A Time to Rise

A Time to Rise is an intimate look into the workings of the KDP, the only revolutionary organization that emerged in the Filipino American community during the politically turbulent 1970s and ’80s. Overcoming cultural and class differences, members of the KDP banded together in a single national organization to mobilize their community into civil rights and antiwar movements in the United States and in the fight for democracy and national liberation in the Philippines and elsewhere.

These personal accounts document recruitment, organizing, and training in the KDP. More than two-thirds of the stories are by women, reflecting the powerful role they played in the organization and its leadership. Also included are chapters on the struggle for justice for murdered KDP and union leaders Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes. These memoirs offer political insights and inspiring examples of personal courage that will resonate today.

A Time to Rise was made possible in part by a grant from 4Culture's Heritage Program.

Rene Ciria Cruz is the US Bureau Chief of Inquirer.net, the official website of Philippine Daily Inquirer, the Philippines’ largest circulation daily broadsheet. He was a founding member of the Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilinio (KDP) and was in its National until its dissolution in 1986. From 1973 to 1980 he was the KDP’s East Coast Regional Coordinator. In 1980 he joined the National Executive Board (NEB) and moved to Oakland, California, becoming Editor-in-Chief of Ang Katipunan in 1981. Starting in 1983, he simultaneously chaired the NEB, which guided the day-to-day operations of the organization. He later became Editor-in-Chief of Filipinas Magazine and an editor with Pacific News Service.Domingo Cindy :

Cindy Domingo is Chief of Staff to King County Councilmember Larry Gossett. She joined the Seattle Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilinio (KDP) chapter in the fall of 1974. After attending the first conference of the Anti-Martial Law Coalition in Chicago, Cindy was assigned that arena of work. From 1976-77 she attended the master’s degree program in Philippine History at Goddard College in Boston and eventually was assigned to work at the KDP National Secretariat in Oakland, in the National Education Department, developing internal studies for the organization. After the murder of her brother, Silme Domingo, and Gene Viernes, Cindy returned to Seattle to become the National Coordinator of the Committee for Justice for Domingo and Viernes, until the families won their landmark federal civil suit against the Marcoses in 1989. She continues to speak about the murders and the role of the Marcos dictatorship and US intelligence. Cindy also continues her Philippine support work working with the Akbayan Party and serving on two International Observer Missions in the 2013 and 2016 Philippine national elections. Cindy is also active in many national and international struggles, building solidarity with Cuba, Venezuela and Latin American peoples’ movements.Occena Bruce :

Bruce Occena is a long-time activist. He was a founding member of the Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilinio (KDP) and the Alaska Cannery Workers Association (ACWA), part of the original team for the International Hotel struggle and a member of Line of March (LOM).Espiritu Augusto F. :

Augusto F. Espiritu is associate professor of History and Asian American Studies in the department of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is author of Five Faces of Exile: The Nation and Filipino American Intellectuals (Stanford University Press, 2005), and coeditor with Martin Manalansan, of Filipino Studies: Palimpsests of Nation and Diaspora (NYU Press, 2016).

Rene Ciria Cruz is US bureau chief for Inquirer.net, the official site of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. He was a founding member of the KDP and editor of their newspaper, Katipunan. Cindy Domingo is a long time human rights activist and joined the KDP in the fall of 1974. After the murders of Gene Viernes and her brother Silme Domingo, she became national coordinator of the Committee for Justice for Domingo and Viernes until the group won its landmark federal civil suit against the Marcoses and their codefendants in 1989. Bruce Occena is a health care professional and instructor at City College of San Francisco. He was a founding member of the KDP and chaired the National Executive Committee.

"About much more than politics, this collection opens a window on the lives people lead when they set out to change the world. . . . Dedication, humor and simple good writing make this collection a worthwhile exposure of a piece of recent history."

Tracy Lai:

"This nearly 20-year project is a remarkable documentation of one of the leading revolutionary Asian American Movement organizations. . . . A Time to Rise provides much greater complexity to teaching and learning about both Filipino American and Asian American movement history. . . . More than lessons of the past, A Time to Rise illuminates the way forward to complete unfinished revolutions."

Boying Pimentel:

"A Time to Rise comes out at an opportune time as another fascist regime emerges in the Philippines. As in the past, former KDP activists have responded to the call to fight back."

"An incredibly provocative and much-awaited book. A Time to Rise is a collective of multiple voices bound together by struggles that spanned two nations."—Rick Bonus, author of Locating Filipino Americans: Ethnicity and the Cultural Politics of Space

"A Time to Rise is a major contribution to the study of social justice movements and the interwoven landscapes of U.S., Philippine, and Filipino American history."—Catherine Ceniza Choy, author of Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History

"A Time to Rise is an intimate and highly inspiring account of the extraordinary efforts that a revolutionary group of Filipino immigrants and Americans of Filipino ancestry exerted to help overthrow the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines while simultaneously fighting for their democratic rights as minorities in the United States."—Risa Hontiveros, Akbayan Citizen's Action Party Chairperson, Member, Senate of the Philippines