tells us we lied to Sage and her generation. People still end up dead for speaking out.

Never again?

Oh, yes, obviously, again.

There’s the greater sorrow.

Randy Writes


Bloom where you are plantedBy Randy Felix Malayao

(This letter was sent by Brod Randy via email to a message group as part of his testimonial message for the benefit concert organized by the UP Beta Sigma Fraternity and allied organizations to raise funds for his legal defense; undated)

It has been more than three years since my abduction on May 15, 2008 at Cainta, Rizal by elements of ISAFP, 5TH ID of the Philippine Army

and the CIDG. For five nights and four days, I was held incommunicado, tortured and deprived of legal counsel. It was only on the 5th day of abduction that I was presented to the media as an alleged leader of the CPP-NPA-NDF in Northeastern Luzon after which I was transferred custody at the BJMP District Jail at Cataggamman, Tuguegarao City on the 20th of May. I have learned later on that I have been implicated in about ten criminal charges, the most serious of which was the assassination of Cong. Rodolfo Aguinaldo. Eventually I was acquitted of three Aguinaldo-related cases in Cagayan. I still have one on-going trial in Isabela, hence my transfer from Tuguegarao City District Jail and current detention at the Ilagan District Jail.

Three years of detention seem eternal yet I have decided to be just philosophical about this. I thought I should strive to “bloom where I am planted.”

How do I cope? How could I adapt to harsh jail conditions? These are the usual questions of concerned family members, friends and fraternity brothers. Would I welcome protective custody under DND Secretary Brod Voltaire Gazmin, a fellow Beta Sigman? I understood fellow brods’ concerns but I politely turned down the proposal on matter of principle - the DND-AFP and the CIDG are my complainants in almost all of these cases, so it is not a palatable idea. Secondly, BJMP has been treating me


quite fairly and well. It is not a perfect detention center but I have learned to adapt to its ways and means.

At BJMP-Tuguegarao City, there was no idle moment as I was immediately named as inmates’ adviser. I could have opted not to bother myself as I am facing too many personal predicaments, legal battle and all. But I have always been a man for others, I simply could not afford to refuse and be a mere fence sitter. I reciprocated their welcoming and almost reverential attitude and willingly obliged. In the entire duration of detention, I shared my time, energies, intellect and whatever resources that I have. Indeed, the devil has been deprived of any possible workshop.

Upon assumption, I held bilateral and multilateral meetings with various cell mayors; and jointly, we studied and assessed our problems as inmates; brainstormed ways and means. We improved the routinary inmates’ activities and initiated new ones and these have since become a yardstick of future activities.

I steered three basketball tournaments in a year and successfully conducted six basketball tournaments in two consecutive years; and hosted several friendship games with guest teams. I led inmates in the cultivation of vegetable gardens on the vacant lot adjacent to the jail. Soon, organized work and robust greens called the attention of neighbors and government agencies. The Department of Agriculture praised it and provided us with seeds, farm implements and technological assistance. We also planted mahogany trees, mangoes and ornamental plants around the jail perimeter. Inside, our pocket ornamental gardens cooled and brightened the laid-back and concrete jail setting.

We introduced and derived joy in kite-flying competitions and our own version of BJMP Got Talent – that produced quite a number of sketch artists, dancers, singers, acrobats, magicians, among other talents.

As religious coordinator, I worked closely with the various Christian churches – the Volunteers in Prisons Service (VIPS) of the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao, the Protestants and the Born-Again Christians. They served as effective counselors and spiritual guides. They also augmented basic provisions as food, medical and hygienic materials.

I engaged the commitment of the Public Attorney’s Office to be more conscientious as public defenders and requested them to frequent inmate


clients as often as possible to have quality legal counseling before and after court hearings.

I was able to collect materials to put up a library where inmates could browse or borrow pocket books, newspapers, pamphlets and magazines. Lack of readings in the vernacular limits the function of this mini-library. I vowed to collect more readings written in Filipino and the vernacular.

Amaryong, the monthly publication of the Tuguegarao City District Jail which I helped edit, was the envy of the justice department’s line agencies and the courts. We were able to publish a two-page newsletter which they praised as outstanding both in form and substance.

I led inmates’ calls to improve food provisions. And we appreciated the wardens that addressed our food concerns. We thank them for every novel menu that would be introduced. We also appreciated the lechon and multiple viands not only on special occasions.

I appealed to officers and jail leaders to observe rules against human rights violations, corporal punishments, harassments and bullying of inmates. Over time, these and other conflicts among inmates were greatly reduced to almost zero. As of late, the designation of Human Rights Desk Officer which is a positive measure against physical abuse and harassments of inmates is most welcome.

I have always been moderate and diplomatic in my dealings with jail administrators and reaped positive results for it. I am very candid and vocal about jail issues and inmates’ concerns without being confrontational. I initiated several one-on-one consultations to discuss problems with the warden especially on tempest issues. Of course, I would not condone unprofessionalism, callousness and insensitivity when I see or felt any. My salute is reserved to those wardens who soar over their counterparts for their bravura, integrity, innovations, inventions and novel ideas on jail management. With such officers, I am at my element. They let out the best in me/us.

In Ilagan District Jail, as of late, I continue to advocate activities that I deem appropriate and feasible based on our concrete conditions. I am now pushing for infrastructure improvement, regular sunning and exercises, among others. I also collaborate with jail officers and other agencies for the full implementation of Alternative Learning System (ALS) and the Therapeutic Community Modality Program.


After three years, I have not been rendered lethargic and useless. I still continue serving inmates as their governor, big brother, gardener, nurse, doctor, teacher, counselor, paralegal officer, secretary, artist, sacristan, janitor, plumber – all in one.

Even under detention, I bloomed.


Persecuting political dissentBy Randy Felix Malayao

(From the author’s column, BANDILLO published in Nordis.Net on December 13, 2015)

I have been named as one of the respondents along with several others in this case of 3 counts of “Kidnapping with Homicide” relative to the

death of three government intelligence officers in Zinundungan Valley Cagayan based on the Joint Affidavit of certain Edmundo Dalingay y Jacinto and Gerardo Dalingay y Dumo. At the onset, I find the charges preposterous, bereft of logic and devoid of any material evidence to merit inclusion.

To understand the filing of charges against me, let me share my advocacies and engagements. After many years as a young organizer at the University of the Philippines – Visayas (Iloilo), I felt it was time to put my learnings in the service of peasants in my home region of Cagayan Valley. I started helping various peasant and community organizations by helping them form mutual cooperation teams, launching reforestation programs, raising productivity through organic farming, health campaigns against malaria, building irrigation systems, among others. I also assisted in arbitrating land disputes; waging mass campaigns for higher wages for farm workers, raise prices (the value) of their farm products, reducing land rent and credit interest rates, pushing for free irrigation services, reducing rent of farm machinery, among others.

In 2003, I was accused as one of the masterminds in the killing of notorious Martial Law human rights violator, former Governor and Colonel Rodolfo Aguinaldo.

On May 15, 2008, I was abducted by members of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines while on my way to a home of a relative in Cainta, Rizal. For four days, I was blindfolded suffered many


forms of torture. Despite severe pain and mortifying fear for the safety of my loved ones, I refused to tell lies my torturers wanted me to say to save myself. Such was the severity of my torture that I was unaware I was driven from Metro Manila to my home province of Isabela where I was surfaced by the 5th ID PA nearly five days after my abduction.

I was surfaced by the Philippine Army in a press conference announcing before mass media that I was one of the alleged top leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines in CV. I was then presented to the Regional Trial Court as I was charged for the death of Aguinaldo and other persons. Subsequently, I was detained at the BJMP District Jail at Cataggamman, Tuguegarao City.

In 2008, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines Negotiating Panel Chair Luis Jalandoni formally announced that I am a consultant to the peace talks with the Government of the Philippines. As such I am protected by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees of 1995 and should be immune from arrest and torture and prosecution.

In mid-2010, I was found innocent of the Aguinaldo murder charge. I was then transferred to the Ilagan District Jail to face the other murder and frustrated murder charges against me. All other charges were also eventually dismissed.

After my release from detention on October 4, 2013 through bail, and hitherto, I have immersed myself with the progressive movement. I have assumed some responsibilities, some on concurrent terms notably Chair Convener of BAYAN Cagayan Valley (CV); Co-Convener, Makabayan CV; Regional Coordinator for Bayan Muna Party CV; Northern Luzon Board Member, Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA-NL); Political Consultant, Danggayan (Regional Peasant Alliance); Regional Convener, Punganay (Regional IP Alliance).

Recently, on September 30, I was elected by the National Congress of the MAKABAYAN Coalition as its Vice for Luzon.

As to the charges filed against me, let me state some facts:

The cited period of the incident of kidnapping and the death of soldiers, I am nowhere near the place of incident as I was attending several meetings in Metro Manila. Simply put, I could not be present in two places, kilometers away.


On February 23-24, I attended the National Council Meet of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas along with other peasant leaders across the country.

On February 25, I attended the National Irrigation Consultation that was held at Balay Kalinaw, UP Diliman.

On February 26-28, together with Agnes Mesina and Mia Liquigan (both are respondents in this case, too), I attended the joint BAYAN-MAKABAYAN National Council Meeting held at the CICM Seminary, Rodriguez Avenue, Quezon City.

I view this current charge as the price that I have to pay for being a dissenter. The political harassment is reminiscent of the Macapagal-Arroyo regime’s Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG) that was tasked to criminally charge the opposition especially those belonging to militant organizations like BAYAN and MAKABAYAN.

To sum it up, I am a progressive mass leader promoting national development through national industrialization and genuine agrarian reform. I am also an activist asserting respect for human rights and international humanitarian law; and a staunch peace advocate as peace consultant that looks forward to the resolution of the roots of the armed conflict in the country.

For these engagements, it is no surprise that I be maliciously implicated and face fabricated criminal charges. I vow to fight and stand to reason. We shall overcome.


On my inclusion in the DOJ list of terrorists

By Randy Felix Malayao(From the author’s column, BANDILLO published in Nordis.Net on March 18, 2018)

I condemn my inclusion in the so-called “terrorist” list submitted to the courts by the Department of Justice in a petition to have the

Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) declared as “terrorists”. I learned of my inclusion in the list as I grieve for the passing of my dear mother who has yet to be laid in her final resting place.

The DOJ list is brazenly preposterous and malicious. It includes names of peace panel members, 29 peace consultants, legal activists, human rights defenders, and political dissenters – all alleged CPP and NPA “officers and members” in a petition proscribing the two entities as terrorist organizations under Republic Act 9372 or the Human Security Act of 2007, otherwise known as the Anti-Terrorism Law.

This is not the first time that I have been maliciously charged of trumped-up cases. I had endured nearly five years of unjust imprisonment from 2008 to 2012 under the regimes of Macapagal-Arroyo and Benigno Aquino. When I was abducted by Armed Forces of the Philippines elements, I was heavily tortured. All cases were eventually dismissed after being acquitted of all the trumped-up charges brought to bear against me.

