Even I am guilty of just blocking everything out and trying to live my own life, but the deaths of Alyssa Alano and the other students have shocked me out of my comforting bubble that I have isolated myself in. I saw myself in them.

Expect the Ateneo de Manila itself to die from this disaster, its lux-in-domino luster to lose its brilliance for some years to come. And that is because in the eyes of the Filipino people it has shown the opposite of its conscience and compassion to be in solidarity with the marginalized.

Kapit-tuko is a term notoriously used in Tagalog culture. To “hold on like a gecko” carries a social stigma of being overly clingy out of despair, in the process manipulating things just to hold on to a person or position.