Nick Perez was born in Sta. Cruz, Laguna to Silvino D. Perez and Catalina A. Añonuevo. His parents sold fruits for a living, with young Nicetas helping out after school.
At an early age, Nicetas, who was called Nick, showed compassion for others. His mother recalled that he would ask her to show charity to poor people who asked for their help. “Madalas nya akong sinasabihan na bigyan ko ng pera ang mahihirap na humihingi ng tulong. Mapagkawanggawa siya.”
Nick was third of a brood of six. He was a diligent student and excelled in all his subjects. In 1964, he graduated from high school with honors. His mother also described him as a quiet child who loved to write. He contributed articles to his high school student publication, his mother said.
In 1966, his parents sent him to Manila to pursue a college education majoring in journalism at Manuel Luis Quezon University (MLQU). He became a staff member of the university school paper, The Quezonian, attracting the attention of activist Prof. Jose Rey Munsayac, who became his mentor and friend.
In 1969, he joined a new student group in the university, Sandigan ng Bagong Kabataan (SBK) at the invitation of Prof. Munsayac. Nick joined rallies supporting campus issues such as demands to upgrade school facilities and the lowering of tuition. Later, Nick broadened his horizons, protesting issues such as the Sabah conflict, the Vietnam war, and the US bases in the Philippines. He crafted manifestos, wrote press releases, and composed statements.
Then he started helping labor unions, writing position papers and manifestoes for them. He supported union activities at the then Pantranco and PLDT companies.
Prof. Munsayac said Nick went through a political turning point after his experience of the First Quarter Storm (FQS) in 1970, particularly the demonstrations of Jan. 26 and 30, 1970, both of which were dispersed violently by government. (One of four protesting students killed at the January 30 demonstration was Fernando Catabay, Nick’s fellow student from MLQU. Another MLQU activist at this time, Cesar Gavanzo, was also an FQS participant, and like Nick, shaken by the show of unwarranted police violence.)
With this political awakening, Nick decided to return to his hometown in Laguna to engage in organizing work among students, agriculture workers, and fisherfolk. He enrolled at the Luzonian State University (now Manuel Enverga University Foundation) in Lucena City, organizing a Lucena chapter of the SDK, eventually becoming its chairman. He was also key to the formation of the regional committee of the SDK Southern Luzon. He also became an active member in the region’s College Editors Guild.
Nick wrote a column called “Tandisan” for the official publication of the Luzonian State University, The Luzonian. The topics he chose for his articles in this paper showed his deepening concern about militarization in the country and interest in political struggle. Among these articles were “Ang Pakikibaka” published on Nov. 12, 1970; “Ang Pasismo at ang Kilusang Pambansang Demokrasya” (Sept. 25, 1970); “The Future of Youth Activism” (March 10, 1971), and “Ang Pagkamulat ni Celia” (June 21, 1972).
The late professor Aloysius Baes described Nick as someone not too fond of speaking before large audiences. But he was an effective writer, felt very much at home with ordinary people, a good organizer, and very dedicated to the pursuit of his advocacies.
Around the middle of 1971, on the eve of Marcos’ suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, Nick left school and went full-time into community organizing work for the SDK. How effective he was is shown by his being able to organize – in three months 700 farm families in Mauban and Sampaloc towns in Quezon province to resist eviction by a rural bank.
Nick joined the underground movement when then-president Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972. He wrote for an underground regional newspaper exposing social ills in Southern Luzon. According to Prof. Munsayac, he had occasion to visit Nick and his group of activists, and taught them silk-screening skills, for their underground publication.
Nick was arrested in late 1972 in Mauban, Quezon, tortured and detained in Camp Vicente Lim in Canlubang, Laguna. His parents managed to visit him several times while he was in detention. A fellow prisoner remembered how their constabulary jailers required the political prisoners to attend the Catholic cursillo and sing the cursillo song De Colores. He recalled how Nick, in protest, sang loudly instead the words “De Kolokoy” which got him black marks from the guards.
In December 1973, Nick and 2 prisoners sent out of camp for marketing detail managed to escape from their guards. Hearing this, nine other prisoners in the camp followed almost immediately their own “great escape” plan, through an underground tunnel they had been digging for the purpose.
Baltazar Pinguel, one of the nine participants in the second escape, would later say that political prisoners deemed it their first task to “free themselves.”
After his escape, Nick reconnected with his underground connections, this time organizing in the communities at the Quezon-Bicol border. He became known in the area as Kumander Tales and his work involved the organizing of barangay revolutionary councils.
He continued with this work until he was killed in an encounter with forces of the Philippine Constabulary and the Citizens Home Defense Force in Guinayangan, Quezon, on Oct. 6, 1976. His family, learning of his death weeks later, went to Gumaca town, also in Quezon, where the military had buried Nick’s remains, claimed the body and had it buried in their hometown in Sariaya town.
Prof. Munsayac considers his former student a hero. Nick studied social issues seriously, sought answers to the many questions in his mind, and acted firmly and courageously as his principles dictated, Munsayac says, adding that while Nick had a short life he used the time to serve his fellow human beings.
