anniversary.

i learned about it over dinner, on April 14, 2007. I was waiting for my 3-month old baby to finish breastfeeding so i could also eat. My mother asked me if i remember "Tita Luing". She didn't look happy.

i remember asking if something was wrong because my mother is generally a happy person and seldom flashes sad faces.
I was told they have disappeared, actually abducted a couple of days before. Tito Leeboy was shot and was being treated in the hospital. I sent a message to Blesela inquiring about the details. She said the doctors would allow the slug to remain inside Tito Leeboy's body because it is more risky to take it out.

I do not personally know "Tita Luing" but my father talked about her and her colleagues many times. based on how my father tells his stories, she was a person fit to be put in a pedestal. I also see her around from time to time -- in fiestas and whenever my parents dine out with her. She has also dropped by our house several times during the election campaign period, giving out campaign materials for the Bayan Partylist.


My mother said the last she saw her was in January. She asked me if i ever wondered why it took them (my mother and my sister) to return from their shopping trip while i was in the hospital for Gogol's delivery. They left to buy groceries around 430 pm (or so) -- i was only 4-5 cm then and returned 3 hours later, at 730 pm when i was approaching 7-8 cm and was about to be brought to the delivery room. she said she met with Tital Luing. She asked for some counseling over her marital problems. My mother didn't know it would be their last meeting before their abduction on April 12. She said she wished she had met her again because she was planning to give her one of her overnight bags because she said she liked it. she said maybe things would have been different.


or would it be?


you could never really be sure with the kind of government we now have.