I still view the people I organized with, even with all our challenges as comrades. thank you for each day of sacrifice,  mga kasama, whether it is your Day 1 or Day 25,000

this sets a precedent for what systems of justice will be in place for ND organizations moving forward

face value

February 1, 2025

To Whom It May Concern,

I write this open letter to acknowledge the rift between myself and some individuals who are leading our local Bay Area organizing community for National Democracy (ND) in the Philippines. My intention with this letter is to move forward with faith towards understanding, healing and meaningful relations in our interwoven village, especially as we share common aspirations towards justice, liberation & progress. Beyond my personal experiences, I hope this letter can be helpful to anyone struggling to advance the ND movement, or anyone striving towards growing transformative justice in our world.

I write this letter in acknowledgement that our world continues to endure the heavy traumas of ecocide, genocide, many other evils and oppressions. Our communities have overcome the covid-19 quarantine and many other calamities. We have lost many loved ones, and we celebrate the birth of new loved ones. I write this letter in acknowledgement of what is at stake when it comes to our relations; how powerful we become when we are more united, and how we regress when we are divided.

I write this letter in acknowledgement of my identity as a cis male of color in a world traumatized by patriarchy, machismo and hyper-masculine violence. I affirm the importance of my role as an ally to my LGBTQ+ and femme family.

In this letter, I… (summary of points)

I have such deep admiration and love for freedom fighters of all forms. I have a deeper appreciation for the many I’ve been able to work closely and share space with in the ND movement, as I’ve witnessed their constant dedication, struggle and sacrifice. I will always remember and cherish the many meaningful memories we shared, and the time we spent together. I have experienced deep challenges within our ND organizing community, at least in the Bay Area, but I hold to the faith that no challenge is too difficult to heal from, if we are truly trying to do right by each other.

I continue to do all within my control to be in the best possible relation to my community and all who have considered me a kasama (comrade). I will truthfully say that I have experienced deep harm in ND organizing for a long period of time, which has costed me a heavy amount of health, labor, time and resources. Despite this, I have in my heart, long forgiven the leadership of our organizations for their actions, regardless of whether or not they acknowledge or take accountability for their harmful behaviors.

I have moved on to meaningful endeavors outside of ND organizing, yet I still do what I can to advance the aspirations of the ND movement because I truly believe in its cause. I strive to keep my vocations and my daily activities supportive of, or at the least congruent to the values, aspirations & political line of the ND movement.

I must truthfully say that I have repeatedly in many forms and in the most delicate of ways, named the harmful acts I experienced in my time in the ND movement, especially throughout the last 11 years. After reaching the most appropriate channels possible – requesting conversations and trying all forms of communication, I have resorted to this open letter as a source of clarity and understanding for anyone in our community who is affected or concerned about the rift between the ND leadership and myself.

I apologize to any kasamas and friends if, in my reaching out to them for a conversation or support, they felt alarmed, or if they felt that I may simply be trying to change their minds to favor my personal interest. I will earnestly say that my personal interest is towards truth, understanding, healing, trust, confidence, justice and transformation. I apologize if at any point I contributed to their sense of fear, or if I triggered any trauma.

As a founding member of Anakbayan San Francisco, I experienced slander and libel after I repeatedly raised concerns around bullying and bureaucracy within the leadership of our organizations. I speculate that the slander and libel I experienced were acts of retaliation by leadership, with motives to avoid criticism, accountability, to protect their image, to gain and maintain power within these ND organizations.

By bureaucracy, I mean the manipulation of power dynamics by a few leaders so that decisions will benefit their interests and ideals. These forms of manipulation have long caused the local ND organizing style to be mechanical, formulaic, transactional, clinical and extractive. This is a big reason why there is a lot of turnover in ND organizing, and why so many members have left.

My intention with this letter is to communicate in the most principled and intentional way possible. My concerns were ignored by the leadership of these ND organizations when I raised them many times in many forms throughout 2019-2021. I also wrote a letter to the leadership in 2023, summarizing my experiences, concerns, and request for accountability from the leadership for the harmful behavior. Their response was that too much time had passed since the incidents I experienced, so it was too late grant my requests.

