During the interview with Cris’ mother Rowena Hugo, a public school teacher in Gallanosa National High School in the municipality of Irosin, Sorsogon (647 kms. south of Manila), grief was evident in her face. She said she felt restless last Sunday because she was alone at home. At 11 p.m.., she said, a BRTTH doctor called and told her what had happened to her son.

Cris’ mother recalled how he wanted her to stay with him when she went to the university on the afternoon of March 18. After a parents’ meeting, she said they went to the mall and the park and Cris even asked her to go to the movies. “It seems that he didn’t want me away from him,” she said.

“Gusto niya makasama ako sa pagtulog. Sabi niya pa nga huwag na daw muna akong umuwi. Sabi ko baka pagalitan ako ng papa mo. Pero sabi niya kahit pagalitan ka ni Papa, wala na siyang magagawa kasi andun na ‘yun, e,” (He wanted me to sleep at his boarding house. He asked me not go home yet. I said your father will be angry. But he said, even if Papa gets angry he can do nothing about it) she recalled.

Meryll Arcos, editor-in-chief of the BUCAL student publication Budyong (shell), said she saw Cris passing by their boarding house in EM’s Barrio almost every afternoon before the meeting of parents for ICT. “He was rushing to go to his boarding house before dusk, which he does not normally do, as if somebody was following him,” she said.

His fellow activists, who requested anonymity, said Cris had been receiving death threats a year before his death. During that time, they said, Cris tried vainly to alter his appearance by wearing polo and eyeglasses. It made him look like a seminarian and they just laughed at him.

Seminarian

Cris came from a devout family. His parents were lectors, or scripture readers in their church. He also acted in theatre productions of their parish church.

“Ang gusto ‘nya talaga ay maging pari (He really wanted to be a priest),” her mother said. She revealed that he spent two years in high school at the Peñafrancia Seminary in Sorsogon City. He went out of the seminary on his third year because his father didn’t want him to become a priest.

“Para lang kaming magbabarkada niyan. (We’re just like friends),” his mother said as she stared at her son’s casket. “I even join his company of friends every time they are here. We would go out to a videoke bar and sing and have fun.”

“Napakabait ng anak ko. Hindi ko matanggap na agad siyang mawawala. Kahit sa mga kapatid niya, ang bait niya. Minsan pag-umuuwi iyan, may dala siyang pasalubong. Kahit ano, tulad ng scented candles. Napaka-thoughtful niya. (My son was very kind. I cannot accept that he would suddenly be gone. Even with his siblings, he was so kind. He even brought gifts for the family when he came home, even simple things like scented candles. He was very thoughtful),” she added.

“Napakabuting bata niyang si Cris. Wala akong masabi diyan sa apo ko (He was a very good child. I could not find any fault in him),” said Socorro Hugo, Cris’ grandmother, as she wept.

“Sometimes,” his mother revealed, “he and his father would have petty fights and discussions because of his views, which his father disagrees with. One time he said, ‘kulugan mo na po ako Papa, suntukon mo ako, aakoon ko po pero dai mo po mamababago ang prinsipyo ko’ (Hurt me papa, knock me down, I will take it but you can never change my principles).”

Cris’ mother recalled that when he was arrested February 2005 during a protest rally on the occasion of President Arroyo’s visit, they were so enraged because she heard on the radio that Cris and other protesters were arrested on charges of illegal possession of drugs.

“Nagulat nga ako ng binalita sa radyo na na-detain sila sa Guinobatan (I was shocked when it was reported over the radio that they were detained in Guinobatan),” she said.

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