by Miriam G. Desacada
Catarman N.Samar–The bodies of the four members of the communist terrorists group (CTG) of the New People’s Army who were killed in a gunfight with government troops at a village in Catarman, Northern Samar last May 28 have been identified.
Captain Jefferson Mariano, chief of the Public Affairs Office of the 8th Infantry Division (8ID), told the media that one of the four killed insurgents was identified as Joshua Musico Sagdullas, alias Miyong/Martin of Tacloban City.
Sagdullas was the secretary general of BAYAN-Eastern Visayas and former chairperson of the College Student Council of the University of the Philippines Visayas-Tacloban Campus (UPVTC).
Sagdullas was with three others who perished in the gunbattle with the soldiers of the 43rd Infantry Battalion in the afternoon of May 28 after a resident reported to the military that about seven armed men were conducting extortion activities in the barangay.
The cadavers were later airlifted to Camp Sumoroy in Catarman, headquarters of the 803rd Infantry Brigade, for identification.
Alias Kurati, a former rebel who operated before in the same area as the encounter site, positively identified the cadaver of fatalities, confirming that one of them was Sagdullas, an official of BAYAN-Eastern Visayas, who also served as a political instructor in the underground movement.
Kurati also identified the three other fatalities: Geraldine Teopinto alias Luz, the finance officer; Abigail Padula Baselga alias Moana, medical officer; and Vicente Termo.
Mariano said the body of Sagdullas will be turned over to his family in Tacloban City where his mother, Melinda, is a social worker of the city’s DSWD.
Melinda refused to give any statement over what happened to his son, while Mayor Alfred Romualdez said the city LGU will facilitate the turnover of the body from the military to the family.
Major General Camilo Ligayo, commander of the 8ID, was saddened by the deaths of the four terrorists, due to pointless ideology only. He said they could have had a better future ahead and be an active partner of the government in nation-building, and helping people in the community if they had not been recruited by the terrorist group.
“Another life has been lost in the war against the senseless ideology of the NPA’s CTG. Let us put an end to this way of life of constant struggle and fear. The door is still open for those who want to surrender and live a better and more peaceful life,” Ligayo said.
For his part, Mayor Romualdez, chairman of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC), conveyed his sympathy and condolences to the families of the slain insurgents, especially to the family of his fellow Taclobanon, Miyong.
Romualdez urged the remaining CTGs to choose the right path while they still can.“I feel sad for the families, kaya kayong ibang nandiyan pa sa movement, isipin niyo ang mga naiiwanan ninyo. Feeling ninyo itong ginagawa ninyo ay talagang may ipinaglalaban kayo, pero sa bandang huli ang mas nakakaawa dito ang mga iniiwanan ninyo.”
The mayor added: ‘Yong parents ninyo pinagpawisan para mabigyan ka lang ng edukasyon, maraming talent and all, tapos what happened? It is really sad, I hope this will stop, and this will end very soon.” —-Miriam G. Desacada