DAVAO CITY – IBON Foundation pays tribute to the achievements and patriotic spirit of nationalist economist Alejandro Lichauco, 87.
Ibon, in a statement, said “Lichauco was a staunch anti-imperialist and progressive thinker, not just during the heady anti-colonialism of the 1950s and 1960s but throughout the so-called era of globalization since the 1980s until today.”
“His support for the idea that Philippine national development is impossible under conditions of foreign economic and political domination is affirmed by the country’s continued underdevelopment,” Ibon said.
In the 1950s, Lichauco worked with Claro M. Recto in the Nationalist Citizens’ Party. By the 1960s he was among the distinguished nationalists who formed the Movement for the Advancement of Nationalism (MAN) which included Jose Ma. Sison, Lorenzo M. Tañada, Jose Lansang, Renato Constantino, and Francisco Nemenzo, Jr.
Lichauco represented the 1st district of Rizal in the 1971 Constitutional Convention and, for his strident advocacy for national independence against US imperialism, was famously arrested as he left the convention floor and detained in Camp Crame. He was among the 12 honorable delegates who refused to sign the Martial Law Constitution.
“After the fall of the Marcos dictatorship in 1986, Mr. Lichauco wrote a number of important books and articles asserting the necessity of nationalist economics for resolving the problems of mass Philippine poverty and underdevelopment. At this time, he also became a board member of IBON Foundation, composing the first batch of the IBON Board from 1982 to 1986,” Ibon said.
