• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
RJ Nichole Ledesma, a Kabataan Partylist nominee in the 2022 elections, was among the 19 fatalities in the Toboso gunbattles on April 19, according to Karapatan and Human Rights Advocates Negros (HRAN).
Ledesma, 30, was a former editor-in-chief of The Spectrum, the student publication of the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City, and chairperson of the League of Filipino Students-Bacolod.
In a statement on Wednesday (April 22), local community media outfit Altermidya Network said it mourns the death of Ledesma, writer and editor of Paghimutad-Negros and regional coordinator of Altermidya in Negros Island.
Citing claims of HRAN, the Altermidya Network alleged that Ledesma was not in the initial clash in Sitio Sinugmawan.
Instead, he was attacked in a separate peasant community in Sitio Plaringding during an ensuing military pursuit operation.
In a radio interview, HRAN focal person Felipe Gelle Jr. confirmed that Ledesma is a resident of Bacolod City and his family is set to claim his body from a funeral parlor.
1Lt. Fevie Fajardo, 79th Infantry Battalion civil-military operations officer, said the bodies of seven of the 19 rebels were already claimed by their respective families.
Fajardo, however, did not identify the cadavers already claimed from the funeral parlors in Toboso and Escalante City.
The five fatalities from the NPA Northern Negros Front were identified by the military as Glenmar Bacosmo, front secretary, and his deputy, with aliases “Pat” and “Salem”; Roger Fabillar, commanding officer of the special operations group and Sentro de Gravidad, and his deputy, Pedro Bonghanoy; and Rene Villarin Sr., vice squad leader.
Maj. Gen. Michael Samson, 3rd Infantry Division commander, said on Wednesday they are tracking and monitoring the group of Fabillar, which is responsible for the killing of more than 30 civilians in the hinterlands of northern Negros.
While he was elusive for some time, Samson said “we were able to catch up with them”, following a tip from the locals.
He admitted that they were even surprised by the number of rebels encountered by the soldiers during the almost 12-hour gunbattles. | GB
