Lean Alejandro

Alejandro was born in 1960 in Manila, the eldest son of Rosendo Alejandro and Salvacion Legara in a struggling lower-middle-class family. He attended St. James Academy before enrolling in the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman in 1978.[2]

Alejandro began a B.Sc. Chemistry as a preparatory course to medicine, and joined the Campus Crusade for Christ during his freshman year, but he switched courses to Philippine Studies after taking classes in history and political science and discovering Marxism. He joined the university's short-lived Anti-Imperialist Youth Committee, which later became the national student umbrella organisation Youth for Nationalism and Democracy (YND) on 17 August 1980. He also joined the Collegian Liberum, the UP student publication, as a features writer, where he wrote articles critical of the Marcos administration. He established the Center for Nationalist Studies (CNS) in 1983.[3]

Alejandro held several positions in the university after leaving the Collegian. He was elected chair of the College of Arts and Sciences Student Council in 1982-83, and vice chairman and then chairman of the UP student council in 1983-84, which was dissolved three years after it was established after opposing a tuition fee raise. In 1981, he led a rally to Mendiola Street, the first after martial law was lifted. The Student Council became vocal on national issues following the assassination of Ninoy Aquino. Alejandro participated in protests against the assassination, one of the largest student rallies for some time.

Alejandro was involved in the formation of broad multi-sector organizations during the Martial Law rule of Ferdinand Marcos, including "PAPA" during the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1981, and People's MIND in 1982 against Marcos's national referendum.[4] His activism began in earnest following Aquino's murder in 1983, when he joined the anti-Marcos protests and the Justice for Aquino, Justice for All (JAJA) movement. He dropped out of university to become a full-time activist, organizing the resistance against the Marcos regime. He was also part of the Kaakbay, or Movement for the Philippine Sovereignty and Democracy, the group led by former Senator Jose Diokno, and the Nationalist Alliance for Justice, Freedom and Democracy (NAJFD) in 1984. In 1985, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) was established, and Alejandro became its secretary-general. Alejandro was a prominent member of the parliament of the streets during the 1980s, alongside Crispin Beltran, Lorenzo Tañada and other Filipino nationalist leaders.

On 13 February 1985, Alejandro and Jose Virgilio Bautista were arrested while negotiating on behalf of students marching to Camp Aguinaldo, and taken to Camp Ipil detention center in Fort Bonifacio. They were held on a Preventive Detention Arrest (PDA), a Marcos decree that authorized the detention of any person for one year without charge.[5]

Life in custody was bearable for Alejandro,[6] and he continued to participate in the anti-Marcos movement by correspondence. After two months, Alejandro and Bautista were released thanks to a campaign for their release from both domestic and international supporters.[7] After his release, Alejandro returned to the protest movement.[7]

After the People Power Revolution of 1986, Alejandro ran for Congress, standing unsuccessfully for the congressional seat of Malabon-Navotas against Tessie Aquino-Oreta, sister-in-law of President Corazon Aquino.[8]

On 19 September 1987, Alejandro left a press conference at the National Press Club where he announced plans for a nationwide strike against the military's role in government, and headed to the Bayan office in Rosal Street, Cubao. During the journey, a van cut into the path of his vehicle, rolled down the driver's window, and fatally shot Alejandro in the face and neck with a single shot.

Alejandro was married to Lidy Nacpil, a fellow socialist activist he had met at the university through mutual membership of the United Methodist Youth Fellowship and the Student Christian Movement. They were together for five years before they married in an ecumenical wedding at the University of the Philippines Protestant Chapel on 18 January 1986, with around 500 guests.

The Leandro L. Alejandro Foundation (LLAF) was founded after the murder in 1987, to support the peace process under president Fidel Ramos, and organized in the early 1990s as a peace network. Alejandro's widow Lidy Nacpil-Alejandro played an important role.[9]

In 1997, a musical play, Lean, was staged to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Alejandro's assassination.

• University of the Philippines
• People Power Revolution
• UP Diliman University Student Council
• U.P. Naming Mahal

• The Killing of Lean Alejandro (9/19/1987)
• Leandro L. Alejandro Foundation at the International Institute of Social History