(Burnaby, BC, 10 March 2025 – Remembering Kian delos Santos, the seventeen-year-old student victimised by Rodrigo Duterte’s high-profile drug war between 2016 and 2022.)
Silent Echoes Rise By Bella Balisi-Bevilacqua In memory's shadow, Kian stands tall, A life too young, a dream too small. Seventeen years, the world still wide, Yet fate was harsh; it could not hide. A boy with hope, his future bright, However met by darkness in the night. With eyes of innocence, full of grace, He met injustice, no embrace. A bullet whispered through the air, His body crumpled, unaware. No justice found, no cries were heard, Just silence echoing, unheard. A mother’s tears, a father’s cry, The question lingers: "Why, oh why?" His youth, his joy, forever stolen, His name, a symbol, broken, frozen. What did he do to meet such a fate? A life reduced to twisted hate. A boy of promise, caught in strife, A fleeting moment, a stolen life. The lawless days that filled the air, The blood that stained the hope we share, Each day that passed, we felt the weight, Of every soul, we cannot save. Oh Kian, your spirit calls for peace, Your death, a wound that will not cease. Each tear that falls is soaked in pain, Your sacrifice, a hollow gain. How many more must fall, we plead, Before the darkness takes its leave? You are not just a name, a sound, But the heartbreak felt across the ground. Injustice wears a twisted face, And truth is buried in disgrace. But Kian, your legacy will rise, A beacon 'neath these cloudy skies. Though time may pass, your soul remains, In every heart that still complains. Your name, a cry, a desperate plea, For justice, truth, and dignity. (MBB)