After imprisonment, I have since devoted myself to peace-building, defense of human rights, people empowerment, agrarian reform and rural development. Desirous to see the resolution of the armed conflict in the country, I have been actively engaged in peace talks as National Democratic Front of the Philippines Consultant for Political and Constitutional Reforms, one of the substantive agenda in its peace


negotiations with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).

I have participated in the 1st and 2nd formal rounds in Oslo, the 3rd formal round in Rome and the scuttled 5th round of talks in The Netherlands. I have attended, too, seminar workshops and lectures sponsored by the Royal Norwegian Government on conflict resolution and peace-building. I have traveled around the country and abroad to promote the GRP-NDFP peace process among Filipino compatriots, migrant workers, urban and rural communities, academe, socio-civic organizations and various churches, working hand-in-hand with GRP officials on many occasions. I ask, how can the Rodrigo Duterte regime accuse one who has worked ardently for just and lasting peace a terrorist?

I am a member of various human rights organizations and an officer of the Board of Trustees of Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detention at Aresto (SELDA) – Northern Luzon that works for recognition and reparation of Martial Law victims and advance the rights of political prisoners and detainees. I am also a member of the Executive Committee of the Makabayan Coalition, being one of its Vice-presidents.

In between peace talks, I am engaged in legitimate peoples struggles be it in courts, Congress, local governments, mass media or in advocacy institutions. I also write a column in a weekly regional newspaper. All of these are not terroristic activities.

I have never committed, supported nor will ever espouse, collude or induce terrorism. I have not been a party to any of the so-called terroristic incidents mentioned or alluded to in the exiguous petition for proscription.

The proscription list endangers my security including our respective families and organizations. It is a draconian measure meant to intimidate, harass, threaten and suppress activists, rights defenders and dissenters. This will further aggravate the curtailment and disregard for people’s rights and enhance all fascist policies peddled by the Duterte regime.

In sum, the proscription list is not only injurious it will effectively kill all earnest efforts to resume the peace process. Negotiated settlement and peaceful resolution of the roots of the armed conflict would now be very difficult or impossible.


Tyranny in whatever form must be resisted. The Duterte regime’s proscription petition and the DOJ’s preposterous listing must be vigorously frustrated.


Terror tag the chef at a panciteria?By Randy Felix Malayao

(From the author’s column, BANDILLO published in Nordis.Net on April 15, 2018)

Yes, I am a passionate activist. A writer-journalist, too. Had I not been one, I could have been any of the following – food technologist,

researcher-scientist, chef in a panciteria, photo-journalist at Reuters, a librarian or an anchor in a music station. Never a terrorist, as the Department of Justice (DOJ) alleges.

I sense I am a good cook. In college, I was a presidential scholar, food technologist by training. I majored in fish processing technology. I put to heart the learnings on product development, quality control and lots of food microbiology, chemistry and physics. I am also a certified food sensory panelist.

I know the rudiments and advances of fish drying and salting (pagdadaing, pagtutuyo), smoking (pagtitinapa), canning (paglalata ng isda o paggawa ng sardinas), fermenting (pagbuburo), fish sauce and paste making (paggawa ng patis at bagoong). I could also produce a fish net in one sitting. My thesis on surimi (an edible paste of processed meat or seafood such as imitation crabmeat or fish analogs) was funded partially by, yes, the World Bank. Yes, I graduated from college after a long delay in the submission of my thesis, “Accelerated Shelf-life Study of Squid Surimi.”

I am a master cook of Pancit Cabagan. Friends and fellow activists would always love this northern specialty. I could prepare quickly for a small group, a hundred or even more. During big occasions, for instance, during mobilizations and protest actions, the biggest pan would be reserved for me, for my special pancit cabagan.


So how do I do it? Quite simple. But it could be a disaster for those who are not familiar with the raw fresh miki (Cabagan noodles). First, have everything prepared – noodles, ingredients, pre-boiled broth, toppings/garnishings. Saute garlic and pork. Cook until brown. Add soy sauce, stir and simmer for a few minutes. Add the pork (or chicken or beef) broth. Boil (this is a must) and add fresh Cabagan noodles “miki” and vegetables. Simmer for three minutes. Season to taste. Serve and garnish with onion leaks, sliced onions, quail eggs, and lechon kawali (seafoods or plain vegies will also do). Of course, the secret of it all lies with unconditional love for the people who have the passion to produce food to feed the masses.

I am also inclined to do photo-journalism although I don’t have a journalist’s camera. I use my laptop for taking pictures. I have been a participant to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and the scuttled 5th round of peace talks. And posted in FB those events almost on real time (thanks to wifi). Some pics would land in GMA News website and other news agencies. For instance, my FB photo with GRP Peace Adviser Vice-Mayor Herbert Bautista would land twice in GMA News Online, first as a photo on news on peace, and second, as a photo for the news on Herbert Bautista’s brother Hero’s involvement with drugs! One nephew called my attention:

Nephew: Tito you are in the news!

Me: On what?

Nephew: Drugs!

Me: Gracious Lord!

I have always loved books. Over the years, I have collected not a few titles. I have stored them in different places. I have lost track of some. How I wish I could have them in just one place, to no avail. Recent supertyphoon Lawin destroyed some of my collections. I was not around when the supertyphoon soaked and ravaged them. It took two months before I learned of the extent of damage on my hard-earned books. I could only sigh in resignation.

In my trip to India last year, I was able to scour an ample collection of writings of Soviet revolutionary JIosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili at a baratillo price. From time to time, I also “raid” the sidewalk sale in Recto and ukay ukay stores in UP Diliman. Mark Twain, Tolstoy, Neruda, Octavio Paz at cheap tags is always a great joy.


Lastly, I enjoy listening to music. I welcome all genres but the top on my list would be classical (opera and/or instruments), jazz, pop jazz (e.g. Mike Francis,), progressive alternative (Joey Ayala, Buklod) and the 80s new wave (Spandau Ballet, Culture Club). But I reserve the classics for solo moments. One friend who would not stand a minute of an aria or a masterpiece of any of the maestros Bach, Beethoven, et. al. “Nakakabaliw! She would complain.” I would happily retort back, “Di ba, Emily Dickinson said, “stark madness is the height of happiness?””

Nordis.Net Ed’s note: This columnist has been included, along with fellow columnist Sherwin De Vera and several indigenous rights activists of Cordillera, in the proscription list of 600+, with the intent to declare the revolutionary organizations, CPP and NPA, as terrorists. Here he is rambling in search for an explanation to what has he done to deserve such a tag.

Remembering Randy


Eulogy for Felix Randy P. MalayaoBy Willie Vergara, February 4, 2019

It is difficult to believe that a man of peace, a most well-mannered and gentle person, a highly principled individual who dealt only with issues

and never on personalities, a man who held no personal grudge against anyone, a person who lived a life of sacrifice, self-denial, and service to others, and one who was granted immunity from harm being a Peace Negotiator – would end up being a victim of a brutal assassination.

It is, indeed, a great honor and privilege for me to have known Brod Randy Malayao. Even before we personally met during the fraternity ball in 2010, we had been communicating over email mainly on fraternity matters, specifically on our shared passion of how to arrest our diminishing membership in our campuses.

I will never forget our first personal encounter way back in 2010. Inside the Richmonde Hotel ballroom, we were more than 50 paces away from each other when our eyes met. He was his usual smiling, amiable self and I recognized it was Randy from the pictures I had seen over the internet. By his body language at that moment, I felt he knew me very well, too. So I briskly walked towards him, then embraced as would lovers do who were just reunited after a long absence. I asked to take a photograph with him as I had considered this a milestone in my life.

I had the chance to know more about Randy up close when we both flew from Manila to Iloilo for the Leadership and Empowerment Seminar for our UP Visayas Beta Sigmans last August 2017. We both arrived at the Iloilo airport, waiting to be picked up by the brods. It was a long wait (maybe 2 hours), so I took the opportunity to know more about his personal experiences. From this conversation, I decided right there and then to expand Randy’s role in the seminar from just one module to three modules. Because of such brief notice, he barely slept for the two nights in order to prepare for his lecture/presentation.


This allowed him to personally relate to the participants how he overcame depression under incarceration, became philosophical about his unjust detention and turned his situation into productive endeavors to help the plight of his co-prisoners. Eventually, he became the “governor” among the prisoners of Cagayan and Isabela. As a Peace Negotiator in Norway, Amsterdam and Rome, he also ably handled the “Principled Negotiation/Win Win” seminar module.

Up to the time of his death, Randy was among the Board of Directors of UP Beta Sigma International as well as a member of the Board of Trustees of UP Beta Sigma Central. He was as passionate about ensuring a good future for our fraternity through our residents. He visited our residents in all our 5 UP campuses and he was an inspiration for our young Betans.

Randy’s death may have abbreviated his physical life but his advocacies will continue to live. He has lived a life that was bigger than life itself. Go in peace in the bosom of the Lord, Brod Randy, and others will take on.


Isang kolektibong pag-alalaBy Dolores Patria, published on Pinoy Weekly,

February 7, 2019Alaala ng mga kasamahan ni Randy sa kanayunan ng Cagayan Valley

Malumanay pero matikas, malakas tumawa at palabiro pero seryoso sa maraming bagay. Ganito ang pagkilala namin kay Randy Malayao.

Naaalala ko pa noong gitnang bahagi ng dekada ’90, nang mabalitaan na may isang kabataang intelektuwal ang nagnanais na kumilos sa rehiyong Cagayan. Siyempre, masaya kami, dahil noong panahon na iyon, mangilan-ngilan lang ang nagpapahiwatig ng kagustuhan na kumilos nang buong panahon sa kanayunan, sa hanay ng mga magsasaka.

Noong una kong makita si Randy bago siya pumasok sa erya, nakakuwentuhan ko na siya. “Kumilos na ako sa ibang rehiyon, panahon naman na kumilos ako sa rehiyong pinagmulan ko,” matatag niyang bigkas. Mula noon, madalas na namin siyang nakakasalamuha, at nakalikha ng maraming alaala na hindi makakalimutan ng mga kasama at masa sa rehiyon.

Sabi nga ng isang nakasama niya sa isang gawain, tila walang kapaguran kung siya ay magtrabaho. Mula umaga hanggang hatinggabi subsob sa pagsusulat ng mga polyeto, mga statement at mga artikulo. Ayon sa naturang kasama, “Siya ang matiyagang nagturo sa akin na magsulat ng mga artikulo, polyeto. Marami akong natutunan sa kanya.”

Isa sa mga proyekto ng kanilang grupo ang Saniweng iti Tanap ti Cagayan, isang koleksiyon ng mga rebolusyonaryong awitin na likha sa rehiyon. Hindi nakakapagtakang matagumpay na nabuo ang proyekto dahil bukod sa mahilig din siyang umawit, buo ang kanyang loob na makakuha ng suporta para sa rehiyon.


“Dumadagundong ang boses niya kapag may mga kulturang pagtatanghal,” alaala ng isang kasama. “Hindi mo nga maikakaila na nasa paligid lang siya, dahil sa lakas pero mababang boses niya,” sabi naman ng isa pa niyang nakasama. Madalas kapag may mga bumibisitang aktibista mula sa labas, isa siya sa mga hinahanap dahil naiintriga kung sino iyung matikas, malakas ang boses pero malumanay na kasamang kinagigiliwan ng marami.

