To the Dead and the Desaparecidos

Jay-r: hi
spring: hi too
Jay-r: how r u?
spring: am ok
spring: pretending to be busy
spring: hey, check my blog
spring: http://angelspring.blogpost.com/
Jay-r: i did check
spring: good, then join my poll and answer that politics is the topic u like
Jay-r: hahahahahha
Jay-r: soon i'll also make my own blog and post my writings
Jay-r: a comrade from the southeast is missing and until now no updates
spring: y missing?
Jay-r: he was conducting organizing work then he got picked-up
Jay-r: nobody witnessed
spring: God! the bloody crackdown continues!
Jay-r: yah, because he won't get lost easily
spring: do u know him?
Jay-r: yup, he's my uncle
Jay-r: when i was still a baby, he prepares my milk
Jay-r: even when i was still a baby, my family were already active
spring: really? and you still don't have any word from him?
Jay-r: none, a farmer told us that he was picked-up and was made a guide by the 79IB
spring: as in 79 infantry battalion
Jay-r: yah
spring: since when?
Jay-r: since june 11
spring: almost two weeks have passed...and no word from him
Jay-r: yah, very painful
spring: so, he is added to the list of desaparecidos?
Jay-r: yup, that's right
Jay-r: my father is also a desaparecido
spring: really? and your brother was killed right?
Jay-r: yah, my brother was a martyr
spring: you're the only one left!
spring: good men die young or so they say
Jay-r: i'm going to follow their footsteps but i have to go to school first
Jay-r: the spirit of activism is within my blood because i was born to it
spring: it is really painful to the heart
spring: we cry, we grieve, but then we wipe our tears, rise up, and fight...
Jay-r: wow! you're right
spring: the struggle taught me that
Jay-r: some people die and some people disappeared but many people will rise and continue the task they left
spring: that's right
Jay-r: hahahaha but we don't know when
spring: as long as we live in this kind of world, the fight would never end...
spring: however long it takes, fifty years, a hundred, five hundred, a thousand...it doesn't matter how long the fight, what matters is that we have contributed...
Jay-r: yah, because the greatest sacrifice is not easy to do
Jay-r: to face death
spring: to die fighting is very noble and we all hope that our deaths would be like that but to strive to continue to live so we can fight is a must...
Jay-r: wow! with all these inspiring words i might go full-time again

This was a chat that I had with a friend earlier (the original is mostly in Cebuano).

It made me remember . . .
that the fight is still on
It made me remember . . .
the people who gave their lives for the struggle
It made me remember . . .
my favorite uncle, a minister, who died with 5 bullet wounds in the head (the last time I saw him was when he was helping me figure out things in life)
It made me remember . . .
my friend, he was only 20 years old when he was ambushed and killed (the last time I saw him was when we shook hands before he left)
It made me remember . . .
one of the greatest persons I've ever met, one who's life was a testament to his longing to serve the people, a person who sacrificed everything (and i mean everything) in life to help the masses (the last thing that I said to him was, "Don't get killed so I'll see you again soon," the next thing I heard, he was dead)
It made me remember . . .
one of my mentors, she was funny and caring and she too spent all here life as a volunteer to serve the people (the last time that I saw her was when we were going over our plans on how to execute our activities despite the very very small funds that we had), she was abducted and until now, I have never heard from her again.

I owe it to all of them to continue . . .

I cry, I grieve, but then I wipe my tears, rise up, and continue the fight.