By LUCHIE MARANAN
www.nordis.net

November 26, 2009

News says there is no suspect yet
To this ghastly slaughter
Justice Secretary declares you can’t
Tag the prime suspect as such
As there is no evidence to point to him
Even if it was his men and arsenal,
His disdain for rivalry and brute arrogance
That sparked the volley of fire
That blasted fifty eight lives to kingdom come
Then buried them in shallow hell
And drove us to indignant disbelief
Let due process take its course
The Palace declares detached silence
In this land where justice trembles
At the feet of power
Where history groans with the
Burden of might and greed
Where news of gore and mayhem
Feed the ire of a people
Seeking an end to this rule of infamy.

November 23, 2010

Twelve months have crawled,
The memory bleeds and gushes still
Veins of evidences lead to the pit
Where highway cannot take a detour
Where testimonies cannot be backhoed
Where cries for justice cannot be snuffed by warlord bullets
The papers are riddled with papers of slayers
flaunting their power and might
Defying the steel bars they easily bend with impunity,

Now we survey the landscape of their ignominy
Where trees of ire and grass of restiveness have grown
And we shall not let a day pass without the fifty eight names
Etched in the conscience of those wield power
Incite each one of us storm the gates
Until that lady that holds the weights unblinds herself.

* Luchie Maranan is a member of the Baguio Writers Guild.