“Wala siyang kapaguran sa pagpopropaganda. Kadalasan, bumibisita siya sa mga kalapaw (kubo) namin sa gabi, kinukuwento niya ang pagiging estudyante niya hanggang sa naging aktibista at mag-fulltime,” sabi naman ng isa niyang nakasama. “Maalala ko nga na minsan napagalitan tayo dahil kahit gabing-gabi na, nagkukuwentuhan pa tayo at sinasabayan pa natin ng malakas na tawanan.”

Sa isa namang pagtatagpo namin sa Isabela, sa isang tuktok ng matatarik na kabatuhan, naranasan namin ang maligo sa kakarampot na tubig dahil tag-araw noon at hirap ang tubig. Kaya naman nang dumating ang unang ulan sa gitna buwan ng Mayo, para kaming mga batang naligo sa ulan at lahat ng puwedeng lagyan ng tubig ulan pinuno sa pag-aakalang hindi pa panahon ng tag-ulan. Resulta, hirap namang magpatuyo ng damit. Naalala ko nga na ’yung sampayan ng damit malapit sa kanyang kalapaw, magkakatabi ang kanyang damit at mga pahina ng publikasyon na bagong kayod mula sa risograph. Nauuna pa niyang samsamin ang mga pahina ng diyaryo nung umulan.

Sa kuwento naman ng isa pa niyang nakasama, matingkad na katangian ni Randy ang pagiging maalalahanin sa mga kasama kahit na yaong mga nasa ibang gawain na o ’yung nangibang bansa para maghanapbuhay. “Naging ninong ko siya sa kasal. Madalas siyang magbigay ng advice kapag nagkakaproblema kaming mag-asawa. Kahit nga noong tuluyan kaming naghiwalay na mag-asawa, isa siya sa mga unang nagbigay ng payo sa akin,” sabi niya. Dagdag pa niya, kahit nasa ibang bansa na siya, madalas na nagpapadala si Randy ng mga chat message, nangungumusta, nagbibigay ng payo.

Kahit nga nung nasa kulungan, hindi niya nakakaligtaang mangumusta sa mga kasama, kaibigan at kakilala na nasa labas ng kulungan. Minsan nga nagulat na lang ang asawa ko, bigla siyang nagpadala ng mensahe, “kumusta…., jail aide ako ngayon, kaya medyo maluwag. Kumusta si lakay mo?” patungkol sa akin.


Ganundin nang makalabas siya mula sa kulungan at kumilos bilang peace consultant. Hindi nagbago ang kanyang pakikisalamuha sa mga dating kasama. “Madalas siyang dumaan sa bahay, nag-aalaga sa mga anak ko,” kuwento naman ng isa pa niyang nakasama. Hindi rin mapili sa pagkain si Randy, “kahit anong pagkain sa bahay kakainin niya, hindi siya namimili.”

Pero may paborito namang lutuin si Randy, ang pansit cabagan na nauna kong matikman sa isang selebrasyon na aming inilunsad sa isang lugar sa Bulacan.

Siyempre, hindi rin naman nawawala ang mumunting kahinaan, kung maituturing man na kahinaan. Naalala kasi ng isa niyang nakasama na sa isang pulong pag-aaral, nakatulog siya at nahulog sa upuan. Malakas din siyang humilik, “masa din siya, masandal tulog.”

Ganundin, marunong din siyang humanga sa kababaihan, isa sa mga nakasama niya ang nagsabi na naging “crush” daw siya ni Randy.

“Meron ’yung time na pumupunta siya sa kubo naming mga babae, nakipagkuwentuhan, nagbabahagi sya ng mga karanasan niya sa pagkilos niya, karanasan niya bilang studyante, bilang aktibista, bilang manunulat. Isang beses na may nasabi siya sa akin nung kami lang ang nag-uusap sa isang kubo. Kuwentuhan kami, hanggang may ipinagtapat sya sa akin. Nung una pala niya akong makilala sa bahay namin sa Tuguegarao, may crush na pala siya sa akin,” kuwento ng isa. Pero hindi sila naging magkarelasyon. Si Randy pa nga ang tumayong ninong nang ikasal siya.

Naalala ko nga na may pormal din siyang niligawan, ‘yung kasamang babae, may alagang puting aso. Kasama sa panunuyo sa babae, si Randy ang nagpapaligo sa aso, at nagpapainit pa siya ng tubig na pampaligo ng aso.

Maraming nakasama pero iisa lang ang pagkilala sa kanya: Matikas pero malumanay, palabiro, at palatawa pero seryoso, maalalahanin at responsableng kasama.

Kaya naman, kahit nangungulila kami, kasama ng karamihan, dadagundong pa rin ang boses ni Randy Malayao sa mga lansangan at mga bulwagan hanggang sa mga ublag na kampuhan sa kanayunan.

Mabuhay ka kasamang Randy!


The undying flameBy Jose Randy DelaCruz, January 30, 2019

Like many who knew him, I am saddened and enraged by the murder of peace advocate and activist Felix Randy P. Malayao. I can only

imagine what his family is going through right now. My thoughts are with them, with his friends, fraternity brods and comrades.

I too have fond memories of Randy. We joined the same student organisation, went to the same school for a time and embraced the same cause. He was ahead of me in UP and he, together with other older activists, helped mentor and nurture a naive and lost youth in the late 80s and early 90s. We called each other Tukayo because we have the same name and this always made me smile.

Randy was an exceptionally intelligent man. He was insightful and wise beyond his age. He could have if he chose to, embarked on a different life. Maybe it could have been something less meaningful, more sedate or a financially rewarding one. He did not do this however, instead he chose a brave and demanding vocation: of serving the Filipino people, fighting injustice and working towards lasting peace. He did pay for his choice, as courageous men and women who care for others often do. He was incarcerated on trumped up charges and heavily tortured because of his belief.

Many a lesser man would have been cynical and would have given up after such an injustice. In this, they could have been easily forgiven. Not Randy, he took his fate with remarkable grace. Instead of resting as he deserved, he committed deeper to the cause. What is most striking about him are his humility and his good nature. His status and position did not go to his head. He was not vain. All of us could attest that he was as simple as the first time we met him during our college days. He always had a nice word or two for others and would always endeavour to bring calm to


enable people to work together. In this, he was the ideal peace advocate: measured, mature, tactful and honest.

He was a truly decent human being. He was not driven by power and ambition. His North Star was a faith in the Filipino people and nation; that we can create a more equitable society, if only we dream and work hard to make it happen. He worked tirelessly towards this goal against great odds. In many ways “Tukayo” is an anachronism, a relic of an era when people didn’t aspire to be heroes but just lived by their principles. In this, he was truly heroic. He brought a spark to the world making it better and brighter. His passing saw the flame that has helped illuminate the darkness in our troubled land blinkered.

Like many, I will miss him not just because of his many qualities and our acquaintance during a time of innocence. Most of all, I will miss his example and the courage this gives me and to many of us who are finding our way in this great struggle.

Rest Manong Randy, tukayo, kabsat, kasama. We hope to live by your example and will try to nurture the flames you have kindled in all of us.

Padayon STR


Randy Malayao’s songBy Raymund B Villanueva, January 30, 2019

Randy Malayao did not only fancy himself to be a decent singer. He was a good singer with his baritone voice.

His standard was ‘You’ve Got To Do More Than That’, a protest song he learned when he represented the Philippines in an international youth assembly in Indonesia in the early 90s. He loved to sing it when we were both members of the CEGP national secretariat. He needed no cajoling; he readily sang it every time it was requested. It was among those I remember most from those days and I wrote about it in an old blog.

When he was being tortured by his AFP captors-agents in May 2008, he was ordered by his torturers to sing it. Obviously, the monsters learned about Felix Randy P. Malayao favorite song from my blog.

I was aghast when Randy told me about it. What I wrote may have contributed to the hardships he underwent. I apologized. He smiled and said, “It was good you wrote and they knew about it. When I was singing the song, all my pain and terror melted away. I was ready to die at the end of the song.”

Yep, fuck ‘em, while blindfolded and in extreme pain, Randy sang his song with gusto, as if he was among friends.

I now wonder what was on the minds of his torturers then.

YOU’VE GOT TO DO MORE THAN THATI.

I think when I see all those pictures about

The children without any food


How hard it must be for their mothers at home

Who just do not know what to do

With children so thin and their ribs sticking out

A terrible plea in their eyes

I tremble to think what starvation is like

But I do try to symphatize.

Chorus:

You’ve got to do more than that


For symphathizing is all very well

But you’ve got to do more than that

II.

The men with the truncheons and helmets are out

They’re trying to break up the mob

Of people whose skins are just colored a bit

And all they want is a job

It’s only for whites, that’s the sign they put up

And this is not even their land

I tremble to think what starvation is like

But I do try to understand

Chorus II:



For understanding is all very well


III.

How dreadful a sight Hiroshima became

With people all broken and maimed

And blinded and mad, so the broadcast announced


It will end all wars so they claimed

But why are they making some bigger bombs yet?

And what are they piling them for?

Should not someone know what the end of it all

But I try not to think of war

Chorus III.



Forgetting to think is all very well



KABBI GAPA (Kawawa Naman)By Raul Ting, February 1, 2019

After dinner, my parents asked about you knowing I went to see you yesterday. And when I told them you were killed by two bullets shot

at close range, all my mother could mutter was “kabbi gapa si Randy” (Felix Randy P. Malayao) and my father told me “maggalo lang aya” whenever he warned you to be careful. He asked where you came from and why would they kill you. I did not have the answers. After all, we may never know. But some people out there do not want to pursue peace as an agenda.

I did not even dare to show the old ones a photo of you in that seat. Your glasses barely hanging with the frame and lenses covering your cyanotic lips. The blood-soaked olive green shirt blending with the black jacket. And with your head resting on your right shoulder as if you were sleeping. It would have been heart breaking for them. Both treated you like their own. I haven’t seen my sister Maila Ting Que, and she’d been all over facebook about how she felt of losing you, too.

I wish I can post it here to show the world how they wanted to soften the impact of that dastardly act of cowardice, killing you while sleeping. Someone who carried no arms. They have artist sketches of the suspects but it would have been easier for the public to be shown the CCTV footage. Standard na nga sa tv news pero dito sa kaso mo, ewan ko.

I still am in a state of disbelief. Lutang ako. But I try as hard to be strong believe me. Not for me, but for everyone else. Everyone will need to be strong. In fact, I remember asking several times with all the irreverence, whether may parangal ako pag namatay ako and you said meron. That was when I was at my weakest. I never imagined it would be the other way around. Me attending yours instead of you attending mine.


I couldn’t find any photo of us together. If there are, I probably won’t post it because I look really awful most of the time. And more often than not, di ako nagpopost ng mukha ko samantalang ikaw naman ang kadalasan target. Sa red tagging ikaw nga usually ang nagunguna ang pangalan sa listahan. Ikaw rin yun mas sanay sa pagpakuha ng litrato. Must be something you have learned to master when they put you in jail for several years for trumped-up charges in the late 2000s.

