Mariano M. Lopez
Mariano Mejia Lopez
"Rak"
PSHS Batch 1969
Birth: January 31, 1952
Death: June 12, 1976
Place: Cagayan Valley
His remains cannot now be found
Education
Elementary: Project 6 Elementary School, Q.C.
High School: Philippine Science High School, Q.C.
College: University of the Philippines Diliman,
BS Electrical Engineering, NSDB scholar
Mariano Lopez, who was Rak to everyone, was quiet and soft spoken but very bright. He was a government scholar from high school to college. He was in the first batch of students who qualified for the Philippine Science High School in 1964, graduating fifth of the batch five years later.
Rak was an engineering sophomore in UP when he was introduced to political activism. At the steps of the Arts and Science building, Rak listened patiently as student leaders harangued about the educational system, the elections, and other pressing issues of the day. He read from radical literature, including the Collegian, the student paper in the university. He joined the UP Nationalist Corps.
With thousands of other UP students, Rak was in the rally in front of Congress on January 26, 1970, which was brutally dispersed by the police. It affected Rak deeply.
That same year, he joined the UP chapter of the Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan. He also joined its cultural arm, the Gintong Silahis.
Rapidly he became a persuasive discussant in student discussion groups. Before his parents’ objections, he argued that it was love that made him want his country to be free, that he was casting personal ambition aside for the cause of national democracy.
Rak dropped out of school in 1972 and volunteered as fulltime organizer in the poor communities of Manila. He also stayed for months in his home province in Bataan, discussing politics with farmers.
Later he became general-secretary of the SDK in Manila.
When martial law was imposed, Rak was arrested and incarcerated up to February 1974. After his release, he worked as proofreader with the Daily Express. In the few short months he worked in the newspaper, he managed to organize a union, leading it in demanding higher wages from management.
After the Express, Rak joined the resistance in Isabela. There he was reported slain by government troopers in 1976. His body was never recovered.
- write-up courtesy of Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation
Testimonials from friends
"When the SDK leadership decided to form other sectoral organizations, I was assigned to help set up the Samahan ng Progresibong Propagandista (SPP), which focused its recruitment among mass communications (journalism and broadcasting) students. My colleagues in SPP included Jose “Oying” Rimon III, Joaquin “Jack” Teotico, and Jacinto “Jack” Peña. Jack P. disappeared during a trip to Cagayan Valley in the early martiallaw years and is presumed to have died. I also joined the Progresibong Samahan sa Inhinyeriya at Agham (PSIA), whose members were of similar technical bent as I was. Among PSIA's leaders was Victoria “Vicky” Lopez, older sister of my high school batch mate Mariano Lopez. “Rock,” as we fondly called him, would also eventually meet an early death in Cagayan Valley, though his body, like Jack P.'s, would never be recovered."
- From "Lest We Forget," an essay by Roberto "Obet" Verzola (PSHS Batch '69), included in "Not on Our Watch : Martial Law Really Happened. We Were There"
Other links
UP Pays Tribute to 72 Martyrs and Heroes, by GMA News
Note
The contents of this page are based on information obtained from Bantayog ng mga Bayani archives or are available in the public domain. For corrections or inclusion of additional material, kindly contact the volunteer organizers via pagpugay.pahingalay@gmail.com.
Photos
scanned from the PSHS Batch 1969 year book
