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Jeng Crisostomo: A Life Not Ordinary
by Alexander Martin Remollino
Wednesday, Sep. 08, 2004 at 2:35 AM
Short sketch of the late Lourdes "Jeng" Crisostomo. This is lifted from the article "A Legacy of Activism," published in Bulatlat, October 13-19, 2002.
Lourdes “Jeng” Espiritu-Crisostomo is the campaign officer of the militant group Bayan.
Her membership in the Student Catholic Action while studying at the UP Integrated School (UPIS) exposed her early to poverty. In 1980, she joined the Student Christian Movement (SCM) when she was still a college sophomore. Among the major issues that confronted the students at the time was the proposed Education Act.
A month after she joined SCM, she attended her first rally. It was supposed to be held in Mendiola , the road leading to the presidential palace, but was violently dispersed upon reaching Legarda, the street before Mendiola. It was there that Crisostomo got her first taste of state brutality. It was not to be the last.
Two months later, during a lightning rally commemorating the declaration of martial law, she was arrested and detained. She was charged with the crime of inciting rebellion and spent three months at the Bicutan Rehabilitation Center. If detention was intended to make her swear off activism, the opposite happened. For at the time, also detained in Bicutan were Satur Ocampo, Pepe Luneta, Fidel Agcaoili, Nelia Sancho, and other personalities of the left.
After Crisostomo’s release, she helped the detainees and their families. She also decided to go full-time into organizing.
When her younger child however was diagnosed as having learning disabilities, Crisostomo decided to go back to school and took up education. She wanted to be able to more effectively reach out to her son by learning how to teach autistic children. She at first tried to do it by reading books on the subject and even went as far as working as a teacher aid in his school. The meager pay and her husband’s prodding finally convinced her to enroll formally at UP.
When her son had successfully reached a satisfactory level of competence, she went back to organizing. This time, among teachers. She was later invited to join Bayan in 2001 and now holds the campaign position, a job crucial to an organization like Bayan. With Aubrey SC Makilan
See related article, A Legacy of Activism
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