Ironically, ND leadership caused slander and libel against me by compiling 5 years worth of concerns about me and disseminating them, while never previously inquiring with me about these concerns. They gossiped these concerns with people in our community before ever making me aware of them. Moreover, their concerns were allegedly affecting people that they have not spoken to directly. ND leadership used narratives about other people, framed it as if they were concerned for these people, but never consulted them or centered their experiences. Their allegations were full of false information, out-of-context information, conjecture, gossip, hearsay and projections.

it was after I had brought up concerns about abusive behaviors and mechanical organizing styles when slander & libel was committed against me: when 5 years worth of concerns about me were compiled and disseminated by ND leadership, while they never previously inquired with me about these concerns.

I write this open letter as a last resort to communicate with any leaders responsible, and with all people of concern: people who want to learn more about what ND organizing is truly like, and people who have heard concerns regarding me, but would like to know the nature of these concerns, or the truths of the matter. I intend for this letter to be shared as needed. I do not intend for it to be shared widely with people who have no such concerns regarding ND organizing, or myself. Hence why this open letter is an unlisted page on my website, rather than in more public platforms like in blog pages or in social media.

The irony is that, whether in an organization or not, I have always been steadfast for safety, justice, consent, healthy relations and revolutionary principles; whereas, the leadership of our local organizing has demonstrated problematic behaviors and avoided accountability for them. During my time as an organizer in the ND movement, I have needed to be assertive about the leadership’s need to be more responsible for the safety of our members, as well as being more responsive to our members’ needs and concerns. During an integration trip, I needed to fight for the justice of a member who experienced sexual assault. I needed to demand more accountability from our leadership because the assault could have been prevented by more responsible coordination and planning. In the spaces I stewarded, I have been the first or one of the first responders to concerns of safety or justice. I have confronted perpetrators, and inquired directly with alleged perpetrators, at moments when no one else was capable or willing to do so. I confronted perpetrators even if it meant ending our relationship or causing contention.

Meanwhile, the leaders of our local organizing work in 2020-2021 who committed slander and libel against me by sharing concerns based on false information, are also people who have crossed my boundaries. They previously cussed me out, yelled at me, acted passive-aggressive towards me in public settings, gossiped about me, stalked me, were touchy with me, and expressed flirty or sexually implicit remarks towards me. They also know that I have previously experienced stalking and harassment from one of our previous members in the recent past. I tried to address these behaviors directly and in confidence with the leadership throughout those years.

I intend for every criticism I continue to share, every truth I continue to reveal, to be an act of love and comradeship. Every criticism I share speaks to a standard that I reciprocate – that I also hold myself to. Everything that I ask of others is something that I strive to practice myself.

The perspective I share in this open letter is mine alone. I do not expect anyone to side with me in any conflict, or to accept my experience as the only truth. I am simply sharing my personal experience as honestly as I can, in the best way possible at this point.

This open letter is organized as follows:

Why am I sharing this letter, and what is at stake?

Ellaborating on the matters at hand

More on the harmful impact of the ND leadership

Why am I sharing this letter, and what is at stake?

My intention is to communicate as someone who: still deeply cares for the movement; still wholeheartedly believes in its aspirations for the sovereignty, democracy and liberation of the Philippines; is still active towards advancing its aspirations by any means; and as someone who internalizes the importance of unity. By unity, I mean genuinely building trust, reaching a deeper level of understanding on issues of contention, and advancing the struggle for our people’s liberation together. As fascism continues to grow, as genocidal wars against our peoples continue to escalate, and as more calamities come from the aggravation of our environment, the future of our liberation – as well as each step we’ve taken towards progress, is at stake. I still have faith in the National Democratic movement, its political line, its aspiration to be a solution for the Filipino people, and its aspiration to be a driving force in the International Proletarian Revolution. If we are to overcome the fascists of our society who are abundant in stolen wealth, power, privilege and influence, we need to build solidarity, and come together as people from all walks, for the cause of democracy, justice, liberation and progress. We begin this process by being accountable, building trust and deepening our understanding of each other. I hope that this letter is a reignition or continuation of such process.

