Ka Bel freed!
Finally, something happy to blog about!
This is a pathetically overdue post, something that I should have written the hour right after it happened, but didn't (fell asleep right upon reaching home). Anyway, Ka Bel, Crispin Beltran of Anakpawis, was released last July 10 after 16 months of illegal detention by the Arroyo administration.
It's about time! Ka Bel, his family and colleagues have suffered so much for the year and a half that he was detained in Camp Crame and at the Heart Center. The release is partly vindication for the wrongs done to him by the government, a crisp slap in the face at the villains behind his ordeal. And just in time for Pres. Arroyo's upcoming State of the Nation Address and the opening of the 14th Congress, where Ka Bel shall serve as a duly-elected solon for a third and final term.
I'm glad not just because Ka Bel's finally free, but also because he survived and prevailed over this unshaken, unbowed, and undefeated. He even jokes about it occasionally. And he's ready to take on more, like Manny Pacquiao minus the braggadocio and messianic illusions. From the sidelines, it felt good to clap and cheer him on, knowing that we've all gained a small step forward in the fight.
As with most happy events, we tried to document it in our own little ways. I TRIED to take some decent phone video footage of the moment when Ka Bel exited the hospital's elevators at around 9 p.m. and strode into the emergency exit where supporters cheered him on.
Just to give an idea of how happy everyone was, I'm posting it here. The shots are pretty lousy and downright amateurish, sorry. For those who don't know what to make of this chaotic scene, Ka Bel is the man in a red shirt, the one who suddenly appears out of the elevator door and hugs the other guy wearing a red shirt (KMU's Bong Labog, I think). The woman joyfully jumping up and down in the background is Ka Bel's Chief of Staff and uber-writer Ina. The rest are mostly staff, well-wishers, mass leaders. I couldn't hold my hand still because everything was literally shaking from behind the glass walls of the lobby where we were: there were just so many more people outside cheering and jumping and jostling and lining up for some real hugging and handshake space.
(As for your juvenile camerawoman, she was preparing to inch closer and take a better shot of how Ka Bel would step outside into the arms of the crowd when her cellphone suddenly rang and cut everything else out. Drats!)
This is a pathetically overdue post, something that I should have written the hour right after it happened, but didn't (fell asleep right upon reaching home). Anyway, Ka Bel, Crispin Beltran of Anakpawis, was released last July 10 after 16 months of illegal detention by the Arroyo administration.It's about time! Ka Bel, his family and colleagues have suffered so much for the year and a half that he was detained in Camp Crame and at the Heart Center. The release is partly vindication for the wrongs done to him by the government, a crisp slap in the face at the villains behind his ordeal. And just in time for Pres. Arroyo's upcoming State of the Nation Address and the opening of the 14th Congress, where Ka Bel shall serve as a duly-elected solon for a third and final term.
I'm glad not just because Ka Bel's finally free, but also because he survived and prevailed over this unshaken, unbowed, and undefeated. He even jokes about it occasionally. And he's ready to take on more, like Manny Pacquiao minus the braggadocio and messianic illusions. From the sidelines, it felt good to clap and cheer him on, knowing that we've all gained a small step forward in the fight.
As with most happy events, we tried to document it in our own little ways. I TRIED to take some decent phone video footage of the moment when Ka Bel exited the hospital's elevators at around 9 p.m. and strode into the emergency exit where supporters cheered him on.
Just to give an idea of how happy everyone was, I'm posting it here. The shots are pretty lousy and downright amateurish, sorry. For those who don't know what to make of this chaotic scene, Ka Bel is the man in a red shirt, the one who suddenly appears out of the elevator door and hugs the other guy wearing a red shirt (KMU's Bong Labog, I think). The woman joyfully jumping up and down in the background is Ka Bel's Chief of Staff and uber-writer Ina. The rest are mostly staff, well-wishers, mass leaders. I couldn't hold my hand still because everything was literally shaking from behind the glass walls of the lobby where we were: there were just so many more people outside cheering and jumping and jostling and lining up for some real hugging and handshake space.
(As for your juvenile camerawoman, she was preparing to inch closer and take a better shot of how Ka Bel would step outside into the arms of the crowd when her cellphone suddenly rang and cut everything else out. Drats!)
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