Why are good young men like Governor Degamo executed?
The murder of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo, brings into focus a very significant phenomenon in history: That most of humanity's icons of goodness, heroism and greatness are killed before reaching their senior years. Degamo was only 56. He could have done so much for his province and our country. But evil cannot triumph if good men aren’t eliminated.
Jesus was crucified at 33. Jose Rizal was executed when he was only 35. Andres Bonifacio died at 34. General Gregorio del Pilar was only 24 when he died in Tirad Pass. General Antonio Luna was killed before he was 33. Macario Sakay was hanged by the Americans at 37. Apolinario Mabini died at 38, but due to cholera. Graciano Lopez Jaena at the age of 33 due to tuberculosis, General Emilio Jacinto at the age of 23 due to malaria. But Ninoy Aquino was assassinated before age 50.
Alexander the Great died at the age of 33. He was allegedly poisoned by his enemies while in Babylon, after a major victory. Born in the year 323 BCE, he was the world's greatest general. He created one of the biggest empires stretching from Macedonia to Egypt. He was the one who overthrew the great Persian Empire. He carried his military campaigns up to India and laid the foundations of the Hellenistic world of territorial kingdoms. Alexander was a student of Aristotle, who was a student of Plato, and we all know that Plato was in turn originally mentored by Socrates. Thus, Alexander the Great was history's only philosopher conqueror. But he died at the same age that Jesus did.
The world history's greatest military leaders were all young: Napoleon Bonaparte, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Hannibal Barca, Attila the Hun, George Patton, Robert Lee, Douglas MacArthur, and even George Washington, before he was elected as America's first president. And talking of US presidents, Abraham Lincoln was shot when he was 56. James Garfield was also shot when he was only 49. William McKinley was shot when he was 58. John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic US president, was assassinated at 46. Our own president Ramon Magsaysay was only 49 years old when he died in that mysterious plane crash in Cebu. Unconfirmed rumor was that bombs were planted inside the baskets of mangoes loaded by terrorists aboard the presidential plane. The evil was either from the extreme right or the extreme left.
Governor Roel Degamo was born on April 29, 1966 and was murdered on March 4, 2023 before he reached 57. Too young and too promising. He was definitely a good man and he could have won over and over again. The people of Negros Oriental loved him as he loved his people. He had gone through many turbulent political struggles against more powerful and wealthier rivals. But the people always supported him. Degamo was governor from 2011 to 2022 and also from October 2022 until his assassination. He was the number one provincial board member in 2010. After the successive deaths of both the vice governor and the governor, Degamo became governor by succession in January 2011. He was a graduate of Silliman University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He left a wife and two sons. They must be in their darkest moments of grief while the killers must either be stricken by conscience or plotting their escape or legal defense.
Good men like Degamo are eliminated as early as possible because evil couldn’t triumph when they continue to live. God, it is commonly said, allows good men and good women to die young, so that the evil one would not have time to turn them from good to bad. Also, good men like governor Roel, and also Rizal, Bonifacio, Ninoy, and even the victim of frat barbarism, John Matthew Salilig, are allowed early rest from the endless cruelties, brutality, and barbaric evil of other men. Let us then commend their souls to heaven.
They are now in the ultimate haven of peace, harmony and love while the world will continue to suffer in anguish and pain. And evil men shall rule over us. In a very real sense, a large part of us was also killed. We either allow evil to triumph by our inaction and indifference or do something positive, legal, and just to stop evil from killing other men of goodwill and good deeds. To remain silent and unmoved is the option of the coward and the dead.