Kaya ito na lang, stolen shot when you came over because you saw online we had some myrose’s classic spaghetti.

Pasensya na am not there tonight and I am not done yet with my medical follow up. Kilala mo ako enough to know pasaway talaga ako. Yes twice mo lang din naman ako pinigilan sa mga bagay bagay. At ang hirap din magpigil na di tumulo ang luha doon.


When doves cryBy Jerly Menchavez Van Berge Henegouwen,

February 3, 2019

Horribly shocked and deeply saddened by the brutal murder of one of the most noble and courageous men I have ever met in my lifetime.

Who murdered Randy?

It was during the 2nd round of peace talks in Oslo, Norway, that I met Randy for the first time. I found him scanning through some papers in a corner at the Holmen Fjordhotel’s cafe and restaurant. I asked if I could join him for coffee. He gladly agreed and was outrightly sympathetic for my lack of techno skills - it was obvious that I struggled to wrap my brain around how my newly acquired gadget works. I got robbed on my way to the airport in Amsterdam - laptop, phones / gadgets stolen - but huge thanks to a Norwegian friend who is married to a Filipina from my hometown, I was able to secure a few gizmos at a shop in Oslo the day before, hence, I had a phone working that morning. Luckily.

Randy and I had a “friendly bond” from the get go - perhaps because we came from the same side of the peace talks, “the consummate optimists”, that is.

We chatted like we’ve known each other for a long time, and he generously allowed me to record some portion of our conversation for future reference. From typical Filipino jokes to the cold Norway weather (autumn in Scandinavia can be cruel) and to more serious subjects, we had the good vibe going. From his abduction and 4 years of incarceration during Pres. Gloria Arroyo’s regime to his current role as peace consultant for the NDFP, all the way to some bits and pieces of his personal life, he descriptively and patiently walked me through his trials and tribulations


in the most trying times, as well as his aspirations and dreams as peace consultant.

Remarkably, despite the dreadful abduction and 4 years of precious life spent behind bars, I sensed no bitterness in his voice - he was detailed in his accounts; humble in his achievements while in prison; sincere in his quest; and proud of his fight for lasting peace. “I can bloom where I’m planted”, he quipped with a heartful laughter.

Brilliant and highly educated (studied at the University of the Philippines-Diliman and University of the Philippines - Visayas), my new-found peace consultant friend, Randy, was articulate, sharp, and funny. Tall for a typical Filipino, he towered amongst other peace delegates and advocates.

When not deliberating with others, I often caught Randy writing or reading in a corner, sometimes submerged in deep thoughts. He had this calmness about him I found quite appealling while the generosity of his valuable time, heartwarming. I felt the passion and the sincerity of his advocacy for human rights and in his unquenchable quest for just and lasting peace.

During the remaining days of the peace talks, we occasionally bumped into each other, exchanged winks and smiles and never failed to share common hopes and dreams regarding the peace negotations between the GRP and the CPP/NDFP over coffee or during lunch.

While waiting for my flight back to Amsterdam at Oslo Gardermoen International Airport (OSL), I had the pleasant surprise of bumping into Randy at the crowded passenger lounge. Homeland bound, he was carrying duty free bags full of gifts and souvenirs. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to spare, my attention was soon called for boarding, although we did manage to chat a bit, said our goodbyes, hugged and took a few quick pictures.

Via Facebook, we were reconnected. We chatted occasionally and hoped we’d see each other during the next rounds of talks. We missed each other during the 3rd round, I missed him by the 4th, and missed each other again by the 5th. Then things took a shocking turn - the peace process was halted, to my utter disappointment. I bet my last peso, he was equally disappointed too.


I followed Randy’s crusade for peace and human rights advocacy via Facebook.

It’s been 4 days since his gruesome murder, he was shot to death while sleeping inside a bus on his way home in Nueva Viscaya. I have listened to our recorded conversation over and over again for the last couple of days and still find myself grappling to make sense of the senseless loss of a man I have high respect and total admiration for, bordering on the denial that such a noble man was gunned down and gone? Who could have done such barbarity to such a beautiful soul?

While horrified, saddened, and angered by his untimely death, I seek momentary solace in the memory of his peace loving spirit. Tearful as I wrote these thoughts, his hopeful lines echoed in my ears:

“Of course, I’m optimistic about the peace talks, we have to be, otherwise all these talks will be for nothing. We have to have hope because that would move us forward. No matter how difficult it is to forge peace agreement, there must be some form of resilience. We have to work hard for it, peace has been very illusive, for centuries...years... “ - Randy

Randy, wherever you are now, you are beyond missed. Peace, as you aptly pointed out, has been proven “very illusive” indeed, time and time again, but your wonderful gifts of wisdom, bravery, humility and compassion for the downtrodden are not. It is my fervent wish that by scribbling down fragments of memory I have of you, somehow I have given a morsel of justice to your precious gift of friendship. And of hope.

So long my dearest friend...


The tale of the flagBy Raymund B Villanueva, February 5, 2019

I knew how brave you were, Randy. You didn’t have to say it, you showed it. You did not have to think about being brave, it just manifested--

instantly, instinctively.

At a rally at the embassy during Clinton’s visit, you were the command flag bearer. You were among the tallest among us, the CEGP flag was unique among all the YS (youth and students) flags, and you liked to be infront.

The police was particularly brutal at that time. They attacked even before we had a chance to come near the gates. Their batons flailed and their shields became weapons. The command was then given to retreat and you started to turn back and lead the way towards Salamanca Park.

But some fellow activists were already being collared and viciously beaten by ‘Manila’s Finest.’ Without hesitation, you charged back and used the flag pole to deflect the blows raining on the hapless students. You received some blows on your arm yourself, but there was no retreat for you at that point. Your intervention allowed some to scramble and escape.

Seeing what you have done, more police personnel ganged up on you. That was when you used the pole like a Shaolin Kung Fu warrior, waving it on their faces to ward them off. Unfortunately, that gave them the chance to grab the flag and get it from you.

We lost the one decent flag the CEGP had at the time. We had that tailored at Allandale’s for 500 pesos.

After the incident, you kicked yourself for losing the flag. I even kidded you a lot about it. But the truth was, it was a fine display of bravery.

It was a flag well spent.


A brave son of the northBy Tinay Palabay, February 6, 2019

The last time I saw Randy Malayao was when he visited Karapatan’s office last year, to ask for updates regarding the proscription case.

He was among the many rights defenders and peace advocates maligned and doubly endangered because of this case hatched by this murderous government. He was thankful that we made this poster and story for him and that people are campaigning against this and many other vile schemes. He was his usual bubbly self, injecting stories on violations against peasants in Cagayan Valley and the hardships of Marcos martial law victims from the region whom he worked with, in between our kantyaw that he cook his famous pancit cabagan for us. We talked and bantered in Ilokano, parang mas masaya kasing magkwentuhan sa lenggwaheng ito, plus I get to practice whatever sliver of conversational Ilokano I picked up from my elders. I teased him about his selfies. Sabi nya, di na nga sya masyadong nagseselfie, hehe.

And I will always remember Randy this way - always gracious, always madaldal and eager to share stories, always amiable.

I never met Randy when I was with the National Union of Students of the Philippines for the simple reason na nauna siyang di hamak sa akin sa kilusang kabataan. Ngunit sa kilusang kabataan, napakaraming kwento tungkol sa mga matatapang na anak ng bayan na naging inspirasyon namin para magpatuloy sa pagkilos para sa tunay na pagbabago sa lipunan. At isa ang kwento ni Randy at mga kapatid namin sa College Editors Guild of the Philippines at marami pang organisasyon ng mga kabataan sa mga kwentong ito.

Kaya the Randy Malayao who I met was the political prisoner Randy - the activist organizer even in prison. The Randy I know was the peace advocate Randy - the person who rushed to several forums and meetings


on the peace process in Manila and elsewhere. The Randy I know was the human rights activist Randy - the campaigner who helped in organising human rights workers in his region despite the dangers.

Randy Malayao is all that - youth leader, activist, peace advocate - in all of the tributes and stories of his friends and colleagues, and more. He is also a brother, a selfless and kind person, and a brave son of the north.

He is also like many of us - a brother who loves his family and friends, a person who dreams and aspires for genuine peace, an individual who believes in the collective power of the Filipino people to make things better for all especially for the poor.

Tomorrow, Randy Malayao will be laid to rest in his hometown in the north. But Randy Malayao will live on in many of us, because his dreams, his legacy, his struggle are ours too.


To Manong RandyBy the National Union of People’s Lawyers

Baguio Benguet

We thought we would all grow old together sharing stories of our struggle to be relevant in the world, examining our battle scars as

we tried to change the world.

When we first met Manong Randy he was incarcerated in Tuguegarao. We wondered how he had access to computer and we learned it was because he assisted the warden in writing and he did it so well that the warden granted him access to it. Another time we would see him overseeing inmates as they tilled an assigned plot there within the BJMP. He told us he was voted governor and he wanted the inmates to use their time productively under his leadership. The inmates’ days were filled with activities such as sports and religious worship. Like moss growing in the harshest mountain crags, Manong Randy flourished.

His physical body may have been incarcerated but his mind and spirit remained alive, creative and free. The enemies, perhaps, thought that incarceration would defeat his spirit; that he would wallow in despair. They failed to account for the strength of his resolve and his conviction.

When his cases were dismissed and he was released from prison, he continued his work. He continued to educate, write and criticize as he continued to arouse, organize, and mobilize. Such was his persuasiveness that he would cajole those who have gone cold in activism. Even if they were inactive, he requested them to do tasks so that they would remember what it was like to serve the people.

Though serious with his work he had a witty sense of humor and a boisterous infectious laugh.


He was tireless in traveling where he was needed. One day he would be in Manila, the next day he had to go to Baguio always looking for opportunities to talk about the work for peace based on justice.

Manong Randy, you are a bright light in this darkening world. The enemy thought it could snuff the light by killing you. But your words and your work have already taken root in the hearts and minds of so many so they, too, can continue the work for a just society where all fruits are enjoyed by everyone and no one goes to bed hungry. Manong Randy, it is now time to rest. They may have ended your life but those of us left behind will continue your work. Agyamankami.


Mensahe ng pagkilala at parangalBy Riley Joey Ricarte

Si Randy, simpleng tao, mabuti at prinsipyadong kasama, masipag at mapagkasamang kapatid at mapagmahal sa masa. Iyan ang

pagkakakilala ko sa iyo mula ng maugnayan kita noong 2015 nang manirahan ako sa Cauayan, Isabela. Mahilig ka makipagpalitan ng mga kuro-kuro, hindi lamang tungkol sa kapatiran at kilusan, kundi maging sa iba pang mga bagay. Hindi ka nauubusan ng kwento. Ito ay yaong panahon na kahit hindi pa tayo personal na nagkikita, ramdam ko ang init ng iyong pakikisama na siyang pinatunayan ng marami nating mga kapatid, kaibigan at kasama.

