KUMASA: Kamtin ang Tagumpay

(English Translations)

KUMASA: Kamtin ang tagumpay!
KUMASA: Seize victory!

The Filipino proletariat was born more than a hundred years ago. The reeling years indelibly marked achievements for reasonable wages, security of employment and workers’ rights. Still, to this day, the Filipino workers remain marginalised and oppressed. Worse, the capitalists and the state are systematically taking away these gains hard-earned through arduous labour and painful struggles.

Because of its backward economy, being a semifeudal and semicolonial country, the Philippines has a large labor reserve. This makes it easy for capitalists to simply peg workers’ wages to a very low minimum. If workers opt to demand for higher wages and additional benefits through collective bargaining, they need to pass thru the eye of a needle to form a union. The government also allows rampant and oppressive schemes of contractualisation which glooms the workers’ security of employment and oblige workers to labour arbitrarily more than the 8-hour work. Established unions are being crushed, while picket protests and strikes are brutally dispersed by the police and military.

These situations leave workers with no option but to defend the gains of their historic struggles, and to intensify and raise higher the level of these struggles.

Such are the conditions of the Filipino workers and society that inspired the album KUMASA: Kamtin Ang Tagumpay! (KUMASA: Seize Victory!). The lyrics and music are mostly composed by workers from the Southern Tagalog region in the Philippines. The album which took shape in the midst of intense contradictions in politics, economics and culture - in the factories, workers’ communities and picketlines – reflects the conditions, goals and aspirations of the Filipino working class and the people.

The album is also released in time with the 25th Year Anniversary of Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement), the sole workers’ movement carrying the banner of genuine, militant and anti-imperialist unionism in the Philippines.

KUMASA


KAMTIN ANG TAGUMPAY
(seize victory)
Words and music by SUBOK
(3rd place award in the Gawad Ka Amado 2003, songwriting category)

Onward workers, we will move forward
Seize every moment
Forge the strength of our unity
Seize victory in struggle.

Waste not this moment
Destroy the fortress of greed
Let us work for our freedom
This is our great task.

Nothing will hinder our goal
Be it a blow, storm or the class enemy
Destroy the chains
Till we liberate the whole humankind.

µ µ µ

KAHILINGAN
(demand)
Words and music by Marlon Torres
(First place award in the Gawad Ka Amado 2000, songwriting category)

The sweat on the forehead
Equates to a countless profit
Monopolised by a handful of capitalists,
While a few cents are spared for wage earners.

In our poor conditions as workers,
We try to be patient and wait
While they truly exploit
The fruits of our labor.

Wage, jobs and rights
These are our demands
Wage, jobs and rights
In the midst of our dismal state
Wage, jobs and rights
We shall struggle for.

Though we exhaust for a day’s work
Tomorrow, the day after we will be unemployed
This is the law and decree of the state
To deliberately put us to this state.

The government and capital rule
This system
Strengthen and expand our army
Confront the capitalists, confront the state.

Our struggle will not be useless
Though we face harassments and bullets
We shall end exploitation
Every day is a struggle!

µ µ µ

WALA
(nothing)
Words and music by KUMASA

Is chance really hard to find
Or are these intended situations?
No matter how hard I try,
Conditions pressure.
What’s in store for tomorrow?

Been in the streets all day
To save I walk
Do you know of any job vacancies?
Please, brother, I badly need one.
My family’s eyes are swollen
For we frequently miss meals.
My children cannot go to school,
My wife restless.

But there’s nothing, nothing
I can find no job
Truly there’s nothing, nothing
Nothing.

Recently I’ve been dismissed
From the factory where I work
Obliged to work to the bones
While our salaries are delayed
Or oftentimes none at all;
Drugged to labor immensely
Or the Korean boss gets mad
He said he needs his capital to grow
While we remain contractuals for 3 years.

Every now and then, the president promises
To provide millions of jobs
Where are these promises?
Should we always be fooled?
She said that labor should be cheap and docile
To attract investors
Never dream of any pay increase
Never complain even if treated as an animal.

µ µ µ

SUMULONG
(onward)
Words and music by KUMISAP II

Every step in the struggle
We always carry the strength of the masses
They are our foundation and refuge
To forge our freedom.

Wherever in the island are the fronts
By these we base and measure
The unity of the people.

Onward workers and peasants
Let us lead the ranks of the masses
In the blows and cruelty of the foreign enemy
We shall never be conquered till victory is won.

