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CEBU CITY, Philippines – Rachelle, the second of four children, was described by her teachers and relatives as an intelligent and outspoken young woman.
She graduated valedictorian from the Mandaue City Science High School (MCSHS). She was also in the Dean's List in her junior and senior years as Nursing student at the Velez College.
She graduated from Velez College in March 2008 and passed the June 2008 Nursing Licensure Examination. She had yet to take her oath.
Rachelle was editor in chief of the school publication, “Vital Signs.”
Delia Cabahug, Velez College guidance counselor, said Rachelle was lauded for articles that tackled campus issues such as tuition increases.
Rachelle was also vice president of the College Editors' Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) in the Visayas. CEGP is an alliance of tertiary campus publications nationwide .
She was one of the student leaders in Velez who campaigned against the proposal to increase tuition last year.
“I think they were able to gather more than 200 signatures,” said Geraldine Aguelo, former CEGP member and a member of the National Union of Students in the Philippines.
Aguelo denied that members of CEGP belonged to the New People's Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
“Ever since it started, CEGP has always been critical in national issues especially the Philippine educational system. But we are just fighting for the right to an education,” she said.
“It is very sad that if you really fight for the country this is misconstrued by some people,” she said in Cebuano.
“I was shocked at the loss of a student leader who chose the path not taken by everyone,” she said.
“She was a very committed person despite the struggles with her parents and the campaigns she took sa CEGP. She would not back out even though she was a nursing student. Nursing students are very busy with their studies but she always found time,” she said.
Aguelo said she would remember Palang's advice to “always struggle for the people.”
Board Member Maambong, a relative and close friend of the Palangs, said Rachelle was an outspoken girl who would get involved in discussions about governance in Consolacion town, especially since her mother, Sally, works as Consolacion municipal planning officer and her father Elenito was former town councilor.
She was also active in community-based organizations.
If Rachelle was a Communist party member, that is not a crime, said Maambong. It only becomes a crime when members campaign to overthrow the government using force.
Maambong, who represents that 6th district in the provincial board, said he believed there were “contending forces” in her death.
Rachelle, who may have stayed with peasants and farmers, was of no match for well-trained soldiers, he said.
But he said he was not convinced that Rachelle was an NPA member. Maambong said that with her heavy build, it was impossible for her to take the physical hardships of life as a guerrilla and carry a gun.
Her former teachers shared his disbelief about Rachelle leading the life of a rebel on the run.
Crisenta Lotario, her former teacher at the MCSHS, said Rachelle was open to new adventures but was the kind who would also get scared.
She recalled how Rachelle once got scared when the students were told to do wall climbing. The student, in jest, called out for her mother.
Her teachers visited the Palang family yesterday morning at the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Nivel Hills to pay their last respects to Rachelle.
“The mother (Salome Palang) was not crying when we saw her,” said Farrah Jutaya, a former teacher. “She (Salome) told us `You are part of the nurturing of my child'.”
Jutaya recalled how determined her former student was to proceed to Medicine and even took the admission test for incoming medical students. /with reports from Reporter Doris C. Bongcac and Correspondent Chito O. Aragon
