EDGAR JOPSON_NOT A PUSHER NOR A DRUG USER BUT AN ATENEO HIGH SCHOOL VALEDICTORIAN

FROM VP LENNY ROBREDO'S FACEBOOK PAGE CREAM OF THE YOUTH Edgar Jopson, more commonly known as “Edjop,” was one of the most well-known faces of the student movement prior to the declaration of Martial Law. Well-educated and bright, Edjop was an Ateneo High School valedictorian, but it was in college where he truly bloomed. He was part of the Ateneo Student Council, and later on was elected president of the moderate National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), then the largest inter-college student organization. It was with NUSP that Edjop participated in a massive rally held on January 1970, in front of the Congress as Marcos made his second State of the Nation Address. Soon after the rally, Edjop and other student leaders went to Malacanang for a dialogue with President Ferdinand Marcos. In that meeting, Edjop demanded that Marcos promise—on a piece of paper—that he would not run for a third term. Marcos, offended at the youth’s cheekiness, snapped, “Who are you to tell me what to do? You're only a son of a grocer!” Edjop responded: “Honest grocer naman.” Edjop’s moderate and peaceful political views soon changed, and he became a member of the Communist Party. He was arrested in 1979, and tortured by Rodolfo Aguinaldo during interrogation. Aguinaldo, who was known as one of the most brutal intelligence officers during the Marcos era, gravely misread Edjop, and planned on having Edjop rejoin the underground movement as a government spy—Edjop took this as his chance to escape. Edjop documented everything he experienced and his observations of his captors in a document entitled “Open Letter to the Filipino People,” which was extremely useful in the campaign for human rights in the Philippines during the Marcos era. In 1981, two years after his arrest, a P180,000 bounty was placed on the capture of Edjop—making him one of the most wanted persons in the country. He was captured a year later during a military raid in Davao city. He was shot while trying to escape, and died a day later, 10 years after the declaration of Martial Law.