I write this letter because our Bay Area community is deeply interwoven, and we will likely further lean on each other in times of strife, chaos and isolation. Since 2020, we weathered through the covid-19 quarantine, several local and international calamities, as well as several political upheavals. We have celebrated new births in our community. We have also come together around the deaths of our loved ones. Since 2020, we have lost 27 loved ones in my immediate community: 9 of whom I spent a meaningful amount of time with, 4 of whom I was quite close to, 5 were in my family, and 10 are woven within our ND organizing community. We’ve gone through chaotic and trying times of grief and mourning. These past several years more than ever, we needed to grow stronger together, rather than be divided over very resolvable issues. In these times, I value trusting and responsive connections – especially during critical events like births, deaths and urgent matters.

This is a last resort because I have approached all the best possible channels to address the matters I raise in this open letter. For several years, specifically from 2019-2021, and after I left ND organizations in 2022-2023, I tried to communicate the same points in this open letter to my kasamas (comrades) many times, in many forms – from direct conversations, to matters raised in meetings, to messages and letters. I clearly stated my points, specific experiences, and I gave resolution-oriented requests. I was receptive of any criticisms kasamas gave me on how best to deliver my messages, and I implemented any changes they suggested for me. Kasamas either stonewalled me, or told me in 2023 that the matters I raised could no longer be addressed or processed because too much time has passed since I left ND organizations in 2021. Nevertheless, the matters I raised then continue to cause concern and harm today, with no resolution. I write this open letter as a final resort in the absence of a resolution. I reiterate that all matters and points I share in this open letter were shared with my kasamas in the best possible channels, multiple times in multiple years. None of my points should be a surprise.

The absence of a resolution to these matters continue to do harm because they cause estrangements to my relations, as well as the spaces of trust I steward in our community. They have created doubt in initiatives and communal projects that relied on our relationships of confidence, effectively halting these initiatives and projects. As someone who has labored as a poet, educator and activist in the San Francisco Bay Area for the last 18 years, and as someone who has organized with the ND movement for 11 out of the last 18 years, the trust collectively cultivated in my community was repeatedly questioned because of the slander and libel committed by our ND leaders. I was called in by ND leaders to enter into a process which they said would remain confidential. Yet throughout the last 4 years, I have heard from multiple people in multiple spaces that even ND organizers who never had any contentious interactions with me, have begun to keep away from me, referencing “concerns in the organizing space.” Throughout these last 4 years, I have reached out to these organizers to inquire about their concerns, yet I never got a response. I can only deduce that these concerns are a reference to the process I experienced which ended in dispute. This vague naming of unresolved concerns may keep confidential the details of the process I entered, but it in effect is defaming by calling attention to a concern that is vague and has no resolution. It leaves people to speculate on the nature of the matter, to question the trust we built, and out of safety, avoid further interactions with me, or avoid participation spaces that include me.

Over 50 of my relationships in the community became estranged. I was brought into accountability circles by the stewards of some spaces I was part of, where they asked me about the nature of the concerns. Without inquiry, I was automatically banned or estranged from events. On my way to a dinner gathering in 2023, I heard that concerns about me were shared with the organizers of the dinner, which made people question their safety. This caused me to get off my carpool halfway towards the event, and spend my night alone at a cafe instead. In 2024, I was banned from the memorial of a loved one in our community who was tragically murdered. The community around our loved one is separate from the ND organizing community, yet I was banned from the memorial after I was spotted by an ND organizer during a previous memorial. After experiencing isolation throughout 2020-2021, many of my relationships which were previously amicable, were clearly estranged. Instead of warm “hello’s”, ND organizers and our mutual connections throughout these last 4 years avoided me, walked away from me, or hid from me. Invitations I received in our community for collaborations, performances and other opportunities were rescinded after the organizers heard about the concerns that ND organizers spread about me. One of the most hurtful estrangements was my abrupt exit from Anakbayan San Francisco (ABSF), the organization I diligently and intentionally cofounded & stewarded for years. Without being able to share any context or reason to our members, I had to exit ABSF. Soon after, I was banned by ND leaders from the social media account of the organization.

