Pinoy Weekly | Fil-Ams identify with working-class Bonifacio

Posted: 29 Nov 2013 05:40 AM PST “I got that heart of Bonifacio,” says the opening line of “Lookin’ Up” by beatrock duo Prometheus Brown and Bambu. Los Angeles, CA – “I got that heart of Bonifacio.” That is the opening line of “Lookin’ Up”, a song by Prometheus Brown and Bambu, a beatrock duo gaining popularity among Filipino-Americans. The music video of the song has almost 150,000 views on Youtube. “I’m from a place where the system’s still feudal, the masses still colonized,” a line from the refrain goes. “Andres Bonifacio’s legacy plays a big role in who I am and what I do. My mom grew up in a town named after Bonifacio. She showed me a coin from the Philippines with him on it and she explained to me that he, not Emilio Aguinaldo, was the real hero of the Philippines,” Brown said of the Filipino revolutionary hero. In 2002, Prometheus Brown became a founding member of Anakbayan Seattle, the first overseas chapter of the militant youth-student organization that is part of the national democratic movement in the Philippines. It was founded on November 30, Bonifacio’s birthday. This year, Filipino-Americans join the rest of the Filipino people in celebrating the 150th birthday of the supreme leader of the Katipunan, which fought for independence of the Philippines from Spanish colonial rule. As Filipinos continue to seek a stable life throughout the globe because of the lack of opportunities in the country, they are more able to relate their life with the working-class hero Bonifacio. “Anakbayan is a continuation of Bonifacio’s unfinished revolution for a truly sovereign, independent Philippines. His legacy and importance as a historic figure in the formation (and continuing struggle) of Filipino identity and nationhood also influences my music,” added Brown. Anakbayan Los Angeles, SAMA SAMA youth and the Filipino Migrant Center are celebrating a community Filipino Cultural Night for the 150th anniversary of Bonifacio’s birth. “Bonifacio is important because of his role in uniting the Philippine islands in resistance against Spain’s colonial rule and through that, helped to shape and form a national Filipino identity,” Janelle Quibuyen, Anakbayan Seattle Educational Director, meanwhile said. Many Filipinos in America feel that Bonifacio, and the great majority of Filipinos that he represents, have been shortchanged to this day. Academics and historians believe that Bonifacio’s death and the questionable elections during the Tejeros convention allowed an “elite democracy” to rule over the country that is still evident today. “I believe that we are able to uphold Bonifacio’s legacy of resistance through community organizing with youth and students. We educate the public about the rich history of the Philippines, organize around laws, bills, acts and policies that affect the Filipino population today, and lastly, mobilize our communities to take action to be a voice that promotes the welfare of Filipinos in the U.S. and abroad,” Quibuyen added. Meanwhile, for Anakbayan member Eugene Gambol, “The legacy of Bonifacio and the Katipunan is the continuing struggle of working-class Filipinos and the liberation of the Philippines against those who aim to exploit the Filipino people and its natural resources.” “The unfinished revolutions of the past have planted the seeds of a revolutionary spirit fighting for genuine democracy and liberation of the Philippines,” he said.