E. San Juan, Jr.: Remembering the Struggles During Martial Law

Abstract

Elmer A. Ordoñez recalls his encounters with E. San Juan, Jr., beginning with his receipt of a manuscript in the early 1970s that he later published as the director of the University of the Philippines Press: Carlos Bulosan and the Imagination of the Class Struggle by San Juan. For Ordoñez, this book marked a turning point in the intellectual trajectory of San Juan who was his former student. Moreover, Ordoñez situates the early and middle aspects of San Juan’s growth as an intellectual and activistin the local and international contexts that have come to shape San Juan’s life. Of particular interest is Ordoñez’s recollection of his collaboration with San Juan in organizing against the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in North America, during which they became responsible for circulating subversive documents from the homeland among Filipino exiles in the United States and Canada.