THAT the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its above-ground and underground affiliated organizations recruit in schools is quite old news, the recent publicity surrounding the matter notwithstanding. The past holds countless cases of college students who ended up in the mountains. Political science student Marvin Marquez, killed in a New People’s Army camp in Trinidad, Bohol, in July 2000, and 21-year-old nursing graduate Rachelle Mae Palang who perished in southern Negros Oriental in September 2008 are among Cebu’s most known cases of students getting involved in student activism that was a precursor to joining the NPA. This being said and even if I do not agree with the way the two pursued political and socio-economic change, even if I believe they were misguided, I see Marvin and Rachelle Mae as heroes because they chose a life away from comfort, driven by a desire to help poor farmers in the forgotten, far-off villages of Central Visayas. I knew Marvin and he was a good kid.