I was news editor of the Far Eastern University’s Institute of Arts and Sciences newsletter called ‘The SeaGull’ in the 90s.

Before us, our term that is, the institute’s student government body had been accused of releasing the newsletter ‘occasionally or accidentally’ — the line used by the more active (read: activist) candidates running for student council posts then. And they won overwhelmingly! When the new student council was set up in office, a friend invited me to attend meetings for the newsletter project and there I was assigned as news editor.

We came up with 4 spreads (16 pages) of a real newsletter covering all aspects of university life from the university president’s ‘official’ points-of-view down to what a regular working student had in mind to share.

At that time FEU was upgrading its status, starting from the bottom, as a requirement by the Commission on Higher Education and had to undergo a lot of tune-ups to maintain the ‘university’ structure by keeping up with a tiered program provided by the CHED. Or else, the university will be reduced to a vocational learning center, which the stakeholders did not want.

I know so, because I was the one who interviewed then FEU president Felixberto Sta. Maria for my ‘Access’ column. And because of the tiered upgrade program, tuition fees on all courses accross all institutes had been increased, much to the disagreement of most working students.

The team handling the newsletter production then from news- and other content-gathering was really great. I was able to come up with a sponsorship with Dunkin’ Donuts across Morayta to handle our coffee meetings, which was almost everyday. The store would provide all the members of the newsletter team with free coffee and a doughnut. There were more than a dozen of us! The extra order, the individual had to shoulder.

Then Dunkin’ Donuts store manager was a guy named Eric. I didn’t get his last name but he provided us with a pass that we can show anyone at Dunkin’ Donuts Morayta that we were entitled to a cup of their freshly-brewed coffee and any doughnut of our liking. I was aware that Eric was doing something for us that had possibly sent his store’s inventory to mayhem but he did not ask for anything in return, such as an ad space, perhaps.

The paper gained the respect and trust of the student body for we provided, first of all, balanced news and fearless views (hey, I read that line somewhere!).

It was in the layout and printing aspect of the newsletter that I was able to meet Cochise Bernabe, then a law student, with his team or partners — students from varied courses also from UP, who manned and serviced that two-storey printing press business they had in Pasay.

Cochise and his partners were warm. Despite some tensions because of the deadlines their business had to face — for they had other projects, too — we were always accommodated. We were almost always there during that process. I had seen Beebom Castaños there only once. There was an energy in their tandem and was a very promising couple.

After class hours at noon or in the afternoon, I would go to the printing press to check on the status of the production. It was merely cut-and-paste then, so there was still a guy who had to set all those things on a page before it has to be shot and placed on the iron sheets. The setter, Andy, was that one-man team. He had to cut, paste, set, and shoot before the machine operators would set them on the machines for running. We had to help him if we had to come up even with partial copies before the end of the week.

After the first release of the newsletter during our term, we were all elated. Cochise would always ask when we would go back for the next issue and the next. The following semester I was voted editorial board chair of the newsletter. We had three or four issues of ‘The SeaGull’ printed there at Cochise’s printing press.

After the sad summer news of Cochise and Beebom’s disappearance that led to their senseless killings, we had to look for another printer.

It is also so senseless now to let those men responsible for cutting short their lives, intentionally, be set free. Each of those murderers were locked up for double life sentences; what justification will undo what they did.

After reading the front-page news on the Inquirer this morning, what else will make your heart sink? (On Cochise and Beebom: PDI news 1, PDI news 2). Have we become so freak a nation to let criminals roam our streets and make a mockery of our laws? Or is it part of our heritage as a race that we easily forget the errors of the past and wonder why we cannot move on as we should? This is like setting all the Jack-the-Rippers free!

But this is not the first. There were Teehankee, Jalosjos, the Aquino-Galman murderers. To top that, there was Erap! Now, who will be the next?

Ironically, the spread also carries the news on the apologies of Hong Kong columnist Chip Tsao who previously called the Philippines a nation of servants.

Oh, I know what  you are thinking.