I was on my way home when I saw some men gathered in front of our barangay municipal hall. They were seemingly cool, and a bit of observant. I was thinking that maybe something biggie might have happened, or that an important person like a Mayor was visiting the barangay hall. I kept on walking, and I was even gleefully striding because our Math test scores came back and I was the only one who got the perfect score. Suddenly, two of these men stared intently at me, followed by the next and the next, until everyone was watching me. My jolly strides froze.
The men began to look at each other as some of them began to walk away from the barangay hall towards me. I got a bit frightened so I walked faster, then I turned to run. I was outnumbered though as they began to walk faster too and they began to encircle me.
"Are you the granddaughter of the late Datu Pio?" asked one of the men.
"Yes." I started to tremble and get confused. I was searching for an opening where I could escape. They began to draw closer to me though.
"You have to come with us." a man in sunglasses finally said.
"I just can't go with strangers. That's what I've been told." I cried.
"We work for the government secret service." a man in a more formal clothes began to appear from behind the others. He walked with dignity and confidence. He did not look like a goon, to be honest. He was half smiling and he appeared in clean, ironed clothes.
"You don't understand, you cannot just take a twelve year old girl with you!" I protested.
"Then maybe you have to bring us to your house and let us talk to your parents." the properly dressed man said.
I did not say anything nor did I nod. I just began to walk, out of confusion, out of being overwhelmed. The tension eased as they followed me. They were not talking, they were just focused on moving. I was sure I would get scolded by my parents for bringing a bunch of strange men to our house. Maybe my perfect Math score would lighten their impending stress. I will not divulge my test score yet, I will let them see me first with these men from the secret service and then I will blurt out my perfect Math test when tension rises. It sounded like a good plan.
My parents were already standing in front of our house before we even turn to our street. Maybe they have heard from some neighbours reporting to them that their only daughter is walking down the village with an army.
"We have been expecting this already." exclaimed my mom when me and the secret service men reached the front of the house where they were waiting. I got more confused and just watched the emotionless reactions of all the adults surrounding me.
"Do you know these people, Mom?"
"You can go with them, Diwata. They will explain to you." my father answered, he looked calm and seemed not to be worried.
"But why can't you tell me first what's going on?
"It's not safe to tell you here. Go with them, you will be able to know."
I looked at my mom for her approval and she just nodded. "Do not worry, we will join you." she said to my relief.
A barrage of vans and SUVs arrived in our street and stopped before the secret service men. They calmly went inside the cars and the man with sunglasses and ironed shirt who was maybe their leader led me and my parents to an SUV and went it together with us.
We arrived in front of one of the skyscrapers in Makati. The beautiful amber sunset of Manila shed subtle hue on its mirror facade. The car we were in went further to the basement parking. I could hear the rumble inside the basement as our convoy of seven cars drove in one after the other.
We were escorted inside the building, but without tension. My parents were even exchanging jokes and small talks with the men. We reached a huge office with transparent glass doors, which said "Makati Agency". Just like that, no fuzz, no frills, just plain "Makati Agency". A handsome man was attending the reception desk. He just smiled at us and at the service men and raised his right hand as if leading the way without leaving his desk.
The office was a bit empty, there were only a couple of men sitting on their desks who tried to take a peek at us, the doors in the hallway were shut, and as opposed to the huge transparent entrance, there was no way to know what was going on behind those closed doors. We have finally reached the last double doors in the hallway, an elderly man in suit opened the door and greeted us gleefully.
"Mr. and Mrs. Banaag, hello Diwata." he held his hand out and my parents shook hands.
We sat around a meeting table. The elderly man introduced himself as Cirilo Reynaldo, the chief of information and intelligence. He said that he had been leading a research on the history of the former members of Guerrilla Armed Forces, a rebellion group against the Japanese forces in the Philippines during the second world war. He said that they have discovered that certain members of the Guerrilla Armed Forces, were talented fighters who were sent to secret missions against Japanese ninjas who were secretly deployed in the tropical jungles of the Philippines.
Among those talented fighters was my great grandfather Datu Apolinario, he led a group of Guerrilla Armed Forces with special skills and successfully fought the Japanese shinobis despite the latter's usage of Jutsus.
"What's a Jutsu?" I asked suddenly.
"My dear Diwata, Jutsus are techniques almost similar to magic used by the Shinobis or fighters." he patiently explained.
He looked at us three and continued, "We have then discovered that Apolinario and his men were practicing Jutsus themselves, which they referred to as Salamankas. "
My jaw dropped and scenes from Harry Potter dawned into me, imagining my ascendant as fighting Voldemort's army. My great grandfather was a magic-practicing ninja-fighting rebel? I could hardly believe that I was being briefed with this kind of information, and at this sudden moment. My parents on the contrary were just listening quietly, like being told a story nothing new to them. Perhaps they knew it all this time. But why is he divulging this to me now?
Mr. Reynaldo continued, "As Datu Apolinario brought up his son, Datu Pio, he passed on to him the techniques and the Salamankas he has been practicing." He cleared his throat. "... only to find out that these traits were not the fruits of his training his son, but these traits were inherited from him by his son."
I finally saw the surprised faces of my parents and they began to murmur to each other. So my Lolo could also cast fighting spells? I always thought of him as the jolly and gentle professor of Philippine History and Asian Civilisation at a university in Manila.
"So you mean, I could've also inherited these, um, skills?" asked my father.
Mr. Reynaldo nodded. His gaze turned to me.
"But since such talent and skills start since birth. We see it fit to train them while they're young." He said while staring intently at me.
He turned to my father again. "While yours maybe, Mr. Apolinario has to be discovered yet, and then honed. This might take years. Or have you been experiencing unusual potential on your side?"
My father thought for a while, "Actually, my father started to teach me martial arts when I was young. But then I ditched it because I was more into arts, visual arts, which he still supported. After that he never showed me or taught me any fighting skills anymore."
"It may take years of training, of hardwork and dedication to be able to bring out the Salamanka in you. Whereas this young lady here has a more promising future when it comes to unravelling her Lolo's most treasured inheritance." He genuinely smiled at me.
"But she's just twelve years old. How do you think she would handle all this?" my mother protested.
Mr. Reynaldo explained that the agency will pay for my tuition at an exclusive private school they have connections with, I will have a driver everyday to bring me to school and to bring me home, I will have an appropriate training every Friday after early class dismissal and Saturdays too. I will receive allowance and provisions from the agency as well.
"But why?" I asked again.
"You mean why do we do this?" He smiled as he said that, trying to be comforting as possible, "It's simple. Someday our country might need people like you. We are doing this for our country. You will be doing this for our country."