Last post, I wrote about the crosses that dot the roads of Northern Mindanao.
I saw one of these crosses a few days ago. This cross was relatively larger than the other ones I had seen before. Time-darkened blood encrusted around it. Rumor had it that the victim was a man in his 30s. He got sideswiped by a car, and fell off his motorcycle. A 10-wheeler truck then took away whatever life he still had then.
Last year, I also saw one of these crosses. It was relatively smaller than the average, and it marked the place where a man was killed for his motorcycle. By day, he was a security guard. By night, he studied Law. After classes to make ends meet, he took he gave passengers a ride on his motorcycle.
I have seen a few more crosses, but I didn’t know the background story of each of them. I am left only to surmise the details of the deaths they commemorate.
I have never seen anyone remove these crosses from the road. Some of them may stand for days, of which the responsibility of removing them was left to nature. The one I saw most recently still stood after two days. It was located in a street with heavy traffic, and apparently the authorities had misgivings on its removal. Nature, however, would not be as merciful. The next heavy rain may wipe all traces of it, and the street would be clear again.
**It is not uncommon to see a cross placed on the road several days after a victim had been injured on the road site. This leaves a clear message to everyone that the victim has died due to injuries taken on the site.
