this is my story #7 "Fighting for a Higher Cause" by Renato P. Constantino www.31stories.com
My goal was the uplifting of the great masses in our society. That was where I directed my energy, my time and my life.
As a young child, I knew w…
this is my story #7 "Fighting for a Higher Cause" by Renato P. Constantino www.31stories.com
My goal was the uplifting of the great masses in our society. That was where I directed my energy, my time and my life.
As a young child, I knew what it felt to be poor. While other children were enjoying their free time from school, I was working with my mother and sister to be able to provide food on our table. Nonetheless, we led a happy family life, believing in a GOD who cared for us and believing that if we strove to do our best, we would eventually prosper.
This idealism never shattered, even when it was a struggle to make ends meet. I was a scholar in college and had to work to support my family and myself. I gave 24 pesos--half of my weekly salary---to my family, walked half the distance of Cubao to Pasig, and literally ate crumbs from the factory where I worked. At one point, I also had to work as a garbage collector to be able to help my family and finish my studies.
In 1975, my sister Ruby was diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease. We lacked the amount needed for expensive diagnostic tests and hence she had to stay in the hospital for over a year. I felt that she became more of a specimen for medical students to study rather than a patient who needed treatment to improve her condition. Her death broke my spirit and made me question GOD's fairness in allowing this to happen. I also began to hate the system I felt we had to tolerate---with the poor only becoming poorer while the rich became richer. Government officials were more interested in using their positions to amass wealth for themselves than in helping our people. Injustices were happening left and right; even "religious" people seemed to be blinded to the things happening around them and were more comfortable within the 4 walls of their churches. I began to look elsewhere for an answer to such oppression.
A Dream for the Poor
It was around this time in 1977 that the lure of communism became strong. I joined a study cell that discussed the works of Karl Marx, Lenin and Mao Tse Tung. I was introduced to an ideal system in which goods and services were owned by the community and were available to all as needed. I was won over by the communists' simple lifestyle and tireless dedication to the cause of uplifting the plight of the masses.
So on July 4, 1977, I committed myself to the Communist party of the Philippines. I saw greater value in serving their cause fulltime and forgot about all the dreams I had from childhood. I set aside opportunities to use my qualifications as an engineer to uplift my own family from poverty. In the party, you had to condition your mind to give 100% of yourself to the cause of liberating the masses of the whole world.
As I gradually moved up the ladder of leadership in the CPP, I became more and more skilled in furthering the ideals I had embraced. Although my first assignment in the movement was just delivering and distributing our pamphlet, I was ab
