Clamp down on a Stand out?

In our highschool batch e-loop, I made the mistake of announcing I wanted to nominate Arthur Garcia as outstanding graduate in our class.

Arthur Garcia is a shadowy highschool memory. He didn't make waves back then. He was absent from the campus political scene. All I remember of him are smiling, chinito eyes, prominent nose, crew-cut hair and .... I guess that's it. Later, when I checked out highschool memorabilia, I found him in the official photo of the Torres Torch editorial staff.

In the early years of martial rule, when I was starting a family, a Kumander Arthur was being bandied about almost in same breath as Kumander Dante (Buscayno) in the dissident movement. I vaguely recall a clash between them -- I am not sure now. Anyway, I didn't associate Kumander Arthur with anyone I knew.

Not too long after, a news story announced Arthur Garcia, aka Kumander Arthur, was found dead. Apparently salvaged.

The report carried a picture. A face of a man not yet in his prime. Chinito eyes, high nose, close-cropped hair.

I tried to deify him in my Marcos-hating mind. Or what's a hopeless romantic for?

I filled up blanks in his life I didn't know and couldn't browse about.

After highschool, went to a university. Got recruited by KMU. Was taught ideologies that hit home. Dropped out of college, abandoned family, took less-travelled road to NPA territory. Left soft bed for mosquito-infested bushes. Traded "promising-young-man" dreams for country's "dictatorship-free" future.

In a word: namundok (fled to the hills; went underground).

In my mind, I concoct a final scene up in the hills just before he was killed.

As the sun sets on the hilltop, splashing the sky with mournful colors, the young man -- with sweat on his brow and dirt on his feet -- huddles with a group of kapatid (ideological siblings) under a tree, beside a brook.

"Someone has to go down to tell Ka Enteng the killings have to stop," an elderly says.

The youth's teeth shines white in his sunburnt face as he quickly replies: "Then I will go."

"No, not you, this mission is too risky," the old man retorts as the others chime in: " Stay here. We need you here." "Don't you know you're most wanted?" an anxious woman asks.

In not so many words, he tries to convince them he knows what he was about to do. "I will go tomorrow," he concludes , as though it were non-negotiable.

If his companions looked close enough, they might have seen the glint of terror that briefly passed his eyes before he shrugged and walked away.

He was, after all , not much older than a boy.

He goes down to the poblacion the next morning.

And that was how I imagined Arthur Garcia gave himself up to his fate.

When I decided to nominate Arthur Garcia as outstanding in our batch, I thought it was going to be a walk in the park, not a climb uphill.

Nothing prepared me for the vehement protests it drew among batchmates.