The manner in which ND leaders choose to address this matter speaks to their practice of discernment as aspiring vanguards of our movement for justice and liberation. This reveals how well they discern matters of concern, dispute or justice. It sets a precedent on the nature of the justice system they plan to implement in the future of their organizing work.

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More on the harmful impact of the ND leadership

The slander and libel caused my isolation from much of our community, and a great decline in my health during a time of unprecedented crisis & instability. The accumulation of harm from defamation & isolation for a prolonged period caused me retraumatization, mental destabilization, and a great level of suicidal ideation. I was forced to choose between enduring the harmful and isolating process with ND leadership, and preserving my well-being by exiting the organizing. When the quarantine ended, the defamation caused me great anxiety when attending community events where ND members were present. I began leaving events, simply staying home, or going some place else. These events include memorials for loved ones I hoped to mourn for alongside my community, political activities I have been involved in for over a decade, demonstrations that relate to my community, my well-being, and the future of my job.

These acts of slander and libel were committed amidst the covid quarantine when we were all isolated; amidst a period when several of our kasamas and several of my loved ones passed away; amidst experiencing theft and losing over ten thousand dollars, with threats to my household’s safety; amidst losing the ability to pay rent, and my landlord pursuing my household’s eviction; amidst being a first-time public high school teacher with an emergency credential, teaching during the quarantine; amidst needing to concurrently attend graduate studies; amidst being the only educator teaching and creating content for my particular subject in the district – fighting to ensure that the program continues on.

In 2019, I repeatedly told our ND leaders that I needed to prepare for my work as a public high school teacher, and I needed to free my capacity for the job. In 2020, I repeatedly told them about my increased anxiety, lack of sleep and overall concern for my health. Both items I mentioned were verbally acknowledged but essentially neglected. I wanted to enter 2021 prepared as an ND organizer, public school teacher and a graduate student, knowing the task at had was difficult. Instead, from the investigation process I became mentally unstable. This was greatly detrimental all aspects of my life – including my work as a teacher, my graduate studies where I dropped out 4 times and am re-enrolling again, my work as an artist, my personal accounts, and my household. It was truly damaging that after experiencing repeated defamation and abusive behavior in 2020, I experienced a new level of defamation in 2021 – especially since like many kasamas, I made large sacrifices to make myself available for our organizing work for over a decade. With all that we put at stake to advance and protect the integrity of this movement, I expected kasamas to act with more principle.

I intend for every criticism I continue to share, every truth I continue to reveal, from 2019 to now, to be an act of love and comradeship. Every criticism I share speaks to a standard that I reciprocate – that I also hold myself to. Everything that I ask of others is something that I strive to practice myself, when I am in the position to.

The perspective I share in this open letter is mine alone. I do not expect anyone to side with me in any conflict, or to accept my experience as the only truth. I am simply sharing my personal experience as honestly as I can, in the best way possible at this point.

The Issue of Slander and Libel

–––––––––––––

It goes without saying, but I will affirm again that I wholeheartedly support the importance of maintain spaces of justice and safety, especially for women and gender expansive folks. I am vigilant in maintaining such spaces, and I support anyone who is also vigilant in doing so. I am cognizant of the trauma that exists among women and gender expansive folks, from their interactions with males. I am accepting of people’s skepticism and even fear towards males in our society. I understand why it is normal to speculate whether someone, particular a male, is doing anything malicious or harmful towards others. What I do not condone is when speculation becomes conjecture, gossip becomes evidence, correlation becomes causation, and projections become accepted truths.

However, this intention is to be distinguished from acts of defamation: You coated the confidential sharings I confided in you with a great amount of false or unverified information. You created allegations out of these sharings. You used sources that only came from assumptions, gossip, hearsay, second or third hand info, & out-of-context info. You shared them with unknown people, even if they’re supposedly protecting this info by principle. You created conjectures and misrepresented the nature of events you only heard about, then shared these narratives. You did not directly talk to the people you alleged to be affected, yet created your own allegations.

