Mariano M. Lopez

Bantayog ng mga Bayani page

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