Alexander A. Belone

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"As a child, Alexander gave away his pencils to his poor playmates. He dreamed that he would go out into the world and sell blankets to help support his family. He preferred reading to playing, being happiest with a book. He was an honor pupil in grade school and an active Boy Scout. He was fascinated with constellations and the family called him Alex, Totoy, or Captain.

At age 13, Alex left Bicol to study as a full scholar at the Philippine Science High School. (PSHS) in Quezon City. The shy Alex thrived in a dormitory full of rambunctious boys. Some became his steady friends.

... One day in December 1970, Alex was marching in a rally next to Francis Sontillano, another PSHS alumni, when a pillbox dropped by a university guard hit Sontillano’s head and killed him. A bare few months later, in February 1971, Alex was at a student barricade in UP at the start of the historical period now called the Diliman Commune, when a professor suddenly took out a gun and fi red at a student nearby. The student, Pastor Mesina, died."