The Wake-up Call

photo from Inquirer

I remember 21 August 1983 quite clearly. I was lying on my parents' bed watching Knots Landing together with the family. The show was interrupted by a newsflash that which showed footage of a man lying on the airport tarmac.

His white suit was so bloodied it was pink.

His face was so destroyed I could never relate it with pictures of him alive.

For some reason my mom was weeping.

I kept thinking "Who is this guy?"

To the people who experienced the onset of Martial Law, I think he became more than a person, he became a symbol. Of what might have been. I can never forget the phrase Hindi Ka Nag-iisa.

2004. After 3 Edsa revolutions, numerous coups, 4 presidents, the continued devaluation of our currency - his face is on the 500 peso bill. That's all some people know about him.

Things have changed. Things are still the same.