Who is Dennise Velasco?
Dennise was born to a working-class family in Valenzuela City. The firstborn of seven siblings, he helped in child care and their family’s small cafeteria (karinderya) until his college years. He also sold balut and soft drinks to workers of the neighboring factory. He would also serve as a helper of gravel and sand truckers during weekends for extra income. He is an alumnus of Maysan Elementary School, Philippine College of Technological Resources (now St. Louis College of Valenzuela), and Valenzuela Municipal High School (now Valenzuela National High School — Malinta Annex)
Dennise enrolled at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in 1994 to study Bachelor of Science in Business Administration major in Management. In the same year, he joined the organization Students for National Democracy and later the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines. He represented the students in various consultations on local and national issues. As a young activist, he supported and joined in solidarity the worker’s strikes of Grand Boulevard Hotel, Manila Hotel, SM, Magnolia, San Miguel Corp., and LRT.
In the early 2000s, Dennise, who had by then decided to become a full-time activist, had an active role in the mobilizations calling for the then-President Estrada’s ouster under the Erap Resign Youth Movement. He was also part of the campaign to abolish mandatory Reserve Officers Training Course following the death of whistleblower Mark Welson Chua. He was also actively involved in the campaign for higher state subsidies for state universities and colleges, against tuition and other fee increases, and national issues such as the Visiting Forces Agreement, oil price hikes, charter change, corruption, and the pork barrel system.
During the 2004 elections, he became part of the establishment of the first youth-led party-list running for a seat in congress, the Anak ng Bayan Party-list — later renamed as Kabataan Party-list. In the following years, he played a major role in the groups’ expansion and advancing the militant youth movement under the intensifying attacks of the Arroyo regime.
He was part of the historic win of the Kabataan Party-list in the 2007 elections when they won a seat and to be the first and only youth representation in Philippine Congress. He served as a member of Kabataan Party-list’s National Electoral Committee — leading the subcommittees on education and field operations — in the succeeding wins in the 2010 and 2013 elections.
Dennise is very articulate in political discussions and often has a cheerful demeanor when teaching. His vast understanding of political situations and the relations and struggles between social classes gave him an advantage when he became a member of Defend Jobs Philippines (DJP) in 2016. He worked as a labor organizer reaching out to different unions and workers in the cities of Caloocan and Valenzuela. In 2017, he assisted in the campaign to seek justice for the victims of the ill-conceived war on drugs. This resulted in the establishment of the Stop the Killings Network in the CAMANAVA area and assisted in formulating and conducting collective action for human rights. By 2018, he became the campaign officer for DJP and was involved in the campaign for regularizing contractual workers — PLDT, Jollibee Foods Corp., Regent Food Corp., and other factories in Valenzuela City — and workers in the transport industry, including TNVS (Grab) and bus employees (BUSEA-Caloocan).
Along with his work with DJP, Dennise also acted as a coordinator for the Church People-Workers Solidarity in Metro Manila from 2017 to 2019. His work included coordination with the diocese of Caloocan for the creation of their labor desks in its local parishes. He also worked as a community organizer to address urban poor issues, especially displacement and demolition.
He was part of the collaboration with other labor centers such as Kilusang Mayo Uno, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, and the Federation of Free Workers to promote the welfare of workers and assist the crafting of the labor legislative agenda during the 2019 midterm elections under Labor Win and Labor Vote.
During the pandemic lockdown before his arrest, Dennise helped with disaster response by contributing some of the profits from his small coffee business. He also joined in DJP-led actions and programs to deliver aid and mobilize the survivors of disasters and assisted the formation of Laban ng mga Biktima ng Kalamidad sa Marikina (Lambak Marikina). Lambak Marikina spearheaded the campaign for citizens-led disaster response and the petition for immediate cash aid from the Department of Social Welfare and Development for the victims of typhoon Ulysses (international name: Vamco).
Dennise is married to Diane Zapata, a development sector professional. She was a student activist at the University of the Philippines Diliman. After getting her Public Administration degree, she served as a legislative officer of the Kabataan Party-list. She obtained her graduate diploma in Urban and Regional Planning with scholastic distinction while Dennise is in political detention. She has been a member of People’s Chorale since 2009. They are fur parents to five dogs.
Dennise Velasco is an activist and organizer. He stood up and defended human rights, but his rights have been violated by the Duterte administration. Dennise is among the activists illegally arrested by the police on International Human Rights Day in 2020 under a dubious search warrant based on false narratives and fabricated evidence. #