Filemon Lagman

Who was Filemon Lagman?

Filemon Lagman, popularly known as Ka Popoy was a revolutionary socialist and workers' leader in the Philippines. He shares the ideology of Marxism-Leninism. He split with the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1991 to form Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino and the multi-sectoral group Sanlakas.

From the split, he led the formation of the Partido ng Manggagawang Pilipino, an underground revolutionary socialist party, which, after his death, merged with the Sosyalistang Partido ng Paggawa and the Partido para sa Proletaryong Demokrasya.

During the First Quarter Storm, he was a member of Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan in the 1970s. After only a year in college at the University of the Philippines, he decided to go underground and do full-time organizing work in the factories and urban poor communities in the northern sector of Metro Manila. Ka Popoy was elected Secretary of the Manila-Rizal Regional Party Committee of the CPP in the mid-70's and spearheaded the broad formation which challenged the Marcos dictatorship in 1978 Batasan Pambansa elections. The Central Committee of the CPP admonished Ka Popoy and the whole regional committee for advocating participation in 1978 Batasan Pambansa elections because it ran counter to the CC call to head to the counryside to wage armed struggle against the dictatorship. Ka Popoy was only to return at the helm of the Manila-Rizal Regional Party Committee after the EDSA uprising of 1986. In spite of the differences with the central leadership, Ka Popoy strived harder to strengthen revolutionary work in the capital city.