REMEMBER Keith Absalon?

Far Eastern University’s football star who was killed by the New People’s Army a year ago now has a monument in his honor.

The monument was unveiled on June 6, his first death anniversary, at the Masbate Sports Complex.

Vilma Absalon, Kieth’s mother, said that the monument will serve as a remembrance and reminder to the youth that sports can help improve their lives.

“Ito ay magpapaalala sa aking anak. Napakasakit man ng pangyayari na ‘di malilimutan kailanman. Magsisilbi ito sa mga kabataan, na ang sports ay maaaring daan para makapag-aral,” she said during a special press briefing of the National Task Force to End Local Communists Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in Masbate.

“His short-lived life will serve as an inspiration to Masbateños, that there is a future in sports. I am really happy to be part of this commemoration, and the journey of Kieth and his education, how he got to FEU,” Nene Merioles, Masbate School Superintendent who also knew Absalon as a student, said.

Merioles said that even before the pandemic, provincial schools have been encouraging students to be involved in sports, citing Kieth’s achievements, who at the young age of 12 was already a scholar.

Through football, Kieth was also able to get a college scholarship at FEU, where he was eventually awarded the Most Valuable Player title.

Kieth, together with his cousin Nolven and some friends were biking when the NPA detonated an anti-personnel mine. Kieth and Nolven were then shot to death by NPA rebels. At the time of his death, Kieth was only 21 years old.