Death of a martyr-friend

There was nothing yesterday morning to suggest the day would end so badly.  I got up in time to drive my niece to school.  After that, I drove to the nearest gas station to give our van a much needed wash.  Then I cooked lunch for our volunteers and staff before leaving for Kodao.

            But in this country ordinary mornings should not be viewed as they initially seemed—banal and uninteresting.

            Upon reaching Kodao I was asked to cover the artists’ picket at the National Press Club to protest its bastardization of the “Press Freedom” mural.  I should have seen this as ominous.

            I never thought I’d see the day when we’d be picketing the NPC for being an instrument of censorship.  As a campus journalist being sued for libel for the first time the NPC was where I found my pro-bono lawyer who’d win my case for me 15 years later.  The NPC was not only a place of good food and cheap beer for me.  It was a pillar of democracy.  But today’s NPC leadership can not even bring itself to countenance freedom of expression.

            As I was preparing to go home last night an officemate rushed into the office to inform the rest of us of a bomb explosion at the House of Representatives.  We immediately thought about friends and comrades who are staffs of our progressive lawmakers.  Already, she informed us that Gabriela Representative Luz Ilagan was among those seriously injured.

            We started gathering our gear.  We have to send a team to cover the incident as they unfolded.  We also started talking about security measures.  Whenever a bomb goes off in Manila there is real danger Malacañang may declare Martial Law.  It happened before; it may happen again.

            Then I heard two Gabriela drivers were among those injured.  Gabriela Rep Liza Masa’s driver Ismael Lim was one.  A few minutes later news reports informed us that Rep Ilagan’s driver Marcial “Tibong” Taldo actually died on the spot.

             Thoughts flooded my mind.  Ka Tibong was a friend.  He once offered Pom and I a Labrador Retriever pup.  Whenever I came calling at their immaculately-kept house he never failed to offer me coffee and biscuits.  His son was a Kodao volunteer.  Still another son was a revolutionary martyr.  His dear mother is a tireless community organizer and he was married to a women’s organization president.

            As of this writing, Basilan Rep Wahab Akbar and one Ma-an Bustaliño have died as well.  Just recently, Akbar spoke against the ongoing military operations in his province.

            There are many bastards in Congress.  Sadly, the worst among them are almost always spared by acts of terrorism such as this one.  Tragically, good people like Rep Ilagan and Ka Ismael are harmed and kind people like Ka Tibong die.

            I drove slowly on Commonwealth Avenue on my way home.  My hands and feet felt detached.  The cool night air was rent with sirens as ambulances rushed past me laden with victims who need to be taken to hospitals and morgues.  I thought of Ka Tibong, his son, wife and mother.  I thought of my poor country made even poorer by his death.

          And tears rolled down my cheeks as I turned up all my lights in honor of our latest martyr.

Comments

[kRyStYn]

Nabalitaan ko nga po. Kagabi ay naroon ako sa multi-sectoral na human barricade sa Circle. Tumuloy ang mga kasama sa burol ni Marcial habang kami ay bumalik sa UP upang mag-discuss ng mga pangyayari sa dormitories. Hindi man kami nakapunta ay ipinagpatuloy namin ang pagmumulat sa mga kamag-aral. Pakipaabot po ang aking pakikiramay. Ang Sitio Veterans ay isa sa mga dahilan ng sarili kong pagkamulat at desisyong aktibong kumilos. Tahasan na ang karahasan.

[Andrew]

That was a moving blog, kuya.