Ahay, 19 individuals — described as researchers, student leaders, and social workers — were killed in an encounter with soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) somewhere in northern Negros. Truly, the tribulations one has to go through to serve the people.
Of course, we are told these were not individuals espousing an obsolete and irrelevant ideology bent on overthrowing the government. Yes, of course — and pigs fly.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Army confirmed that 19 members of the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army – National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) died in a series of encounters with government troops in Toboso, Negros Occidental. The fatalities were remnants of the dismantled Northern Negros Front under the Komiteng Rehiyon-Negros of the CPP-NPA-NDF.
The encounter led to the recovery of several assault rifles, rifle grenades, hand grenades, bandoliers, and ammunition.
Likewise, a long-hunted fugitive and ranking NPA leader, Roger Fabilar alias Arnel Tapang — who carried a P1-million bounty — was confirmed killed in the clash.
Ordinarily, encounters like this between government forces and rebels might have been quickly forgotten, perhaps not even making the 6 o’clock news, much less dominating social media. It could have simply been chalked up as another tactical victory for the government — were it not for two peculiar individuals among the fatalities.
A statement from the University of the Philippines Diliman University Student Council (USC) confirmed that one of those who died was USC Councilor Alyssa Alano.
Alano, the USC’s Education and Research Councilor, was reportedly in the encounter area for an immersion as part of her research on alleged land-grabbing and abuses against local farmers.
Of course, they’re researchers, student leaders, social workers and, lest we forget, artists.
On the other hand, reports also indicated that one of those killed was a community journalist.
Authorities identified one of the fatalities as R.J. Nichole Ledesma, a resident of Bacolod City, who previously served as the seventh nominee of the Kabataan party-list and was a former chairperson of the League of Filipino Students in Bacolod.
Ledesma was also the regional coordinator of Altermidya for Negros Island.
Which brings us to the central question: why were they at the site of an armed encounter between state forces and the CPP-NPA-NDF in the first place?
Who brought them there? For what purpose?
And what role, if any, were they playing in a clearly hostile and militarized environment?
Take note: civilians do not simply drift into active encounter zones by accident.
Such areas are neither public spaces nor tourist destinations. They are controlled, monitored, and shaped by armed actors. Presence in such a space implies prior knowledge, direction, or coordination.
Alyssa Alano and R.J. Nichole Ledesma knew why they were there. The CPP-NPA-NDF knew why they were there.
Perhaps the only ones who did not know they were there were the AFP.
The presence of these two — granting, for the sake of argument, that they were exactly what they claimed to be — appears to reinforce what the NTF-ELCAC has long asserted: that certain schools and universities, particularly UP, have been used as recruitment and grooming grounds for vulnerable students who may end up serving as “useful idiots,” and eventually as cannon fodder for the CPP-NPA-NDF.
It also revives allegations that certain party-list groups serve as fronts for the CPP-NPA-NDF, enabling them to operate within the system while undermining it using government resources.
What we are seeing here may well be the tragic outcome of a process critics describe as systematic recruitment and ideological indoctrination — one that targets the youth and the vulnerable.
In this narrative, many are reduced to cannon fodder — used, deployed, and ultimately sacrificed by leadership that remains far removed from the battlefield.
This is framed not as a legitimate cause, but as manipulation, control, and exploitation cloaked in ideology.
Sadly, the usual convenient excuse is that UP teaches “critical thinking”.
Joining the NPA to overthrow a legitimate democratically elected government and replacing it with a failed obsolete ideology is not “critical thinking” but stupidity!/PN
