Activists to pay tribute to labor leader
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 07/03/2009 2:56 PM
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MANILA - Progressive group members will gather Friday night to pay tribute to a Kilusang Mayo Uno leader who died Wednesday.
The labor movement lost another active leader with the death of Kilusang Mayo Uno’s secretary general, Wilson Fronda Baldonaza.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) with other progressive partylist groups like Bayan Muna and Gabriela will hold a tribute for Ka Wilson Friday night.
Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo and Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza are expected to attend the tribute.
According to KMU’s website, Baldonaza passed away 2:15 a.m. Wednesday at the Manila Central University Hospital in Caloocan City. He was 51.
The labor group said Baldonaza, also known as “Ka Wilson,” suffered a stroke last June 5 due to complications from his heart, lung, kidney and liver problems. He was hospitalized, but his health condition continued to worsen. At the time of his death, he was being sustained by a respirator.
His remains lie in state at the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) along Edsa, Quezon City. He is survived by his wife, Lily.
Ka Wilson became a member of the militant youth organization Samahan ng Demokratikong Kabataan before the declaration of Martial law and worked various jobs in his hometown in Victoria, Tarlac and Metro Manila.
In 1985, Ka Wilson became vice-president and subsequently president of the workers union at Mabuhay Textile Mills.
From 1987 to 1990, he served as secretary-general of the Valenzuela chapter of Bayan, the umbrella organization of nationalist organizations.
Ka Wilson worked for nine years as a researcher and educator at the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research, a church-supported pro-worker institution.
It was in 2000 when he decided to work full-time in organizing workers’ unions under the Alliance of Nationalist and Genuine Labor Organizations, a KMU federation. Two years later, he was elected federation president.
In 2007, Ka Wilson was elected as KMU’s secretary-general.
KMU chairperson Elmer “Bong” Labog described Ka Wilson as “a hardworking labor leader and trade union educator, a militant but gentle warrior of the Filipino working-class and people.
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