Justice for Mark Welson Chua, Bayani
Buried beneath the more salacious stories in today's papers was the conviction of one of the four suspects in the brutal murder case of Mark Welson Chua. Chua was the UST ROTC cadet who was killed in 2001 right inside the UST Department of Military Science and Tactics after he and other cadets exposed the corruption and bribery in the ROTC on the university's campus paper.

Manila RTC Judge Romulo A. Lopez sentenced the suspect Cadet Lt. Col. Arnulfo B. Aparri, Jr. to die by lethal injection for his participation in the crime. The charges against the other accused -- cadet Lt. Cols. Michael Von Rainard Manangbao and Eduardo E. Tabrilla, and former cadet officer Paul Joseph Tan -- were archived because they are yet to be apprehended.

One will remember that it was the death of Chua which triggered the massive call for the abolition of the ROTC. Students now have an option whether to undergo military training or community service through the NSTP program.