His father brought Tom to Davao city as a child where he came to know about how diverse the peoples of Mindanao were. It was also a time when the Bangsamoro was at the height of its struggle under the dictator.
Tom’s awakening to fight injustice happened when he came face to face with violence at an early age when a soldier shot an older brother of a Muslim friend. When he was a high school senior in his hometown, Bislig, Surigao del Sur, his father was fired for siding with the cause of company workers who were demanding wage increases. His father knew that the logging and paper company was getting rich at the expense of the workers --- and the environment. His father went to work abroad and became one of the first overseas Filipino workers (OFW) and had to move the family to Manila.
Tom went to a university in a far-away city knowing nothing about the place nor the language they speak. Later on Tom made friends, became a student activist, and was elected to the college student council and even had a stint as a campus journalist.
