A man who fought and conquered

(POSTHUMOUS TRANSCRIPT- Rolando de la Cruz was the only true maverick president of Adamson University Student Government who took his battle up the mountains of armed revolution, and was killed in an encounter with military officers. To his last breath, he only wanted to serve the people. I was coming in on my first day as a freshman when I saw Rolando's fragile body being dragged by SWAT officers ordered by the university administrators to silence him. In vain.)

That someone so young and with a bright future ahead of him would offer his life instead for the noble and sometimes thankless cause of serving the people, Rolando de la Cruz deserves our utmost respect.

He was and will always be the man ahead of his generation in seeing the need to struggle, and to lead the studentry and later on the greater masses when he left the university. To this day, the evils he fought against remain, but so do the ideals and visions he steadfastly held on to to slay those evils. It was no lost cause.

Through him, we gathered more strength and with him, victory is at hand.

Those who choose not to see will always fail in their every step, and a fear they will never conquer stays with them. While we go on emboldened by a united courage to change the world. Because we can. And the likes of Rolando dela Cruz and a thousand others who offered their lives will always be there to show us the way.

Ka Roland lives on every time we shout in protest, guard our rights, and exercise our freedom and humanity for the greater good.