Cebu Velez College student killed in clash between Army and rebels

[frankeesy]

---

STP... padayon!

[PhilCESM]

I commended you for your principle.

let me opine on your opinion, if u don't mind.

if u have read my previous posts, what i meant by the line "go w/ the flow or sakay sakay" is not what is intended to mean only. it was all about IDEALISM. Coz idealism doesn't necessarily mean always "to go against the flow", as in leftist ideals bah. Coz idealism transcends the left-right spectrum u know. U CAN GO W/ THE FLOW, BUT REMEMBER THAT YOU ALWAYS HAVE THE PADDLE TO STEER."

Just because u have seen the sad state of our medical services in the remote provinces doesn't justify you saying how rotten our government is. AFAIK, you have only seen a small piece of the picture. Unya tua pa gyud sa ngitngit dapit, not on the bright side. You only saw the bad side coz that's how some people naturally think nowadays. Good news is not good. Bad news is. To think the poor people there could be more than satisfied with what they have and might have a more optimist outlook in life than a medical practitioner like u.

Tinood, most of the people are looking in the "tiny dark-side" of the picture and considering as huge systemic problem. Maybe this is the culture that they are living or blind to see the other side of story or maybe simply an IGNORANT.

But one thing, Why despite of Global financial crisis, our country has able to stand still? Why our country is candidate for N-11 (NEXT 11)? Why the government are able to achieve record breaking performance in putting up our economy on high level despite of continuous economic sabotage and destabilization done by Left and Right.

Are you not wondering about that circumstances? or just blind? Or simply a victim of "WHITE PAPER THEORY" proposed by the Communist Party of the Philippines and its allied groups such as LFS, CEGP(where Mae belong), ANAKBAYAD, BAYAD MUNA and etc. plus the "Black and White Movement".

In other words, don't complain. U very well know what u r going into as a medical practitioner in the remote areas. Pasalamat gani unta cla nimo nga nka tabang ka did2 as a public servant. If u don't like it, go to private hospitals or pag private practice nlng.

Correct! If you are weak about your job and can't think how you can improve your service to the people in humane and peaceful ways...SIMPLE, Resign with your work.

I myself have joined lots of medical missions as a club member together w/ volunteer SK's, LGU's, friend nursing students, doctor students, licensed nurses and doctors, and i also see sa mga luoy nga kababayans nato. But when i see them, i'm more inspired and motivated to help them in my own little way. We don't seed them hatred against our gov't but WE just SERVE

.

Me too. I was a member of prestigious international club and we conduct dozens of medical mission and other livelihood projects. We don't encourage them to become pessimistic in their life status but instead we gave them inspirations on how to live a better life.

Let's face it. We are still a developing country where poverty is a main concern. It can't be solved overnight. Yes, we have budget sa health but still it is not enough.

Yap. Be patient...have faiths with our government even majority are corrupts, but remember with this Global age, their days are numbered and...don't be preoccupied with corruption issues but instead concentrate more on what ways you can help more our country. And good news, our country is candidate for N-11(NEXT 11).

Now back to Rachelle Mae, even though she has high IQ or an excellent writer, we can't blame some people to think she was stupid & low EQ. To some, she is just statistics.

I Agree...and the only people who praised her are those people who she was working with. But, unfortunately not a single word from Jose Maria Sison, who she was serving with. Definitely she is just statistics.

But anyway, patay naman nang tawo, so let's give due respect to the dead and pray for her soul nlng.

Yes, i do agree with u on your message to those who seek change:"to work in any department of the government where you deem yourself useful and make yourself indispensable, and from there see if you can effect change." ...

"KILALANIN ANG KALABAN"

[knightcarl]

Palang was an NPA
Sunstar Daily Cebu

AFTER a series of denials from cause-oriented groups, the New People’s Army (NPA) released a statement that said Rachelle Mae Palang and the two others slain in an encounter with the military were their members.

However, a spokesman who identified himself as Ka Dom Pantaleon of the NPA-Southeastern Negros Command Pulang Mt. Talinis Front stated that Palang, who was known to them as Ka Hannah, was unarmed because she was a reserve element of the NPA.

The statement coincided with Palang’s burial yesterday in her hometown, Consolacion.