The 2023 Letter I sent to ND Organizations

I am writing to my 2021 H local team, and I am requesting P section, A2 district and F committee to review this. I implore P section, A2 district and F committee to evaluate liberalisms from the secretariat of my 2021 H local team, the local team as a whole, and the 2021 P section committee, that manifested into acts of defamation through libel and slander. These actions are a result of the bureaucratic and commandist leadership style of our secretariat, both in 2019-2021, and in periods preceding these years. The defamation caused my isolation from much of our community, and a great decline in my health during a time of unprecendented crisis & instability. The accumulation of harm from defamation & isolation for a prolonged period caused me retraumatization, mental destabilization, and a great level of suicidal ideation. I was forced to choose between enduring the harmful and isolating process of my local team, and preserving my well-being by exiting the organization. When the quarantine ended, the defamation caused me great anxiety to attend community events where section members were present. I began leaving events, simply staying home, or going some place else. These events include memorials for loved ones I hoped to mourn for alongside my community, political activities I have been involved in for over a decade, demonstrations that relate to my community, my well-being, and the future of my job. The actions of my secretariat also caused rifts in relationships within the community, as well as risking the security of the organization.

The investigation that my 2021 H local team and the 2021 P section committee executed was an act of libel because its base documents are full of misinformation. These documents are the “February 24 2021 Investigation Request Memo” by Win, and the “June 21 2021 Investigation Memo” by the section committee. In these documents alone, there were 36 significant pieces of false information given. Much of which came from assumptions, gossip, hearsay, second or third hand information, and details used out of context. There were 10 allegations based on the false information. There were 7 provisions of presumptive analyses; much of which are based on the faulty allegations. There were also 15 statements or significant pieces of information given that were readily accepted in the process but actually required more investigation, clarification or validation.

The investigation they began was an act of slander because rather than inquiring directly with the women they named to be affected, or inquiring with myself – a supposed comrade, undisclosed people from P section were first to know of these allegations before me. As a local team member who communicated with my team on a daily basis, I was not aware that I was in question, nor did I know that there were disputes in information regarding events that happened in 2016-2019, around 1.5-5 years before our secretariat called for this blindsiding investigation process. Rather than discussing these matters with me in a comradely manner within our supposedly democratic space, our secretariat bypassed inquiry, declared their suspicions as allegations, and alerted our section of these allegations to “corner” me into a position where I was forced to contextualize from my perspective the events in question that kasamas were not involved in, and that I needed time to recall.

Additionally, the secretariat misrepresented the narratives given by the women named, and created allegations out of them. None of the women named actually made the allegations that the local team made. There were no accounts of these women reaching out to anyone in the community for any action. Kasamas gave the impression that their basis for the investigation was from their direct conversations with the women allegedly affected, when in actuality, after speaking with some of the women who were still my good friends, I learned that kasamas made allegations only from second and third hand information. On June 21, 2021, it was awkward to have to defend myself with seven other kasamas who often spoke with certainty regarding allegations that they had no direct connection to. The information that the 2021 H local team and the 2021 P section committee used as the basis for starting this section-wide investigation were from assumptions, gossip and hearsay. They held primary the second & third hand information they received, they used information out of context, mischaracterized the nature of particular events, jumped to accusations rather than inquiry, and developed presumptive analyses.

Our secretariat committed this example of liberalism, as written in ‘Combat Liberalism’: “To indulge in irresponsible criticism in private, instead of actively putting forward one’s suggestions to the organization. To say nothing to people in their faces, but to gossip behind their backs, or to say nothing at a meeting but to gossip afterwards. To show no regard at all for the principles of collective life but to follow one’s own inclination.”

It is worth investigating if the secretariat was acting out of retaliation, acting with the intent to do harm, acting to deflect past criticisms given to them, acting with the motive to quell any discourse or dissent in local team decision-making, or acting with the motive to gain favorable positions within the movement. I outlined bases for these possible motives in my full letter.

I ask P section, A2 district and F committee to grant my request to rectify the mistakes committed from this investigation, not just in fairness to the women named and myself, but also to fulfill their task of combating liberalism, to evaluate how local teams can improve in having trusting communication among their members, as well as a healthier, fairer & safer flow of dem cen within the movement. I truly hope that my contributions through my full letter can help with the growth and eventual victory of the movement. I hope that all addressed groups are able to review this letter.

