Rene Agbayani was an anthropologist, artist, writer, and theatre worker. He was the popular "Isko" in Richie Valencia-Buenaventura's dramatised poem "Iskolar ng Bayan", popular during student protests in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He is also the co-lyricist of "May Panahon (Awit ng Petiburges", a popular activist song during and after the Marcos Dictatorship.