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CULTURE
Mulong Sandoval:
Revolutionary Poet
Romulo (or Mulong)
Sandoval was a prime example of a revolutionary poet who successfully
merged high poetic artistry with solid political commitment. Even as he
vied a number of times for literary awards – and successfully so – he
never wrote for these alone, unlike many writers past and present. Always,
he wrote for the people above all.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN
REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
 Last Feb. 8, poets
old and young gathered at 70s Bistro, a famed watering hole for artists
and NGO workers in Quezon City, to commemorate the 8th death
anniversary of fellow poet Romulo Sandoval.
They remembered that
the eve of Sandoval’s death was the launching of his first and only book
of poems, Kanta sa Gabi (Song in the Night).
A video presentation
of the book launch showed the already wheelchair-bound Sandoval browsing
through a copy of his book, amid a stirring rendition of his poem “Pagkat
Tayo’y Nagmamahal” (Because We Love) by the renowned poet-musician
Jesus Manuel Santiago. The video documentary was done by Sine Patriyotiko.
(He succumbed to cancer in 1997 and was buried in his native town.)
It was a gathering of
big names, so to speak. They were there: protest poets Gelacio Guillermo,
Roberto Ofanda Umil, Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera, Fidel Rillo, and Reuel Molina
Aguila; painter Boy Dominguez, photojournalist Jimmy Domingo,
poet-anthropologist Arnold Molina Azurin, poet-journalist Richard Gappi,
newspaper columnist Conrado de Quiros, and others who had crossed paths
with the man.
But there were also
poets and other artists who never got to meet him personally, but know of
his work and take inspiration from these.
Aguila and Lumbera
would both quip about the program starting later than scheduled – a
fitting tribute, they said in good-natured jest, to a man “notorious” for
coming to meetings as much as two or three hours late. It brought to mind
Dr. Elmer Ordoñez’s article, “Two Poets in a Class Society,” where he
talked of Sandoval eluding arrest during martial law because he was late
for a meeting of their group.
Now, why would anyone
have wanted Sandoval arrested during those tumultuous times?
Sandoval is known by
those who have followed Philippine literature closely as a major protest
poet in the fine tradition of Andres Bonifacio, Jose Corazon de Jesus,
Crisanto Evangelista, and Amado V. Hernandez. His poems, though few – and,
as both Rillo and Lumbera would note – far between, were powerful
expressions of the quest for national liberation and social justice,
condemnations of imperialist and elite oppression and political
repression.
Voice of the
people
His partisanship for
the cause of the people was to be expected, considering where he came
from.
Sandoval was born on
July 26, 1950 in Bauan, Batangas (100 kms. south of Manila), the son of a
sidewalk vendor. Because he was a consistent honor student in grade school
and high school, his parents worked hard to send him to Metro Manila for
his college education.
He enrolled at the
University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City in 1967, where
he was exposed to the then rising student activist movement.
Poet-musician Heber
Bartolome relates that at UP where he also studied, he was with Sandoval
in a group called Kapisanan ng Panitikang Pilipino (KPP, Association for
Philippine Literature) – together with Fanny Garcia and Ricardo Lee, who
would both become award-winning scriptwriters; and Valerio Nofuente, also
a poet who would teach at UP and eventually be martyred in the last years
of martial law. Bartolome described this group as involved in activism.
In 1971, Sandoval
joined the Panulat para sa Kaunlaran ng Sambayanan (PAKSA or Writers for
the Advancement of the People), a national organization of activist
writers. PAKSA would be outlawed upon the declaration of martial law a
year later.
Sandoval joined the
revolutionary underground movement during martial law, even as he remained
involved in above-ground cultural work.
In 1973, he was among
the founders of the Galian sa Arte at Tula (GAT or Celebration in Art and
Poetry), a group of poets promoting socially-committed poetry along the
so-called “circumventionist” pattern which involved the use of
semi-allegorical images to get past the martial-law censors while at the
same time attacking the existing order. It was through GAT anthologies
that many of his poems would see print.
In the underground,
Sandoval was part of a group that translated revolutionary literature and
documents into Filipino. He was one of those who translated Amado
Guerrero’s Philippine Society and Revolution, as well as essays by
Mao Zedong.
He was also involved
in the publication of revolutionary anthologies, like STR: Mga Tula ng
Rebolusyon (STR: Poems of the Revolution), Magsasaka: Ang Bayaning
Di Kilala (The Peasant: The Unknown Hero), Mga Tula’t Awit ng
Rebolusyong Pilipino (Poems and Songs of the Philippine Revolution),
and Cesar Lacara’s Sa Tungki ng Ilong ng Kaaway (Under the Enemy’s
Nose).
Sandoval was in the
editorial board of Ulos (Thrust), the main cultural journal of the
revolutionary underground movement, until his death; and was involved in
the publication of other underground cultural journals like Dare to
Struggle, Dare to Win, Kamao (Fist), and Tinig ng Bayan
(Voice of the Nation). He occasionally helped in editing Rebolusyon
(Revolution), the theoretical journal of the Communist Party of the
Philippines (CPP) and Ang Bayan (The People), the Party’s official
organ.
Above ground, he
would be among the GAT pillars who would condemn former activist writers
who sold out to the Marcos propaganda machinery.
In the 1980s and
1990s, he was involved in Gapas Foundation, an institution specializing in
the collection and publication of literature on the peasantry. Shortly
before his death, he was also involved in the Instityut sa Panitikan at
Sining ng Sambayanan (IPASA or Institute for People’s Literature and Art),
a legal institution collecting and publishing literature on the people’s
war in the countryside.
Poetry and
commitment
The partisans of art
for art’s sake insist that merging poetry and politics spoils the art in
poetry. At times they go as far as saying that overt politics takes all
the poetry out of a poem.
The achievements of
Romulo Sandoval show that this is not the case. He was a prime example of
a revolutionary poet who successfully merged high poetic artistry with
solid political commitment.
Even as he vied a
number of times for literary awards – and successfully so – he never wrote
for these alone unlike many writers past and present. Always, he wrote for
the people above all. Bulatlat
Poetry:
Pagkat
Tayo'y Nagmamahal
Byahe
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