I am sorry to hear of the passing of Willie Nepomuceno. He made us all laugh, while satirizing presidents and the powerful.
What many may not know is that he was closely connected to the student radicalism of the KM and SDK from 1970 to 1972 on the eve of martial law. 🧵
What many may not know is that he was closely connected to the student radicalism of the KM and SDK from 1970 to 1972 on the eve of martial law. 🧵
https://twitter.com/rapplerdotcom/status/1684017407185100800
I regularly came across Nepomuceno in my archival research for The Drama of Dictatorship and he makes a walk-on appearance in my book at several points. 2/
cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/978150177…
cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/978150177…
Willie Nepomuceno took part in the famed Diliman Commune of February 1971. When the barricades were lifted, Nepomuceno, who was a member of the UP Student Council, voted in defense of the commune behind the leadership of Ericson Baculinao in a bill sponsored by Sonny Coloma. 3/ 
In 1971, Nepomuceno was made spokesperson for the Sandigan Makabansa (SM), the UP Diliman campus party of the KM and SDOK. It thus fell to Nepomuceno to speak on the shocking defeat of the SM in the July 1971 campus election. 4/
In his role as spokesperson for SM, Nepomuceno wrote articles in the Philippine Collegian in 1971 very much in keeping with the Maoist radicalism of the times. Here for example was his article, "Fraternities in Revolution," from July 30. 5/
He hailed the politicalization of the campus fraternities.
It was, tragically, precisely the politicization of campus fraternity rumbles that turned the '71 UP Diliman election into a bloody street battle, although Willie Nep couldn't have known this when he wrote his article. 6/
It was, tragically, precisely the politicization of campus fraternity rumbles that turned the '71 UP Diliman election into a bloody street battle, although Willie Nep couldn't have known this when he wrote his article. 6/
By 1972, Nepomuceno had become a member of the editorial board of National Liberation Forum, the publication of the radical umbrella organization, the Movement for a Democratic Philippines (MDP). 7/
In the wake of the Diliman campus defeat and as part of the campaign for the Liberal Party in November 1971, the KM and SDK adopted much more conservative tactics. During Marcos 1972 SONA, in place of their usual fiery rhetoric, the KM-SDK brought out Nepomuceno to perform. 8/
Willie Nepomuceno entertained the protestors outside Congress, effectively launching what would become his future career at a KM rally, by impersonating Marcos, Villegas, and Popeye. 9/9
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