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From the Editor

When people who did bad things die, should we just forget what they did?

So this HIV “advocate” who was forced to leave HIV advocacy due to alleged misdeeds passed away, and his friends paid tribute by erasing the bad he did. But really: How should we “remember” the passing of those who also did harm when they were still alive?

Photo by Anna Shevchuk from Pexels.com

Sometime in 2017, I met this HIV “advocate” who – after being mentored by a Metro Manila-based “expert” – established his own HIV organization in his hometown.

On the surface, it was actually a welcome development, particularly because all things related to HIV at that time were too Manila-centric (e.g. his mentor and other “experts”, the funding, decision-making, service delivery, et cetera). But then the NGO that this “advocate” established eventually folded. And the stories that emerged during the closure eventually served as “shock stories” to warn those who want to profit off HIV “advocacy”.

Like the claim/allegation of his ex-BF (who eventually moved overseas), stating that – while in bed, usually before or after sex or while they’re watching TV – the “advocate” made him sign fake receipts so that they can keep the money.

And like the claim/allegation of one LGBTQIA “advocate” (a “friend” of the HIV “advocate”, and who also has issues himself) who claimed that the HIV “advocate” used money that’s not his to buy a condo (among others).

But we know that – with these stories circulating – this “advocate” left HIV “advocacy” and just disappeared. At least for a while. He returned years later, though in a different capacity in a different sector.

And then he died.

And suddenly you see too many people giving him tributes, claiming that he “saved” lives, yada, yada. But just as info about what he allegedly did weren’t shared in the past, this time, no one – as in NONE – even mentions the bad that he did. Reading what’s written about him, it’s as if some messiah walked among us, instead of someone so flawed he was forced to leave HIV “advocacy” because of his alleged illegal activities.

That belief in giving “dignity in death” isn’t a bad thing, yes. I am sure he may have touched lives. But erasure isn’t the way to go about this. Instead, it is recalling the good any person who died may have done along with the bad that he/she/they may have similarly done. Because the bad that he did may have harmed others, may have carelessly affected lives. And not even mentioning this makes those who solely pay him homages sans calling him out, too, just as bad for their revisionism.

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The founder of Outrage Magazine, Michael David dela Cruz Tan completed BA Communication Studies from University of Newcastle in NSW, Australia; and Master of Development Communication from the University of the Philippines-Open University. Conversant in Filipino Sign Language, Mick can: photograph, do artworks with mixed media, write (DUH!), shoot flicks, community organize, facilitate, lecture, and research (with pioneering studies under his belt). He authored "Being LGBT in Asia: Philippines Country Report", and "Red Lives" that creatively retells stories from the local HIV community. Among others, Mick received the Catholic Mass Media Awards in 2006 for Best Investigative Journalism, and Art that Matters - Literature from Amnesty Int'l Philippines in 2020. Cross his path is the dare (guarantee: It won't be boring).

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