Suspension of Disbelief

He was 28 years old. He was a Palanca-winning writer. He was a professor in Dela Salle University. And a proud gay.

His name was Winton Lou Ynion, and he was murdered. His hands and feet were tied with a nylon cord and his body was covered with stab wounds.

***

A professor e-mailed blast last week; “It all happened one night, when Winton took home a guy (or two guys) for a fun night, but the supposed fun night ended in a bloody frenzy.

Winton’s friend Jojo Flores went to his condominium unit in Katipunan, Quezon City after several unanswered calls. He knocked repeatedly on the door, but there was no answer. He went to the building administrator and asked for help.

When they got inside the unit, the strong stench of the body welcomed them. They found Winton’s body lying in the toilet floor drenched in his own blood. 

The QCPD (Quezon City Police District) said, “We have yet to determine what the victim does for a living and the motive for his killing, although our initial theory was robbery.”  The police also said that based from the condition of the body, Winton could have been dead for hours or even days before he was discovered.

***

Winton was an innocent gay man; he’s like any of us who lives everyday for his dreams and for his family. He never deserved to die the way he did.

It’s been ten days since Winton was murdered. Neither TV news report nor radio report about the murder aired. There were only two small columns, and personal blogs that tried their best to tell the story of Winton.

This makes me think; is a murder story unimportant to news and to us to the point that we are more interested to watch and listen to news that discusses the President’s abundant dinners?

Maybe if the one murdered is a big personality, or someone connected to a personality, its story will shed its light on TV or in the radio, but what about the regular people? What about Winton’s story?

He might be our Facebook friend, our professor, our classmate, our friend, or our brother – doesn’t he deserve to be in the news so that people will hear his story?

***

I remember Ivan. He was also murdered.  The last information his friends knew was, a guy went to his place and then the next time they heard any news about him, he was dead.

***

Is this an on going serial-killing? Is this another hate crime? Are the police and the government doing something to thoroughly investigate these kind of crimes and prevent it?

References: inquirer.net, Ang Ladlad

patrick.king.pascual@gmail.com