Sweat and blood will nourish
The dry and troubled land
Courage and resoluteness in the correct line
Will guide us to renewed strength.

µ µ µ

BIGWAS NG TAGUMPAY
(blow of victory)
Words and music by Maryjane Alejo, Alay Sining

Defend against the whips
To our lives, wage and jobs
Workers act now
Struggle against foreign capital,
Colonial state and ravenous capitalists.

Lands are once again grabbed
In the countrysides
Peasants, unite now
Struggle against the landlords,
End exploitation.

Freedom to the oppressed people
Hold to the bolo and trigger
Freedom is our cry
In the blow of victory of liberation.

The fields are aflame
Towards the cities
It’s time to revitalize
Fight imperialism,
End poverty, change our society.
µ µ µ

P125
Words and music by KAMPANA

Prices of basic commodities
Rocket endlessly
The people languish in poverty;
Traditional politicians are busy
Expanding their tummies
In the senate and congress
The voting masses are deceived.

We workers demand
P125 wage increase
Across the board, nationwide
For Juan’s eyes are swollen of hunger.

The laws are burdensome
Programs of deregulation,
Privatization, liberalization
- effects of globalization;
We cannot hope for anything
From a pro-imperialist government
Workers, unite
Struggle for wage increase.

µ µ µ

MAKIBAKA, H’WAG MATAKOT!
(struggle, have no fear!)
Words and music by Prestoline Suyat

Comrades, tighten our arms clench
The streets is an arena of struggle
Never flutter, firmly stand
The people’s fight, let us exclaim strongly.

We now face the state forces
Blindly following orders from their boss
We have no weapon but our principles
Whatever harassment, we will not allow defeat.

Struggle, have no fear!
The people cry out
Struggle, have no fear!
Reason sides with us.
Struggle, have no fear!
The people cry out
Struggle, have no fear!
Towards liberation.

If they start beating us with truncheons,
Or attack us with water cannons and teargas,
Defend oneself and the comrades
Don’t be frightened, militantly struggle.

This fight is not the first and last
The people’s and the few’s interests
Are always contradictory
The question is to whom one sides
And who are allies
Victory is assured to us oppressed.

µ µ µ

ESKIROL
(scab)
Words and music by KUMASA

Do you still remember when we were together
In the factory, when you said:
“No one leaves, onward with the fight
Till the end, wherever it ends”.

After a while contradictions intensify
Between the workers and the devious, greedy capitalist
Where were you? We are to stage the strike
Where were you, my comrade?

Scab, scab, scab
So you became a scab
Scab, scab, scab
You are called a scab.

So here we are today outside the factory
Struggling as the strike continues
Rain or shine we will never loosen up
With what we’ve started
Unlike you, a traitor to the union.

µ µ µ

DALUYONG
(torrents)
Words and music by KUMISAP II
(2nd place award in the Gawad Ka Amado 2003, songwriting category)

Carrying the aim to be free
From the land,
From the countrysides,
The peasants will gush into the cities.

From the factories and workplaces
Workers will unite
They will lead the fight
Of the oppressed people.

Establish the strength and steadfastness
Of our mass movement
It will be torrents of waves
To mark history.

Sharpen our stand
Put aflame our militancy
Courageously struggle
Against the class enemies.

Rock the pedestal of the lords
Destroy the foundations of the greedy
We will sow the seeds of liberation
For the people.

Expand the strength and steadfastness
Of our mass movement
It will be torrents of waves
To create history.

Advance the strength and steadfastness
Of our mass movement
It will be torrents of waves
We will advance till victory.

Revolution will surge!

µ µ µ

PARANGAL SA MGA REBOLUSYONARYONG MARTIR
(tribute to revolutionary martyrs)
Words and music by Rafael Baylosis
(Composed in April 1976 in Camp Crame CSU Detention Center, as a salutation to Comrades Lorena Barros, Lorenzo Lansang and Eugene Grey – First Quarter Storm revolutionary activists in 1970 – who were killed in successive military encounters with the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Central and South Quezon.)

He offered his only life
For the sake of the oppressed people;
He had loved the proletariat
And disowned the oppressing class.

He learned to overcome
Weaknesses and difficulties
In the hands of the enemy or in the fronts
He courageously stood.

His passing away is as huge as a mountain
O, great life, gloriuos death.

He learned to overcome
Weaknesses and difficulties
In the hands of the enemy or in the fronts
He courageously stood.

We shall tread the paths
Where he shed sweat and blood
We will seize victory.