Taong 2017 naman noong una tayong magkita sa UPLB sa Battle Royale 6 na aktibidad ng brods sa Feb Fair, unang pakikipagkamay ko sayo noon at ang iyong pagbati ay para ba tayong higit pa sa 10 taon na ang pagkakakilala. Tulad ng dati, di pumalya ang iyong mga kwento. Nasundan pa ito ng maglunsad ng Peace Forum ang Anakbayan-UPLB at UPLB Beta Sigma para talakayin ang kasalukuyang nagaganap na peace process sa pagitan ng GRP at NDFP at ikaw ang naging main speaker nito. Dito ko naranasan ang mala-truck na pagharok mo sa pagtulog sa bahay ng isa pa nating kapatid. Noong umagang yaon, madami kang ibinahagi sa akin laluna ang patungkol sa pangalawang kongreso at mga naging pag-abante ng kilusan matapos ang 47 na taong pakikibaka. Punong-puno ng pag-asa ang bawat salitang binitawan mo noon at sa mismong aktibidad. Pagkatapos noon ay nagkaroon pa tayo ng pagbo-bonding ng mga brods sa bahay nila. Kitang-kita ko doon kung paano ka makisama maging sa pinakabata nating kapatid. Patunay iyon kung ano ibig sabihin ng pagiging mapagkasama mo.

Sinundan ito ng minsan naman tayong magkita sa UPD habang papunta ka ng meeting ng brods at sinabi ko sa iyo na ako ay napabilang na muli sa isa sa mga organisasyon natin. Sinabi mo pa sa akin noon, “Sakto ang timing mo, kapag hinuli ako o kaya pinaslang, may mag-QRT na sa akin,


hehehe”, pabirong tugon mo. Simula din noon, ikaw ang isa lagi kong hinihingan ng payo para sa ilang suliraning kinakaharap ko, at lagi’t lagi mong sinasabi na magtiwala at patuloy na sumulong dahil walang puwang ang pag-atras sa panahon ngayon.

Ilang aktibidad pa ang ating pinagsamahan noon at sadya namang walang kupas ang brod Randy na kilala ko laluna sa kampuhan ng mga lumad na kung saan ay sinalo mo pa yung mga brods natin sa GAUF para makipamuhay kahit konting panahon sa mga kasamahan natin sa pambansang minorya. Maski sila ay tumaas ang diwa at pang-unawa sa mga bagay-bagay laluna sa kalagayan ng mga pambansang minorya at ano ang mga tungkulin natin para matulungan sila sa kanilang laban.

Huling pagkikita natin ay noong nakaraang taon, buwan ng Setyembre, tumawag ka pa noon dahil wala ka makasama na brod at kadadating mo lamang galing sa ibang bansa. Apat na oras na talakayan na di ko akalaing huli nating pagkikita dahil sinabi mo noon na pupunta ka muli ng UPLB.

Enero 30, 2019, ginulat mo kami sa balitang wala ka na. Labis na lungkot at galit ang naramdaman ko dahil sa ginawa sa iyo ng estado at sistemang ito na iyong binabago. Ngunit sa kabila ng lungkot, inaalala ko na lang ang sinabi mo noon na hindi natatapos ang laban sa pagkawala ng isa man sa ating lumalaban hangga’t namamayani ang karahasan, kawalang-hustisya at pagyurak sa karapatan ay patuloy ang paglaban ng mamamayan.

Namuhay ka sa isang simple ngunit dakilang buhay sa paglalaan mo ng iyong buong oras at panahon hindi lamang sa ating kapatiran kundi sa buong sambayanang iyong minahal at pinagsilbihan. Ika nga natin, “Be all that is good and noble in man”, at itinaas mo ang standard na iyon. Hindi ka naging makasarili sa pagpili mo ng landas na iyong tinahak sa paglilingkod sa malawak na hanay ng masa. Maaaring hindi namin matumbasan ang iyong mga naging ambag sa pagpapaunlad sa amin ngunit ipinatimo mo sa aming isip na kailanman ay hindi dapat tayo magkasya na lamang sa mga pansariling buhay at interes bagkus ay maglaan higit sa kagalingan ng ating kapwa kapatid, kasama at masa.


Requiem for RandyBy Tonyo Cruz, published in Manila Bulletin,

February 2, 2019

As soon as I woke up and read the terrible news last January 30 that a friend had been shot to death, I lost my appetite and stopped posting

on Facebook.

Who would order the murder of a BS Fisheries graduate from UP Visayas who did not end up as a rotten traditional politician and instead became a most brilliant activist, peasant advocate, and peace consultant?

What was his crime as to merit to be executed, and to be gunned down while sleeping? In fact, by suffering a gruesome death, he was the victim. The “nanlaban” schtick won’t stick. He was unarmed. He was just like any sleepy bus passenger.

Randy Felix Malayao, 49, lived a great and glorious life because he offered it to us and the Filipino people. Tributes have quickly poured in from relatives, friends, classmates, batchmates, fellow fraternity brothers and sisters, activists, and people who knew him and who he also knew.

Now that he is dead, nobody has come forward to call him a criminal or a terrorist in any cowardly attempt to justify the cowardly murder — except perhaps for a paid troll or two. We have seen and heard only beautiful stories about this tall, dark-skinned, highly educated and yet unassuming, thoughtful, engaging, and fun-loving man who was a son, brother, cousin, tito, kasama, colleague, and even kakosa.

Randy opened the doors to activism to many, including me. Yes, he recruited me.

Other activists had tried to invite me, but it was Randy who succeeded. Heck, I even decided to go full-time. Why? I was simply impressed. If this


cause managed to attract fellow students who could arguably be described as among the best and brightest, surely this cause could give me good company. Randy and my then-newfound cause gave me more.

Randy could have left activism for good after his stint in CEGP. High-paying jobs awaited him in government and business, considering his education and his connections. But he chose to continue his activism, and drew himself closer to the people of his home province of Isabela.

Years later, under the Arroyo regime, we would be shocked to find out that Randy was abducted. The ensuing uproar forced the military to stop the torture and to surface him. Randy would then be charged with murder, a trumped-up and non-bailable charge that would lead to his detention for four years — or until the court dismissed the charge in his favor.

In his third year in prison, as Randy fought in court the concocted charges levelled against him by the military, he wrote about his activist work as a political detainee. It showed his boundless and unlimited energy, compassion, and readiness to serve even in a difficult situation:

“Years of detention seem eternal yet I have decided to be just philosophical about this. I thought should strive to ‘bloom where I am planted.’

“How do I cope? How could I adapt to harsh jail conditions? These are the usual questions of concerned family members, friends, and fraternity brothers. Would I welcome protective custody under DND Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, a fellow Beta Sigman? I understood fellow brods’ concerns but I politely turned down the proposal on a matter of principle — the DND-AFP and the CIDG are my complainants in almost all of these cases, so it is not a palatable idea. Secondly, BJMP has been treating me quite fairly and well. It is not a perfect detention center but I have learned to adapt to it.

“At BJMP-Tuguegarao City, there was no idle moment as I was immediately named as inmates’ adviser. I could have opted not to bother myself as I am facing too many personal predicaments, legal battle and all. But I have always been a man for others, I simply could not afford to refuse and be a mere fence sitter. I reciprocated their welcoming and almost reverential attitude and willingly obliged. In the entire duration of


detention, I shared my time, energies, intellect, and whatever resources that I have. Indeed, the devil has been deprived of any possible workshop…

“Upon assumption, I held bilateral and multilateral meetings with various cell mayors; and jointly, we studied and assessed our problems as inmates; brainstormed ways and means..

“I steered six basketball tournaments in two consecutive years and hosted friendship games with guest teams. I led inmates in cultivating vegetable gardens, [attracting] the attention of neighbors and government agencies. The DA praised it and gave us seeds, farm implements, and technology assistance…

“We introduced and derived joy in kite-flying competitions and our own version of BJMP Got Talent… As religious coordinator, I worked closely with the various Christian churches – the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao, the Protestants and the Born-Again Christians. They served as effective counselors and spiritual guides…

“I asked the Public Attorney’s Office to be more conscientious as public defenders and requested them to frequent inmate clients as often as possible to have quality legal counseling before and after hearings.

“I was able to collect materials to put up a library where inmates could browse or borrow pocket books, newspapers, pamphlets, and magazines… Amaryong, the monthly publication of the Tuguegarao City District Jail which I helped edit, was the envy of the justice department’s line agencies and the courts…

“I led inmates’ calls to improve food provisions. And we appreciated the wardens that addressed our food concerns. We thank them for every novel menu that would be introduced.

“I have always been moderate and diplomatic in my dealings with jail administrators and reaped positive results for it. I am very candid and vocal, without being confrontational…. I would not condone unprofessionalism, callousness, and insensitivity when I see or feel any. My salute is reserved to those wardens who soar over their counterparts for their bravura, integrity, innovations, inventions, and novel ideas on jail management. With such officers, I am at my element. They let out the best in me/us.

“After three years, I have not been rendered lethargic and useless. I still continue serving inmates as their governor, big brother, gardener, nurse,


doctor, teacher, counselor, paralegal officer, secretary, artist, sacristan, janitor, plumber – all in one.

“Even under detention, I bloomed.”

What a Filipino, right? No wonder the National Democratic Front of the Philippines asked him to be a peace consultant, and no wonder he accepted it. No wonder that Sylvestre Bello III lawyered for him. No wonder tributes continue to pour out from around our country blighted by brutality and tyranny.

I have read tributes saying that Randy gave up his life to people and country. I disagree. Yes, he did offer his very best to people and country throughout most of his shortened life, until that fateful January 30 morning. But he didn’t ask or offer to be shot to death in his sleep. He was murdered.

In his untimely death, let’s bloom for Randy. Yes, we grieve and we rage over his murder. But let’s bloom for peace, justice, nationalism, and democracy — and show those who attempted to kill his spirit and his cause that they spectacularly failed and that Randy didn’t live and die in vain.


Murdered activist Randy Malayao yearned for lasting peace

By Raymon Dullana, Published in Rappler.Com,

February 2, 2019

CAGAYAN, Philippines – “Pipiliin ko na lang hukayin ang sarili kong libingan. Wala kayong makukuha sa akin,” activist Randy Malayao

told his tormentors sometime in 2008. (I’d rather dig my own grave. You will not get anything from me.)

The 49-year-old Randy was murdered on Wednesday, January 30, shot at close range while he was asleep inside a bus in Aritao, Nueva Vizcaya. He was reportedly on his way home to Isabela after attending a conference of the Makabayan group in Metro Manila.

Randy’s assailant fled on a motorcycle, witnesses said.

In 2008, Randy was detained on suspicion he was involved in the ambush of government forces in San Mariano, Isabela. He was also suspected of having a hand in the killing of former Cagayan Governor Rodolfo Aguinaldo.

Early start

Randy graduated valedictorian of Minanga Elementary School in San Pablo, Isabela, after which he completed his secondary education at Isabela State University Science High School.

He moved to the University of the Philippines in Diliman for undergraduate studies but later transferred to UP Visayas-Miag-ao to pursue a course in fisheries. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in 1992.


