690
‘690 pa lamang po ang bilang ng pinatay’
- Human Rights worker Lorena ‘Aya’ Santos
(correcting what I wrote that there are already 700 victims of Gloria M. Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya—28 June 2006)
I ache to
feel happy that
there are ten
people less
than my horrid
number
But
I
can’t
And
I
wish
we’re only talking
about the gay bar
with such a name
In this
case
though
only funeral parlors
and mathematicians can
be happy with
an exact number
I
am
not
690
an exact number
but is it right
to use it
as quantifier
or qualifier?
6-9-0
digits
Each one
a life
snuffed
Noble lives
and innocent victims
hapless as
fatalities
hapless as
numbers
But not
as memories.
-10:50 p.m.
29 June 2006
Sta. Rosa, Laguna
694. that’s the exact number of killed as of now. 700 or 690 or 694, still the same amount of rage. those numbers are getting higher as we speak.
i’m feeling extra down today. my college mate who was one of my first friends in college is still missing since monday. he was abducted in angeles together with other activists.
AYA — July 4, 2006 @ 7:46 pm