Valentine's Day Will Never Be the Same Again

I never thought about Valentine's Day the way I do now. For me, Valentine's Day was just an ordinary day. Yes, everyone's celebrating love on this day, and I can see that clearly. Taxis are all taken, vehicular traffic is jammed in areas where motels thrive, PDA is expected everywhere, price of flowers and chocolates rise, etc. But it still an ordinary day.

Until that fateful Valentine's Day of 2009. The day when my cousin struggled and died for his love. Since that day, Valentine's Day has become a day of remembering my cousin Vhan Kyzyl Fortu Moscoso--a loving son and brother, a thoughtful cousin, a good friend, a courageous lover and servant of God.

Our family called Vhan "Ban-Ban," but I got a special pet name for him, "Bantoy." He was 18, graduating student taking up AB Secondary Education major in English at the Romblon State University. He was hoping to help in the livelihood of his family. He wanted to be the one to send his youngest sibling to college. He wished to become a policeman and a teacher.

He even won the title "Mr. Valentines" in a local pageant some years before 2009, because he was really charming. But later on, we learned that destiny has more reason than that for letting him win him such title.

Losing him is a painful experience, especially for his parents. As for my part, his death reminded of these lessons, that "you'll never know how important they are until they are gone" and that "love them while you can."

Right now, our family is still pursuing legal actions against those who caused his death. We know that the justice of the Lord will reign on his case.