While in college, he joined and initiated the creation of local chapters of national progressive organizations in the university. He helped establish the League of Filipino Students (LFS) in UP-Miag-ao and became a member of the Beta Sigma Fraternity.

More privileged than others, Randy was the first among his peers to own a personal computer, but he willingly shared it with others, according to his close friend Raymund Villanueva.

He loved writing and reading books and became editor in chief of “Ang Mangingisda,” the official student publication of UP-Miag-ao. As a campus journalist, he served as vice president for the Visayas of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), the oldest and longest running organization of campus editors in the country.

As CEGP official, Randy helped resuscitate inactive campus publications in the Visayas, launching information drives about various social issues. So effective was he that Randy reportedly brought into the fold the most number of member-publications in the history of CEGP-Visayas.

After his stint as CEGP vice president, he returned to Manila to work full time for CEGP’s national office.

Causes

It didn’t take long before Randy decided to come home to the Cagayan Valley region to help local peasant groups push for the welfare of farmers, address concerns about militarization in remote rural areas, and advocate for the respect of human rights.

He was supported by his family in his choice to push for these difficult causes. For instance, his sister Perla defended him against those who tried to demoralize him when he was jailed for years.

“Talamak ang graft and corruption sa gobyerno kaya maraming katulad ng kapatid ko. Ipinaglalaban lang niya ang karapatan ng mga inaapi. Saludo ako sa kanya,” Perla said during a gathering in San Pablo church, following the disappearance of her brother.

(Rampant graft and corruption in government is what creates people like my brother. He was just fighting for the rights of the oppressed. I admire him.)


Randy’s friend Raymund recalled that Nena, the activist’s mother, would tell his friends to look after him. The request was no surprise. Randy, after all, was her youngest child.

Randy’s friends now surmise that the death of his mother Nena months before the brutal murder of her beloved son turned out to be fortuitous.

Threats and persecution

On the night of May 15, 2008, Randy disappeared. Before his supposed “abduction,” he reportedly texted a relative, “Someone is following [me].”

Nearly 5 days after his disappearance, Randy resurfaced inside the 5th Infantry Division camp in Gamu, Isabela. The military claimed he was arrested after he alighted from a bus in Cainta, Rizal.

Before that, different groups, including others in the international community, protested and pointed to the military as being responsible for Randy’s disappearance.

Later, Randy disclosed in an affidavit how he was allegedly tortured during interrogations by his military abductors.

“My captors covered my head with a plastic bag which caused me to suffocate. I was made to lie down on bare cement purportedly to simulate how it feels dying that way. On several occasions, they forced me to raise my two feet while sitting on a chair until my feet got stiff and my muscles tired and ached,” Randy said.

“On those occasions when I seemed to doze off, they would repeatedly slap or box my shoulders and upper torso or continuously beat my legs with a flat wooden stick which caused pain on those parts of my body. But so as not to leave any mark of injury, the interrogator’s companions would massage the parts of my body that were either slapped, boxed or beaten,” he added.

All these did not break him.

“Relentlessly, talagang na-interrogate ako nang apat na araw, apat na gabi. Deprived ako ng tulog. At siyempre, may mahalagang impormasyong gusto nilang alamin. Sabi ko, pipiliin ko na lang hukayin ang sarili kong


libingan…Kilala ‘nyo na ako. ‘Yung mga nalalaman ko, dadalhin ko na lang sa hukay,” he said.

(They relentlessly interrogated me for 4 days, 4 nights. I was deprived of sleep. And of course, they wanted to extract important information from me. I told them I would rather dig my own grave… You already know me. What I know, I will take to my grave.)

He was implicated in the ambush of government troops in San Mariano, Isabela and the killing of former Cagayan governor and congressman Rodolfo Aguinaldo. Apart from that, he was also being investigated for the killing of a businessman in Ilagan, and a barangay captain in San Mariano town.

Days after, the National Democratic Front (NDF) claimed him as their consultant for the peace process and said he should be free from arrest and torture.

Leader in jail

Randy was initially detained in the Tuguegarao City Jail to face trial for the killing of Aguinaldo.

He was later transferred to Ilagan District Jail – after being acquitted in the Aguinaldo killing due to lack of evidence – to face other murder charges. He was later granted bail due to insufficient evidence.

He continued being an organizer, leader, and activist while imprisoned.

In fact, he was elected prison governor in both the Tuguegarao and Ilagan jails.

As “governor,” he quickly called for a meeting with the cell mayors to assess problems of inmates, and developed new schemes and means to address their problems.

He organized yearly basketball and friendship tournaments in the detention center. They started to grow vegetable gardens, attracting support from the Department of Agriculture. He was also instrumental in making jail cells cooler after trees and ornaments were planted around the jail perimeter.


There were kite-flying competitions. They staged “BJMP’s Got Talent,” which “produced quite a number of sketch artists, dancers, singers, acrobats, magicians, among other talents.”

He also urged the Public Attorney’s Office to be more “conscientious” in providing inmates legal counseling. Food, medicine, and hygienic supplies were less scarce after a partnership was struck with local religious and civic groups.

Randy built a small library and made more newspapers available. Cases of human rights violations, corporal punishment, harassment, and bullying of inmates had been reduced to near-zero.

“I have always been moderate and diplomatic in my dealings with jail administrators and reaped positive results from it. I am very candid and vocal about jail issues and inmates’ concerns without being confrontational,” Randy said.

“After 3 years, I have not been rendered lethargic and useless…Even under detention, I bloomed,” he added.

‘For just, lasting peace’

Before he was killed, Randy had actively participated in the formal peace negotiations between the NDF and the Philippine government under the Duterte administration. He had also been going around the country to advocate for the peace process.

His advocacy for “just and lasting peace” is highlighted in his Twitter account, which brandishes “warrior for just and lasting peace.”

Two years ago, Randy participated in the peace talks in Europe, and had been a spokesperson during the formal negotiations.

“He was an indefatigable worker in the service of the people and was ever ready to present the side of the NDFP in fora, seminars and consultations on the peace talks in the Philippines and overseas,” the NDF said in a statement.

With the flip-flopping of the Duterte administration in peace negotiations with communist rebels, Randy was listed by the Department of Justice as a “terrorist” – an accusation he vehemently denied.


In an interview with Northern Dispatch, a regional weekly newspaper based in Baguio, he was asked how he would feel if he could not live to see and witness “lasting peace.”

He replied, “Alam mo, hindi na mahalaga ‘yon. Basta ‘yun ‘yong kailangan kasi ng bayan natin. ‘Yung panahon ko, lilipas yan. ‘Yung ‘just and lasting peace,’ hindi. Lasting peace nga eh ‘di ba?”

(You know, that’s no longer important. It’s what our nation really needs. My time will pass, but “just and lasting peace” won’t. That’s why it’s called lasting peace, right?)

Tributes


Tribute to Comrade Felix Randy Malayao

By the National Democratic Front of the Philippines,

6 February 2019

When they murdered you in your sleep, it woke up even more people to the cause you fought for: a just and lasting peace,

genuine freedom, democracy and prosperity to the Filipino people. To the very end, Felix Randy Malayao was a revolutionary and exemplary son of the people.

From the outpouring of rage, grief and condemnation following his brazen killing, we can see a life of service to others that Randy lived.

We see a multifaceted man with the core of a revolutionary – an exceptional student, a youth leader, excellent writer-journalist, scientist, peasant and worker organizer, fraternity brother, almost-chef, prison basketball tournament organizer, teacher to fellow inmates, jail cell“mayor” and even “adviser” to the jail warden, political prisoner, torture victim, internationalist and a warrior for peace and justice.

As a consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panel for the peace talks and its Reciprocal Working Group on Political and Constitutional Reforms (RWG-PCR), Randy showed sharpness of grasp of the condition of the people, political acumen honed by revolutionary work, and enthusiasm to the work that marked how he performed every task given to him in the revolutionary movement.

Randy was methodical, patient and a superb organizer who easily adapted to whatever task, wherever it was – organizing a student conference, blooming in jail, and working as an NDFP consultant.

From his student days when he led the formation of progressive student groups and encouraged student publications to the folds of progressive


journalism, to his organizing years in northern Philippines, Randy was highly-regarded by the people he met and worked with.

Even the fascism of the State and the bars of jails in Cagayan and Isabela could not contain his determination to continue to be of service to the people. He was abducted in May 2008 and tortured for days before being surfaced then charged with multiple criminal cases. After years in prison, he was eventually acquitted and freed.

His stories while in prison are now legends. He was generous to his fellows in jail – be it in sharing resources he received from families and friends, or imparting his knowledge to them. The initiatives he started and organized including literacy programs, gardening and team- building friendly tournaments were deeply appreciated by everyone.

As a consultant of the NDFP Negotiating Panel for the peace talks and its Reciprocal Working Group on Political and Constitutional Reforms (RWG-PCR), Randy showed sharpness of grasp of the condition of the people and enthusiasm to the work that marked how he performed every task given to him in the revolutionary movement.

As an NDFP consultant, Randy went all over the Philippines and also overseas for consultations and education. He endeared himself to many from all walks of life.

For all he was and all he accomplished, Randy was humble, self-critical and ever aiming to improve his work and those around him.

Those who knew him for decades said that Randy’s favourite song was “You’ve Got to Do More than That” that he first heard in an international gathering of students. He did not only give more, he gave it all.

Randy once said in an interview: bloom where you are planted. Indeed, Randy, wherever the revolution took you, you bloomed and made many people around you bloom, as well. Soon, the enemies of the people will tremble at the beautiful sight of a revolution in full bloom that you helped tender and grow.

You are a martyr, a hero whom the enemies could not face awake. They are cowards as they could only traitorously murder the likes of you – civilians, activists and non-combatants – — but cower from the true people’s army and the armed revolution raging in the countryside.


Ka Randy, you shall forever be extolled in our people’s struggle until victory! Long live your memories! Mabuhay ka!

For the Negotiating Panel

National Democratic Front of the Philippines

NDFP Negotiating Panel Chairperson

Fidel V. Agcaoili

NDFP Negotiating Panel members

Julie de Lima

Coni Ledesma

Benito Tiamzon

Asterio Palima

NDFP Senior Adviser

Luis Jalandoni

NDFP Chief Political Consultant

Prof. Jose Maria Sison

Consultants

Staff


Hustisya Para Kay Randy Felix Malayao!

BAYAN MUNA Partylist, February 6, 2019Privilege Speech ni BAYAN MUNA Rep. Carlos Isagani T. Zarate

Kagalang-galang na Speaker:

Sa mga karaniwang pagkakataon, ang pagkamatay nang mahimbing na natutulog ay marahil ang pinakamainam na paraan upang pumanaw. Walang sakit, walang hirap. Makakapiling ang Maylikha na parang lamang mahabang panaginip.

Pero hindi, sa pagkakataong ito.

