FALLEN MARTYRS

13 Red fighters slain in Batangas, Nueva Ecija

By Sebastian San Diego

In just four days, the reactionary state’s armed forces claimed the lives of 13 revolutionaries in Luzon. The armed forces may portray them as war trophies, but for the toiling masses, they are martyrs who offered their lives to advance the interests and welfare of the people.

Jian Markus “Ka Reb” Tayco and Royce Jethro “Ka Alex” Magtira were the latest revolutionaries of Southern Tagalog (ST) who were killed in an armed encounter with the 59th Infantry Batallion of the Philippine Army (IBPA), last June 23 at Tuy, Batangas. On June 26, three days later, another 10 Red commanders and fighters fell into a defensive battle with the 84th IBPA at Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija, translating the number to 13 revolutionaries slain in less than a week.

Reports from human rights and progressive organizations, Karapatan Southern Tagalog and Tanggol Batangan, corroborate that the bodies of the ST martyrs were withheld from their families for a day. The bereaved families were also subjected to intimidation and interrogation by police and military forces, with paralegals barred from assisting.

The Pantabangan martyrs include Hilario “Ka Berting/Tonyo” Guiuo, Harold “Ka Luzon” Menosa, Marian “Ka Lunti” Castro, Archie “Ka Soral/Teo” Arceta, Asaze “Ka Shyla/Cha” Galang, Pepito “Ka Dylan” Bautista, Noel “Ka Eric/Tagumpay” Bedonia, Noel “Ka Angel” Bedonia Jr, Reynan “Ka Mel” Mendoza, and Angelika “Ka Molly” Villalon who come from different backgrounds — farmers, semi-proletariat, drivers, church people, and students — but ultimately accepted the greater call to age the people’s war and defend the people.

Meanwhile, revolutionaries Ka Reb and Ka Alex, despite coming from the petite bourgeoisie, are youth student-leaders who used their passion for the arts to advance national, scientific, and mass-oriented cultural identity in Southern Tagalog.

Ka Reb and Ka Alex’s decision to join the national democratic struggle sprung from the lived experiences of basic sectors and students who endured Rodrigo Duterte’s fascist regime and the neoliberal education system. As students, they realized that society can never thrive under a neoliberal, commercialized, and anti-democratic education system.

This worsening orientation of the nation’s educational system prompted them to join mass organizations. Ka Reb and Ka Alex served as student-youth organizers in Cavite and even in the entire region of Southern Tagalog. Beyond the four corners of the classroom, they organized fisherfolks in Cavite to condemn reclamation projects in Manila Bay and joined the peasants’ fight for genuine agrarian reform in the military-infested province.

These 13 Red fighters, despite their differences in classes and generations, believed that only through armed struggle can people be emancipated from society’s chronic and systemic conditions, even if it would cost them their lives.

For comrades, the fallen Pantabangan fighters were true heroes who shouldered the mountains to serve the toiling masses.

“The significance of their lives is as heavy as Sierra Madre, their contribution to the triumph of the people’s war is as wide as the plains of Central Luzon, the people’s veneration of their heroism is as tall and lush as the trees in the forest,” NPA-Central Luzon stated.

For the revolutionary youth group Kabataang Makabayan-Laguna, Ka Reb and Ka Alex will remain an inspiration to continue the people’s war until victory is within reach.

“Ang mga naging batayang isyu ng lipunan na siyang nagtulak kina Ka Alex at Ka Reb ay buhay at nagpapatuloy hanggang sa araw ng kanilang pagkabuwal. Kaya’t kagaya ng paggagap nila Ka Alex at Ka Reb sa pagiging makatuwiran ng rebolusyon, ay tinatanganan ng Kabataang Makabayan-Laguna ang hamon ng diwang mapanglaban na nabitawan nina Kasamang Reb at Kasamang Alex,” Kabataang Makabayan-Laguna said in a statement.