STOP POLITICAL KILLINGS NOW!

“If the bullets of my enemies will trigger them to be happy, so be it in my 21st year”
-Rei Mon “Rambo” Guran

Out of habit, I browsed through my friends list. I caught a glimpse of one of my friend's picture, Rei Mon Guran on his sister's account. Rei Mon, whom we all call Rambo, is a very funny guy. He always cracks jokes and makes fun out of almost anything and anybody even his mom and/or dad. In high school, he kept joking about certain teachers and even our principal but he did not get in trouble because his jokes were so funny they all have forgiven them. Besides, as I think back now, he is probably too smart for them. But I always remember him as the guy who got kicked out of a UPLB dorm because he got caught with a small marijuana plantation out on his window ledge. I remember him for that because no one ever did that as far as I am concerned. He eventually got kicked out of the university though.

Rambo went into the good life (so he said) of killing time with skateboarding, rocking out with friends and deliberately not getting a bath for days on end after his stint at the UPLB. His mother, my sister said (she happens to be one of his closest friends) always complained of his son’s then lifestyle. His father could not do anything about it.

To everyone’s amazement, he suddenly did a turnaround. He went back to school, got excellent grades and actively participated in the social movement. He became a spokesperson of the Aquinas University League of Filipino Students and became widely known in the region for adamantly demanding the government to prioritize social services for the people especially quality education. So much so that at the height of the killing of members of militant groups last year, he was gunned down aboard a bus bound to Legazpi City in Bulan, Sorsogon on July 31 at around 6:30am. After celebrating his 21st birthday the night before, Rambo and his younger sister were about to go to school. They never got there. Followed by a suspicious man for months before, he was finally cornered and killed.

Sitting here writing about Rambo is a rather social task for me. Sad as I feel, as a fellow participant in the social movement, I must uphold the same issues both local and national that he fought and died for. And like the other people who died for the same cause (there are over 650 political killings under GMA rule, 14% of which are youth and students) he did not take things sitting down. Even if he was marked, followed and killed. The ultimate sacrifice was his life.

Who will say that Rambo was a fool for wasting his life on fighting for our rights in the streets? Who will say the same of UP Diliman students Karen Empeno, Sheryln Cadapan and Manuel Merino who were abducted (and feared dead) also last year on June 26 at 2:00 am in Bulacan? Who will say that these people were just clogging the streets, causing traffic and making senseless noise?

No, activism is not merely joining rallies nor raising your fists and cuss the government. Activism is standing for your right to be free from inequality and poverty, to freedom of speech, to know the truth. Activism is not a crime and we are not criminals.

I am writing this not only for Rambo but also for those participating in the social movement, some of whom died and most ready to die for it. I am writing this for the nameless and faceless heroes of our time.

Justice for Rambo!

Stop political killings now!