In the last 5 months, my Facebook friends have decreased by 4. No longer active are the accounts of Jory Porquia, Carlito Badion, Fidel V. Agcaoili, and Zara Alvarez. This is not because their owners are eschewing social media, but because their owners are no longer living: Ka Jory was killed by unidentified assassins insider his own house in Iloilo; Ka Lito was shot to death then thrown like garbage onto a roadside in Leyte; Ka Fidel died of a sudden illness; and Zara, she was gunned down on a rainy evening in Bacolod. I also lost another friend who was not on Facebook – peasant rights champion and survivor of the Marcos Dictatorship, Ka Randy Echanis. Ka Randy was tortured and stabbed multiple times also by unknown killers on August 14.

I did not know them as closely or as deeply as their families and the activists they worked with in Bayan Muna, Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap or Kadamay, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), Karapatan, or Anakpawis. I did not know how each of them took their coffee, if they liked eggs scrambled or fried, or whether they preferred movies over Netflix series. I did not know the many small details of their lives.

What I do know, however, is what they lived for, and why their deaths weigh heavier than mountains, are more painful than stab wounds.

From his FB posts, I knew that Ka Jory was an advocate for the poor and the homeless. In the weeks before he was killed, he had organized a community kitchen to provide community residents a sustainable livelihood project and to feed those who were familiar with hunger like a brutal friend. A veteran of the parliament of the streets, he was also a cool, hippie dad and environmentalist. Ka Jory was killed on April 30 as he was preparing to open said community kitchen for the day.

Ka Lito, or Karlet’z, was the secretary-general of the urban poor group Kadamay whose body was found near a highway in Ormoc City on May 28. He was actively involved in anti-demolition and public housing occupation campaigns in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces. Based on his last FB posts and the tributes of relatives, he was a loving husband and father, and an even more loving grandfather. He loved going on FB Messenger to speak to his granddaughter, using as many filters and emojis as possible.

Ka Fidel, well, he is not only known for being an ex-political prisoner who was detained longest by the Marcos dictatorship, or for being the sharp and fearless chief negotiator of the NDFP in the failed peace negotiations with the Duterte government, but he is famous for greeting his friends a happy birthday at least 3 days before the actual date. Along with updates on political events, he also posted pictures of his wife Rosario (Tita Chit) and their adorable grandkids, as well as snapshots of daily life at the NDFP office in Utrecht with the likes of Coni Ledesma, Juliet de Lima, Luis Jalandoni, and Jose Ma. Sison. He died on July 23.

Zara? Oh yes, Zara. Small yet fierce, former political prisoner, community health worker, human rights advocate, mother of an 11-year old. When not posting about updates on the COVID-19 situation in the Philippines or the Department of Education’s lack of intelligent preparation for the 2020 school year, Zara liked to post always smiling selfies with colleagues in the human rights circles in Bacolod. She shared the occasional cat pic or video, admonished friends to “stay weird,” and reposted posts selling products made and sold by community-based mothers. She was shot to death on August 17.

Ka Jory, Karlet’z, Ka Fidel, Zara – and yes, Ka Randy – were different people with different tastes and hobbies, but they held the same beliefs and values. They were all human rights advocates, all defenders of the poor. Their lives were all made extraordinary because of what they chose to do with it: to serve others selflessly and happily. They enjoyed their work, thrived on it, were strengthened by the bonds they formed with others who believed in the same dreams of a better, kinder Philippines. As for the dangers that come with standing up against an inhumane government run by killers who ignore and violate the same laws they were sworn to uphold, well, what else could they do but adjust to it? Backing down was never an option for them.

With great personal courage, they persisted against the harassment, criminal cases, and the death threats they received from cowards sending badly spelled messages on FB and through text. They did not back down, because there was so much work to be done. When you live in a country where social injustice is the norm, you either ignore it or you address it. They chose not to ignore it, and their actions have made so much of a difference in the lives of so many.

 If one measured the value of  a life based on what one posts on social media – their activities, their opinions on events and issues (even trivial ones), how they expressed themselves, the posts they liked, disliked, laughed at, cried over, then the lives of these 4 people were well spent, worthy and deserving of the tributes they have received and continue their receive. Ka Jory, Karlet’z, Ka Fidel, Ka Randy, and Zara were all activists, and they were all considered enemies of the state because of their activism, plain and simple. They were criminals in the eyes of a criminal government, but in the hearts and minds of the people who benefited from their compassion, they are heroes. They were not famous for wearing expensive clothes or eating at exclusive restaurants, but they were loved and respected because of the courage they showed in defending the poor and exposing the corrupt, denouncing the liars and denouncing the human rights violators that run this government like their own personal circus.

I am grateful to have been Facebook friends with these people, and even more grateful to have known them in real life. My virtual world was made more interesting because of what the stories shared, and my own life in made all the more meaningful by having known them. – Rappler.com

Ina Alleco R. Silverio has worked as an investigative journalist, a congressional chief of staff, and a media officer for various people’s organizations. She currently works for a company advocating renewable energy and the teachings of Pope Francis in his encyclical calling for ecological conversion, “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home.”