To rectify the harm done from acts of defamation by my 2021 H local team and the P section committee, this is a summary of my requests which I further elaborate on in Part 1 of the letter. I am requesting for the organization to honor my reasonable requests within an ample yet urgent timeline. I am requesting that they honor these requests by the end of August 2023:

1. Completely review the attached document “Full Letter JT to 2021 H Local Team”

2. Save and include the full letter as my official testimony in the organization’s file on the investigation.

   Include it in the folders where the organization is holding the “February 24 2021 Investigation

   Request Memo” by Win, and the “June 21 2021 Investigation Memo” by the P section committee.

3. Compare the evidence provided in the full letter to the information, allegations and analyses made

   by the 2021 H local team and the 2021 P section committee.

4. Follow up with this next step provided in the “June 21 2021 Investigation Memo” by the P section

   committee in the most appropriate way at this point: “For JT and other local team leaders to conduct further csc with all the women who’s been harmed, learn from the perspectives of the women who’s been harmed, and self-criticize to the women on the weaknesses of the local team (via the mass organization), and help the women sum up their own experiences and lessons.” Please read the particulars of this request in Part 1 of this letter.

1. If the evidence from both inquiring with the women allegedly affected and from the full letter proves that any of the information, allegations & analyses given by the 2021 H local team & the 2021 P section committee were false: write a statement as an organization, acknowledging the act of defamation. Share the statement with all members who were made aware of the investigation within the organization. If the defamation reached the masa, the organization should take responsibility in clarifying the information with all masa reached.

2. Clarify the basis for why my personal and band social media accounts have been banned by ABSF (now ABCCSF) social media accounts since Spring 2021. Clarify whether banning my accounts was discussed in ABSF, or if this was an individual’s action without the organization’s consent.

3. Ask Win to pay me for the $113.25 that they owe me for our spotify premium family plan that we opened and agreed to pay together since June 2020.

   Lastly, I must mention that the acts of defamation in 2021 followed previous acts of defamation,

which were addressed in 2020. In the investigation process, more apparently unresolved acts of defamation against myself from 2015-2016 surfaced. Ironically, I was actually the person who experienced acts of abuse in those matters in 2015-2016 and 2019-2020.

These acts were committed amidst the covid quarantine when we were all isolated; amidst a period when several of our kasamas and several of my loved ones passed away; amidst experiencing theft and losing over ten thousand dollars, with threats to my household’s safety; amidst losing the ability to pay rent, and my landlord pursuing my household’s eviction; amidst being a first-time public high school teacher with an emergency credential and with the conditions of the quarantine; amidst needing to concurrently attend graduate studies; amidst being the only educator teaching and creating content for my particular subject in the district – fighting to ensure that the program continues on.

In 2019, I repeatedly told my local team that I needed to prepare for my work as a public high school teacher, and I needed to free my capacity for the job. In 2020, I repeatedly told my local team about my increased anxiety, lack of sleep and overall concern for my health. Both items I mentioned were verbally acknowledged but essentially neglected. I hoped to enter 2021 prepared, knowing what my role is for my team and the overall movement moving forward. I wanted to be prepared as a school teacher and a graduate student, knowing the task at had was difficult. Instead, from the investigation process I became mentally unstable. This greatly detrimented all aspects of my life – including my work as a teacher, my graduate studies where I dropped out 4 times and am re-enrolling again, my work as an artist, my personal accounts, and my household. It was truly damaging that after experiencing repeated defamation and abusive behavior in 2020, I experienced a new level of defamation in 2021 – especially since like many kasamas, I made large sacrifices to make myself available for our organizing work for over a decade. With all that we put at stake to advance and protect the integrity of this movement, I expect kasamas to act with more principle.

I am doing my best to move on each day while serving my purpose for the planet and the people. I hope that the organization will support by addressing this matter of defamation, and by addressing any liberalisms in the organization. Thank you for your time.

In considering a timeline that is both urgent and accomodating, I am asking P Section, A2 District, F Committee to review this letter by the end of July 2023, and to send me a confirmation note that they have done so. I am also asking P Section, A2 District, F Committee to complete all of my requests by the end of August 2023. I trust that the local teams will do their best to rectify the issues outlined in this letter.

Sincerely, JT