µ µ µ

LANSAGIN
(dismantle)
Words and music by TULISANES

Together, let us claim what was robbed from us –
The forests and seas, cities and countrysides,
Mountains and fields,
Together, let us claim the richness of the land
Destroyed by the imperialists;
Together, let us claim, this is ours,
O Philippines
Voices unite and songs to tremor.

Dismantle… dismantle
Dismantle… dismantle

Together, let us consolidate our unified ranks
Let us achieve national democracy
Together, let us strengthen the fortress of the oppressed –
Workers, peasants and poor;
Aim at the main enemy of the people
The song will enrage, the skies aflame, clench arms.

Together, let us advance the struggle
And do away with the hindrances to unity
We will establish a socialist society
Which we will uphold, deepen and strengthen;
Together, let us advance the waving tide of solidarity
Clenched fist, we will sing to the whole world.

µ µ µ

KUMASA
kamtin ang tagumpay!

01 kamtin ang tagumpay
(seize victory)
Words and music by SUBOK
1:56

02 kahilingan
(demand)
Words and music by Marlon Torres
3:28

03 wala
(nothing)
Words and music by KUMASA
4:42

04 sumulong
(onward)
Words and music by KUMISAP II
3:41

05 bigwas ng tagumpay
(blow of victory)
Words and music by Maryjane Alejo, Alay Sining
5:55

06 P125
Words and music by KAMPANA
3:25

07 makibaka, h’wag matakot!
(struggle, have no fear!)
Words and music by Prestoline Suyat
5:14

08 eskirol
(scab)
Words and music by KUMASA
3:17

09 daluyong
(torrents)
Words and music by KUMISAP II
2:51

10 parangal sa mga rebolusyonaryong martir
(tribute to the revolutionary martyrs)
Words and music by Rafael Baylosis
4:42

11 lansagin
(dismantle)
Words and music by TULISANES
3:12

12 ang internationalé
(the internationalé)
Words and music by Eugene Pottier and Pierre Degeyter
3:51


KUMASA or Kulturang Ugnayan ng Makabayang Sining Anakpawis (Cultural Link of Patriotic and Proletarian Art) is an alliance of cultural organisations and individuals based in the Southern Tagalog region, Philippines. KUMASA is comprised of cultural groups of workers from:

ALAB. (Flame). Keihin Phils., Inc.
KAMPANA. Kalipunan ng mga Progresibong Artista sa Nestlé. (Organisation of Cultural Workers in Nestlé). Nestlé Phils. Cabuyao
KUMISAP II. Kulturang Minana sa Sining Anak-Pawis II. (Cultural Legacy of Proletarian Art). RFM-Swift Cabuyao Plant
MASO. (Mallet). Honda Cars Phils.
SIKLAB. Sining at Kultura ng mga Anak ng Bayan. (Art and Culture of the Sons of the People). Nissin Brake Phils., Inc.
SINING LAYA. (Liberation Art). Philips Semiconductors Phils., Inc.
SUBOK. Sining Umusbong sa Bagong Obrerong Kultura. (Art from the New Workers’ Culture). Nissan Motors Phils., Inc.

Also the individual kulturati from Sun Ever Lights, FCC and TS Tech.


Our sincerest thanks to those who contibuted their compositions, voices, talents and time: Rafael Baylosis, Ericson Acosta, Babes Alejo, Tess Dioquino, Mitchy Saturay, Prestoline Suyat, Aplaya and Tulisanes

Special thanks to Michael Quiliza for the cover painting.

To those who gave their trust and support to make this production possible:
Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan (PAMANTIK)
Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU)
Anakpawis Partylist-Southern Tagalog
Organized Labor Association in Line Industries and Agriculture (OLALIA)
Center for Workers’ Education and Leadership Development (CWELD)
National Coalition for the Protection of Workers’ Rights-Southern Tagalog
(NCPWR-ST)
Tambisan sa Sining
Southern Tagalog Exposure
Amado V. Hernandez Resource Center (AVHRC)
Liza Camba and Burt Vera Cruz
Angelica Cabande, Kuusela Hilo and Fil-Am friends
Huang Kuo-chi
Margot Hoyte
to the staff and crew of Bagong Himig Cultural Training School

… and most of all, to the Filipino workers and masses!



produced by Kulturang Ugnayan ng Makabayang Sining Anakpawis (KUMASA)
recorded, mixed and mastered at Picketline Productions, Inc.

© Copyleft KUMASA 2005.