Sa karaniwang araw, ang pagkamatay sa pamamaril ay hindi na bago. Lalo pa sa panahong ito na halos wala ng pagpapahalaga sa buhay ng tao. “Patayin kita!” “Kill them!” “Bombahin ko mga paaralan niyo!’ o ‘di kaya ay “Uubusin ko kayo!” Mga katagang nawawalan na ng gimbal sa taumbayan dahil sa dalas nating marining. Tila ba kinakalyo na rin ang puso ng mga tao sa araw-araw na pagpaslang ng mga mahihirap sa patuloy na madugong kampanya laban sa droga ng pamahalaan.

Pero hindi, sa pagkakataong ito.

Pinaslang noong Enero 30 ang aming kasamang si Randy Felix Malayao, ang Regional Coordinator ng Bayan Muna sa Cagayan Valley, habang lulan ng bus pauwi ng Isabela. Alas-dos y medya ng madaling-araw nang umakyat sa bus ang berdugo, binaril ng dalawang beses ang tulog na si Randy, saka duwag na tumalilis. Kahayup-hayupan! Hindi niya sukat kung gaano kakarumal-dumal ang pagkitil sa buhay ni Randy.

Maraming pagpaslang sa ilalim ng administrasyong ito, mga kapwa ko mambabatas. Pero hindi ang katulad nito.


Puno ng galit at pighati ang puso ng sambayanan sa pagpatay kay Randy Felix Malayao. Ang aming kasama na hindi-pangkaraniwan, ang aming tinaguriang “gentle brown giant” na si Ka Randy!

Ang di-pangkaraniwang buhay ni Randy ay buong-buo na inalay para sa bayan at masang api. Manunulat si Ka Randy mula pa noong siya ay nasa kolehiyo, at hinirang siya bilang Vice President for the Visayas ng College Editors Guild of the Philippines. Hanggang sa siya ay pinaslang kolumnista siya sa Northern Dispatch Weekly. Katunayan, kung hindi lamang siya dedikadong aktibista, napakadali lamang na tanggapin niya ang mga alok na maging mamamahayag, radio anchor, o kaya ay photographer.

Graduate ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (UP) si Randy. Maaari sana siyang naging researcher, siyentista. Food technologist at food sensory panelist din siya. Katunayan, tanyag ang kanyang pancit cabagan na ginamitan ng microbiology, physics, at chemistry. Pwede na rin siyang magtayo ng panciteria.

Lahat nang ito ay puedeng nagging siya, kung hindi niya pinili ng higit na ialay ang lahat para sa bayan.

“To serve the people selflessly is glorious!,” wika nya. Ang maglingkod sa sambayanan ng walang pag-iimbot ay isang kaluwalhatian!

Noong Abril 2008, dinukot si Randy sa isang mall sa Cainta. Inilitaw lamang siya matapos ang limang araw ng 5th Infantry Battalion ng Philippine Army. Limang araw siyang tinortyur habang isinailalim ng matinding interogasyon. Sa kabila ng sakit at takot para sa sarili at sa mga mahal sa buhay, naging matatag si Randy.

Matapos siyang dukutin ay patong-patong na gawa-gawang kaso ang pinataw sa kanya. Una ay ang pagpatay sa tirador ng diktador na si Rodolfo Aguinaldo at sa bodyguard nito. Nang mapawalang-sala si Ka Randy rito noong 2010, idinawit naman siya sa isang reyd diumano ng New People’s Army. Inilipat lang ng kulungan si Ka Randy. Kalaunan, pinawalang-sala rin siya sa paratang na ito. Gayunpaman, apat na taong nakulong si Ka Randy.

Ngunit, hindi sayang na oras ang inilagi niya sa piitan. Doon ay minahal si Randy ng mga inmates. Siya ay kuya, psychiatrist, tagapayo, paralegal, tagasulat ng mga liham ng hindi marunong magbasa at magsulat.


Nag-organisa ng sportsfests, medical missions. Gumawa ng literacy program. Sa isang pagkakataon ay sinulat pati ang thesis ng warden para maka-gradweyt. Sa Tuguegarao at Ilagan City Jail, hinalal siyang prison governor ng mga inmate.

“Bloom where you are planted,” wika nya.

Hindi sukat ng berdugong pumatay sa iyo ang halaga ng iyong buhay, Ka Randy!

Ang lahat ng ito, ang hindi nababaling dedikasyon na pagsilbihan ang mamamayan ang dahilan kung bakit siya piniling consultant sa peace talks sa pagitang ng National Democratic Front of the Philippines at Gobyerno ng Republika ng Pilipinas.

“Of course, I’m optimistic about the peace talks, we have to be, otherwise all these talks will be for nothing. We have to have hope because that would move us forward. No matter how difficult it is to forge peace agreement, there must be some form of resilience. We have to work hard for it, peace has been very elusive, for centuries...years... ,” wika niya.

Bago nag-collapse ang peace talks noong June 2018, kasama si Randy sa pagbubuo ng kasunduan upang magkaroon ng resolusyon ang limang dekadang gera sibil sa ating bayan.

Hindi alam ng pumaslang sa iyo kung ano ang halaga ng iyong buhay, Ka Randy!

Kasimbigat ng Kordilyera ang iyong pagkawala. Ngunit nagkakamali ang pumaslang sa iyo kung akala niya na ang iyong pagkawala ay ikaaatras ng kilusang nais baguhin ang lipunang mapagsamantala at mapang-api.

Idinilig nila ang iyong dugo sa lupa, pataba sa malawak, malalim, at matibay na kilusang dudurog sa pasismo!

Agbiag iti pannakidangadang ti umili! (Mabuhay ang pakikibaka ng mamamayan!)

Itigil ang Pamamaslang!

Katarungan, Ipagpaban!

Hustisya para kay Ka Randy Felix Malayao!


To write, to choose, to live gloriouslyStatement on Randy Felix P. Malayao, 1969-2019

February 6, 2019

We can find no words to capture our anger over the gruesome killing of our colleague and friend Randy Felix P. Malayao on Jan. 30,

2019 at a bus stop in Nueva Vizcaya.

At the onset, we note that Randy was not facing any charges at the time of his killing. In fact, he had defeated in court a string of trumped-up cases filed by the military and police. He had also survived torture and unjust detention.

When he was killed, Randy was serving as a consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in the peace process which President Duterte had repeatedly scuttled and which had been ended by way of a presidential proclamation. Randy’s murder follows Duterte’s standing order to the military to mercilessly run after communists and so-called sympathizers.

We are mighty proud of Randy. We have always known that he would use his intelligence, political acumen, good character, kindness, humility, wit, and good disposition wherever his commitment brought him. We absolutely admire him as an outstanding propagandist, tireless organizer, and an exceptional builder of consensus. He had this awesome ability to bring people from different background (and even in difficult circumstances) together and forge unity towards a common cause.

We were thus not surprised that the NDFP enlisted Randy as a consultant. Somebody who has an outstanding and incorrupt activist record as a campus journalist, student leader and peasant organizer, could very well provide counsel to the peace process. Unassuming but


indefatigable, Randy had been Bayan Muna regional coordinator in Cagayan Valley and vice president.

Randy honored us with his friendship and also a kinship in our common commitment to campus press freedom and democratic rights. Like many others, we have many stories, anecdotes and vignettes to share. His greatness is confirmed by the avalanche of tributes and requiems offered by activists, organizations, officials, ordinary citizens from across the country and elsewhere in the world.

Randy was always in his element in the company of fellow campus journalists and students. He would quickly make new friends comfortable, and old friends would always miss him. His height makes for a commanding presence — but he didn’t intimidate. He was always humble and charming. And he could sing, and he would sing for Guilders with only a little nudge from us.

We learned a lot from Randy, and we became better activists and better persons because of him. He inspired us through the difficulties he faced. He never wavered. He never gave up up until his abrupt end when a cowardly shooter murdered him in his sleep.

We honor Randy for living up to the Guild’s creed “to write is already to choose” and for enjoining us by his own example to heed the words of a protest song he would always sing: “You’ve got to do more than that”.

We offer our heartfelt condolences to the Malayao family. We cannot imagine their pain and grief. But we wish to thank them for sharing Randy to us and to the Filipino people who he served and who adopted him as one of their finest sons. Even as we decry his murder, we honor Randy and his family by joining countless others in enrolling his name in our glorious pantheon of martyrs.

Prestoline S. Suyat, Weekly Dawn (1994-1998)

Ruth G. Cervantes, The Scholastican (1998-2000)

Rey P. Asis, The Manila Collegian (2000-2002)

Ronalyn V. Olea, Lyceum Independent Sentinel (2002-2004)

National Presidents


Raymund B. Villanueva, The Bedan & The Philippine Collegian

Vice President for Luzon

Vincent Michael L. Borneo, The Amaranth

Owen S. Bayog, The Ripples

Vice Presidents for Visayas

BenCyrus G. Ellorin, The Crusader

Rolando Pinsoy, The New Mindanao Collegian

Vice Presidents for Mindanao

Jazminda P. Lumang, The Paulinian

Cherry Clemente, The Scholastican

Maureen A. Hermitanio, The Catalyst

Julius G. Matibag, The Bedan

National Secretaries-Generals

Angel Tesorero, Josephine Journal

Tonyo Cruz, UPLB Perspective

National Deputy Secretaries-General

Ian Dexter Marquez, Dataline

Jemer Honra, Tinig

Dan Esponilla Dalac, The Catalyst

Metro Manila-Rizal Councilors


Cesar P. Dionido, Kalasag

Pom Cahilog Villanueva, The Torch

Rowena G. Narciso, Aklan Collegian

Andrea B. Martinez, Manila Collegian

National Secretariat Staff


Tribute paid to slain NDFP consultantBy Nestor P. Burgos Jr.,

published in Philippine Daily Inquirer

ILOILO CITY — Friends, former schoolmates and colleagues of Randy Felix Malayao on Wednesday gave tribute to the slain peace consultant

of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), calling him a tireless seeker of justice.

“His sense of justice was unwavering and so was his compassion,” said University of the Philippines Visayas (UPV) professor Mary Barby Badayos-Jover, a friend.

“He was a calming presence who encouraged me to go beyond my comfort zone,” she said.

Malayao, a fisheries graduate of UPV in Miagao, Iloilo province, and former editor in chief of Ang Mangingisda, student publication of the UPV College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, was shot dead while asleep on a bus in Aritao town in Nueva Vizcaya province.

Popular student

He was a consultant of the NDFP in peace talks with the government and vice president of the Makabayan coalition.

Malayao was a popular student leader at UPV and was vice president for Visayas of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP). He was also a founding member of the school chapters of the UP Beta Sigma Fraternity and League of Filipino Students.


Friends and former campus journalists remembered Malayao as the well-dressed, tall and lanky student leader who spoke passionately.

“He was always wearing polo shirts, brown slacks and leather shoes and was ready to jump into any discussion of any topic,” a former campus journalist said.

They recalled Malayao as the CEGP organizer who helped restore or activate student publications in the Visayas.

Impunity

He also led journalism training programs, discussions on social issues and helped in the production of student publications, often spending nights in editing and laying out issues.

The UPV Beta Sigma Fraternity condemned the attack and demanded justice.

“The butchers ended the life of a person who aspired for nothing but peace and genuine development in our country,” the fraternity said in a statement.

