• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Following the deaths of student-activists and alumni of state universities who joined the armed movement, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson on Tuesday, May 19 called on school administrators to be more vigilant in monitoring activities inside campuses.
Lacson issued the statement after another student-activist and alumnus of University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu was among the five suspected New People’s Army (NPA) rebels killed in a clash with Philippine Army troops in Cauayan town on May 16.
Authorities identified the fatality as Vince Francis Dingding, a former UP Cebu student leader.
Brig. Gen. Jason Jumawan, commander of the 302nd Infantry Brigade, said Dingding served as a political instructor and deputy secretary of the NPA’s dismantled Southeast Front.
The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said Dingding’s case reflects what it described as a recurring pattern involving activists who later joined armed rebel groups.
The task force also recalled previous cases involving former student-activists who died in encounters with government troops in Negros Occidental.
Alyssa Alano of UP Diliman, Maureen Keil Santuyo of UP Open University, and University of St. La Salle alumnus RJ Ledesma were among the 19 individuals killed in the Toboso encounter on April 19.
Jhon Isidor “Dee” Supelanas, a former UP Cebu communication graduate, died in an encounter with Army soldiers in Kabankalan City last year.
“Similar painful stories have surfaced before. Similar grieving families have spoken before. Similar tears have been shed before,” NTF-ELCAC executive director Ernesto Torres said in a statement.
Moreover, Lacson expressed concern over the continuing deaths of young people in armed clashes, urging schools to closely monitor student activities within campuses.
He said though that as long as they do not espouse armed struggle, schools cannot outright reject enrollees based solely on ideology.
“Casualties will continue if these encounters go on,” Lacson said as he reiterated the provincial government’s call for armed rebels to surrender and return to mainstream society.
“We are calling on our brothers and sisters in the NPA to lay down their arms. The provincial government and local government units will assist them in their immersion back into society,” he added. “We have done our part in helping former rebels. That is why I am confident in calling them to join the government”.
Meanwhile, the NTF-ELCAC said that in a handwritten letter dated May 18, Dingding’s parents, Romulo and Rica, said they would no longer claim the remains of their son.
Torres described the statement as among the saddest words parents could write about their child.
The couple requested that all matters related to their son’s death be coursed through their village chief in Cebu City to spare the family further distress.
In the same letter, the family disclosed that Vince’s mother is battling colon cancer and had been advised to avoid stress to aid in her recovery.
Torres said the armed struggle leaves emotional wounds that persist long after armed encounters end.
“Even in the middle of mourning, a family was already struggling to survive another painful battle,” Torres said. | GB
