the last time i marched was on the day after ninoy’s funeral, to liwasang bonifacio for an anti-marcos rally. it was the first gathering of leftists and yellow peeps since the assassination and, if memory serves, marcos’s metrocom was nowhere to be seen. just the same, medyo mahigpit ang security, every group marshalling its own ranks, for fear, i supposed, of infiltrators who might make trouble.  gigi duenas (de beaupre), an old friend from u.p. basement days, and i found each other early on, neither of us with any particular group, and so we mostly moved around as speeches were made.  we squatted (literally) by the leftists for a while — i remember nelia sancho, seated on the ground, may baong lata ng skyflakes.  but the yellow brigades, there was no joining them, no getting past their marshals, even if i was wearing a yellow top, and that was disappointing.

when it was over gigi and i walked all the way back to metromag (central bank bldg) where we found marita manuel, ishmael bernal, marilou diaz-abaya, and jorge arago hanging around the backdoor steps of the met museum watching marchers walk by.  heto na ang mga aktibista, sey nila in welcome.

i don’t know that i’m still up to a march in these my lola days (daze), but see you on august 26.  scrap all pork barrel in all its incarnations!