“We mourn Brod Randy’s death under the hands of cowardly criminal butchers. But let us not allow fear to conquer us amid the darkness,” the fraternity added.

The UP Fisheries Guild and UPV College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences Student Council also condemned Malayao’s killing.


Tributes pouring in despite PNP vilification vs Malayao


Tributes to Randy Malayao are still pouring in on the eve of the slain National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace

consultant’s burial in the old town of San Pablo, Isabela, his hometown.

Despite apparent efforts by the Cagayan Valley Philippine National Police to malign him, local and international progressive organizations continue to hail Malayao as a genuine peace worker.

“We got to know Randy during the peace dialogues that took place in Europe and we saw his commitment to the struggle for peace and the rights of the Filipino people,” the Rome-based Italian Migrants Committee said in a statement.

The Italian-Filipino Friendship Committee—likewise based in Rome—also expressed its solidarity with Malayao’s relatives and the NDFP.

“The Committee asks the movements and the anti-imperialist and pacifist Italian parties to support the cause of the NDFP and asks the Italian State to commit itself to a just peace in the Philippines in all the international fora, starting with the European Parliament,” it said in a statement.

OFWs in Belgium held a candle-lighting ceremony in front of the Philippine Embassy to protest the killing of Randy Malayao.

In the Philippines, College Editors Guild of the Philippines alumni said they are proud of Randy who “use(d) his intelligence, political acumen, good character, kindness, humility, wit, and good disposition wherever his commitment brought him.”


“We absolutely admire him as an outstanding propagandist, tireless organizer, and an exceptional builder of consensus. He had this awesome ability to bring people from different background (and even in difficult circumstances) together and forge unity towards a common cause,” the group said.

Makabayan chairperson and senate aspirant Neri Colmenares also heaped praise on Malayao when he visited the fallen Bayan Muna regional coordinator’s wake.

“Randy is a hero of the people who spent his life always working for genuine peace and betterment of the Filipino people,” Colmenares said as he urged the PNP to “stop spreading intrigues against him because they are just exposing their true colors.”

In seeming response to ongoing vilification campaigns by the regional PNP and the other anti-Leftist groups against Malayao, NDFP chief political consultant Jose Maria Sison and NDFP Negotiating Panel member Julieta de Lima said they only have fond memories of the victim.

“What immediately struck us as soon as he introduced himself to us was his amiability, cheerful mien, quick sense of humor and deep sense of optimism,” the couple said from their asylum base in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

“In the course of working with him we came to respect him for his revolutionary integrity, intellect and diligence in the discussion of issues and drafting of documents and his desire for a just and lasting peace,” they added.

Sison and de Lima pointed out that in slandering Malayao, those who murdered him are unwittingly rendering him the highest honor even if in the vilest form of slander.

“It is a good thing to be attacked by the enemies of the Filipino people’s revolutionary cause of national and social liberation. The attacks unwittingly verify who are the heroes of the Filipino people,” they said.

Sison and de Lima said Malayao has “contributed his best to the struggle for national freedom, democracy, genuine development, social justice, cultural progress and just peace.”

“He will live forever in the hearts and minds of the people, while his contributions are indestructible energy within the growing and advancing revolutionary movement,” they said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)


Slain NDFP peace consultant mourned across political groups

By Inday Espina Varona, first published in Medium.Com, January 31, 2019

Church workers, activists, members of a national fraternity, journalists and alumni of a student editors’ guild, artists and rights workers held

a candlelight protest and tribute to murdered National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace panel consultant Felix Randy Malayao Jr. Wednesday night.

At the University of the Philippines in Quezon City and on social media platforms, a wide swathe of Filipinos shared their memories of Malayao, 49, who was shot dead while sleeping inside a commuter bus before dawn of January 30.

The recollections from people across different political bents give a portrait of a man who wore many hats and was “skilled in alliance work.”

“We give him our highest honor for his invaluable contributions to the revolutionary movement and the NDFP’s peace efforts,” said NDF peace panel chair Fidel Agcaoili in a statement.

While Malayao’s official designation was peace panel consultant on political and constitutional reforms, Agcaoili said he had acted as a spokesperson for the NDFP in peace talks.

Malayao’s tasks for the NDF overshadowed his work with the militant Makabayan coalition of political parties. He was vice president of the coalition and regional coordinator for the Bayan Muna party in Cagayan valley, his home region and a key area of votes for leftist political parties.


Malayao was seldom seen on stages but he was immersed in many campaigns, from assertion of farmers’ rights, seeking a halt to killings, to exposing corruption and environmental abuse.

Deft touch

Malayao was a peasant organizer when arrested by the Armed Forces’ intelligence branch in 2008 and charged as the mastermind in the killing of former military officer turned governor and legislator, Rodolfo Aguinaldo.

Fr. Dionito Cabillas of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) was a member of the quick reaction team that found Malayao five days after his disappearance.

Cabillas, who was then working for the human rights group Karapatan, said he visited Malayao at the Tuguegarao City jail, where he was held pending trial.

Though Malayao had been heavily tortured by his captors, Cabillas said the man who greeted him was cheerful and had, almost overnight, become the “governor” among the jail’s inmates.

“The jail authorities gave him a privilege to use a laptop as they trusted him,” Cabillas recalled.

Security policies in Philippine jails ban inmates from using communications devices. Malayao’s privilege may have been due to family connections; he came from a well-connected, middle class clan with ties to local politicians.

But Cabillas said Malayao had something more than connections.

He was a natural in “alliance work,” a trait prized among militant activists who need to forge links with various political groups, the priest said.

“He was able to draw the trust of his co-prisoners and his jailers. To be recognized by these people is an art of being an organizer and a good leader of his people. He was able to do it even though he was called by his jailers as a ‘communist’.”


Generous

Former journalist Joel Paredes, who gave the tribute for Malayao’s Beta Sigma fraternity, said a deep well of generosity was part of Maglayao’s charm.

Malayao’s frat fellows tried to meet his needs.

“But, except for books, he almost never sought favors for himself,” Paredes said. “All requests were for other inmates.”

Malayao moved from the main state university campus to its Miag-ao branch in Iloilo province to take up fisheries. There, he set up a new chapter for the fraternity and a chapter of the militant League of Filipino Students. He graduated in 1992.

Malayao became an editor of the campus’ student paper and organized for the College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines. Columnist Tonyo Cruz said Malayao was responsible in convincing many student journalists to “go full-time and serve the people.”

Paredes called Malayao “a journalist for the people” as he never earned from his work in various alternative publications. At the time of his death, he was a columnist for the Northern Dispatch, one of the oldest news outfits in the northern part of the main island of Luzon.

Journalist Raymund Villanueva, a childhood friend of Malayao and comrade in the College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines national secretariat during their student days, said the slain activist wore his leadership post lightly. Sharp but gentle, he won admirers even from people allergic to militancy.

Malayao spent more than four years in jail before a court acquitted him of all charges.

“He received many gifts. At one point, he had four electric fans. He divided these among inmates in a hot jail. When friends saw he was down to one, they would send more,” Villanueva said at the tribute.

Bishops, politicians, landed families would send food to Malayao. Inmates awaited his birthday for the parade of roasted pigs sent by friends.

The inmates mourned his release, joked a human rights worker, but he did not forget them and regularly sought donations for those left behind.


That generosity was already apparent during Malayao’s student days.

“Among fellow students in Iloilo Randy was known as an elder brother, letting them stay in his rented apartment in Iloilo City and letting them use his personal computer for free,” Villanueva. wrote for the Pinoy Weekly.

“Randy was among the first students to own such a gadget in the entire province. He helped everyone who sought his assistance in writing theses and academic papers.”

He was so generous that he even helped write the thesis of his jail warden.

Peace work

The NDFP, the umbrella group of sectoral underground organizations in Asia’s longest running insurgency, tapped Magayao in 2008 shortly after his arrest to be a consultant, initially for economics and social reforms.

Before President Rodrigo Duterte scuttled peace talks with the NDF, Malayao was part of the team that bagged a landmark agreement on agrarian reform that called for the free distribution of land.

He was sharp, very bright but also very witty and gentle, said writer Fides Lim, whose jailed husband Vicente Ladlad was also among the peace panel consultants.

That is a description raised across the political spectrum.

This reporter met Malayao at the residence of Tuguegarao Archbishop Sergio L. Utleg during the height of the nationwide campaign against congressional pork in 2015.

The former altar boy acted as host. Elder parishioners came to him with various inquiries, from land disputes to environmental concerns.

I asked if all of them were activists. Malayao laughed.

“Hardly, some of them keep scolding me. But they all care for the land and so I try to help them,” he replied.

Final Rites


‘Che Guevarra of the Philippines’: Beta Sigma vows to keep Randy

Malayao’s name aliveBy Kodao Productions

SAN PABLO, Isabela–They called his name three times at the end of a long roll call. But unlike the others, no “Here I am!” came after “Brod

Randy Felix Malayao” was called.

“Brothers in the Beta Sigma Fraternity, I regret to inform you that our brother Randy Felix P. Malayao died last January 30, 2019,” the master of ceremony eventually said.

There were many silent tears as dozens of Beta Sigmans in barong Tagalogs observed a moment of silence for one of its own and among its best and most illustrious. They held a tribute for their fraternity brother at the last night of his wake.

The crowd of hundreds fell silent too, witnessing the ceremony of the first time, as Malayao was the first and only Beta Sigman from his old hometown.

A 73-year old fraternity that counts around 20,000 members throughout the country recruited from almost all major colleges and universities in the Philippines, the group’s name means “brotherhood of scholars.”

Speaker after speaker recalled their encounters with Malayao, one of the Beta Sigmans who was openly and proudly Leftist. They said that even from a group that aspires to represent “the best in men,” Malayao stood out as one of their best.

Former journalist and Beta Sigma national chairperson Joel Paredes said they have visited Malayao when he was jailed in Tuguegarao and Ilagan cities but he seldom asked things for himself.


“He always asked for medicines and books for the entire jail population, including cleaning items and livelihood projects,” Paredes said.

Other Beta Sigmans revealed that when Malayao regained his freedom in 2012, the first activities he organized were medical missions for his former jail mates.

The fraternity said that aside from seeking justice on their brother’s murder, they are are planning to launch three projects to honor Malayao in perpetuity.

“First, Beta Sigma will launch ‘Operation Big Brother’ to help marginalized sectors in Cagayan Valley, an idea that came from Brod Randy himself,” former Delfin Albano, Isabela mayor Ed Taccad said.

Taccad added they will institutionalize the Randy Malayao Leadership Award for outstanding high school students as well as seek the declaration of January 30 as Randy Malayao Day throughout Isabela.

“I am a colonel in the Philippine Marines. But I admire Randy for what he stood for,” Taccad said.

“Randy is the Che Guevarra of the Philippines,” he added. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

“To serve the people selflessly is glorious!”

Randy Felix P. Malayao

Documents

RANDY · 2020-01-21 · vi Tungkol sa Aklat Ang aklat na ito ay isang pag-aalay. Ito ay isang pagpupugay. Isang pagdakila. Nang paslangin si Randy Felix P. Malayao noong Enero 30,