An impassioned call to arms

After a handful of hapless individuals who gave MSU-IIT the reputation of making students end their otherwise promising lives and dispelling out-of-wedlock pregnancy as the domineering fad, everyone's heightened attention was once again aflame when a freshman nursing student was reportedly stabbed to death after being mugged in one of the peaceful mugger-infested-but-neglected baranggays of Iligan.

Being a victim of mugging myself, aka holdup, for twice in a row, I was passionate enough to announce that muggers aka holduppers should be burned at the stake while impaled. Hah! And not just that, first their nails must be smashed with boulders from a cement quarry and take note, one by one, nail by nail. Attention future muggers: Please find a new holdup prospect. I'm not rich. Ala kayong mapapala sa kin. The next time you pounce at me, I might ask you if we had known each other.

Before I sound like Jigsaw I must say many share my sentiments. Luckily for me, the items that were taken were not laptops.

They got my archaic, vintage copy of Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet, enough to make me hesitate to give my bag away, causing the mugger with a sick mind to hit me on the shoulder with his GUN.

Plus, the textbook of Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics which unfortunately costs more or less a thousand and more unfortunate for me because, in bold letters, IT'S NOT MINE!

Plus, my cellphone with a loyalty and service award ( I regretted that they got it because my mom recorded a song there for me. It was not usual for her to do that. She must have done it accidentally, while exploring my phone's features.) 

And of course, photocopies of the notes that would be opened in the exam the following morning.

Reverberations: I was mugged at 4 am, my exam starts at 7:30 am. All that I have studied, if there are any, evaporated. Incidentally, the exam was all about EVAPORATION. 

Ripple effects: Medical check-up and X-Ray for the possibility of shoulder blades dislocation or my clavicle giving away at any moment.And how can I forget becoming instant celebrities, with everyone you meet asking you about what happened. I feel for my companions during that time (we were three), I wish I could wrestle the muggers and put shit siling labuyo into their mouths.

But I realized i was still lucky that I'm still alive. (hey, that was a GUN. A freaking GUN.) That's why I thoroughly support the cause of concerned IITians who marched around MSU-IIT and paraded towards the consciousness of local authorities, not just in Brgy. San Miguel, but in every baranggay in Iligan City to remind them that part of their responsibilities to the people is ensuring that they are all SECURE. 

The slogan reads, "Pagmata na, Captain".( Wake up, Captain). If you will not, what will happen to our ship.?

Are they even familiar of Maslow's hierarchy of needs?

Do not let night catch you walking along Brgy. San Miguel. You'll get mugged and worse, you'll get killed.

I must say not just in that baranggay. Tibanga is also infested with fiends and whopee-doo , they're practically everywhere.

Oh captain, my captain. What were we doing all along?

You might ask, what was I doing in Tibanga Hi-way at 4 am.? No I was not picking-up costumers, I was merely going home to a friend's boarding house after studying from another friends boarding house (B-HOUSE HOPPING) 30 meters away. I know, I know. I shouldn't have done that. And this brings me to my point. Securing security is a mutual effort. It's not enough that we leave everything to the baranggay officials. We ourselves should exercise prudence and vigilance since the world will always be full of people who have sick minds, to describe them lightly.

However, you who were elected to perform your duties of a peaceful society should not use this point to rationalize your negligence. After all, it is in the knowledge that your constituents are secured in whatever time of the day, that you can be rest assured that you yourself and your own family are safe.

I still won't rest my case.

Photos Courtesy of Manny Cabido. Last two photos courtesy of Mary Bernadine Dumaog.