Palang’s uncles, Fr. Chito Palang and Bishop Antonio Palang, offered mass at 2 p.m. before the urn containing the young woman’s ashes was buried in Barangay Nangka.

The bishop also read a letter he had received from Rachelle Mae during his birthday last June 13, 2005.

“I wish I will have the courage that one day I would be a servant to the people and to God,” she told her uncle.

Cebu Provincial Board Member Victor Maambong said the 21-year-old woman’s “ideals and vision will stay with us in our little town that desperately needs people like her.”

‘Alienates’

Maambong, a former municipal councilor of Consolacion just like Rachelle’s father, said he is still waiting for the results of the Commission on Human Rights’ investigation on Palang’s death.

He also lashed out at the military officials “who think that might is right and who continue to act in a way that alienates the people instead of winning their hearts.”

Cause-oriented groups and students’ organizations sympathized with Palang’s family. They carried banners on the way to the cemetery. Balloons marked “Goodbye, Ate Rachelle” were released after the urn was buried.

“Thank you for making us stronger every day of our lives,” Salome said of her late daughter.

Meanwhile, a statement in the NPA’s official website stated that Palang, Federico Villalongha and Jerrey Cabungcag were members of the NPA’s Pulang Mt. Talinis Front Command and were “martyred” at 1 p.m. in the border of Dauin and Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental.

Pantaleon claimed a unit of the 79th Infantry Battalion raided the NPA’s makeshift position while the group was taking a break from a meeting.

Footprints

Palang, Villalongha and another companion were checking “strange-looking footprints” in a clearing when they were met by gunfire 15 meters away from where they stood.

Cabungcag, the statement read, was hit while retreating.

But unlike the army’s claim that the gunfight lasted 45 minutes, Pantaleon claimed it was 10 minutes into the encounter that they decided to withdraw the entire unit “realizing the superior position and strength” of the army.

Pantaleon said the three were the first casualties in Southeast Negros this year.

He said Palang had decided to become a doctor to serve the country’s poor.

“She was always there to offer her knowledge and skills both for NPA regulars and the peasant masses during her brief but meaningful exposure to Negros’ remotest parts,” the statement read.

As for Cabungcag, he was identified as Ka Regan and was named as a part-time legal activist. He reportedly volunteered for a three-month exposure program that was “unceremoniously cut short two days after arriving at the NPA unit.”

Missing

Cabungcag was named a member of the underground Katipunan ng mga Samahang Makabayan. He was reportedly issued an M-14 rifle that day after a “comrade” went on a political errand to another part of the barangay.

As for Villalongha, the NPA claimed one of the M-16 rifles found was his standard firearm.

He used to be an officer of the Kabataang Barangay before he joined the NPA in 1984. Villalongha was named one of the “leading cadres of the Red Army in Bohol” and described as being involved in the recovery work of the NPA Chocolate Hills Command.

He was reportedly one of the rebels who seized ammunition and high-powered firearms from the Regional Mobile Group in Batuan, Bohol in June 1999 and he reportedly lost his wife in an encounter in Trinidad, Bohol, the same encounter that left student activist Marvin Marquez and six others dead.

Pantaleon also alleged that a 46-year-old barangay councilor turned NPA member, Calixto “Ka Manong” Alfante, was arrested alone and unarmed by the 79th IB last June 12 in Sitio Kabalanusan, Barangay Dobdon, Valencia. They believe he has been “salvaged.” (MEA/GMD)

[journeyman]

Sunday, October 05, 2008
Rachelle unarmed: NPA

"AFTER a series of denials from cause-oriented groups, the New People’s Army (NPA) released a statement that said Rachelle Mae Palang and the two others slain in an encounter with the military were their members."

Klaro na jud na. Mga cause-oriented groups BAKAKON!

[christinay]

i do salute this thread...very informative and i am able to read and analyze the different stands of our co-Filipinos in this issue.I am able to gain and gather ideas on different perspectives.....go on guys.....I can use this in my writings....thank you...

[billabong]

uso na run ang mgpa rebelde rebelde.. murag nag trend.. kita ka mga che guevara ug mao tse tung na t-shirt ug bags suoton sa mga taw para ingun cool.. ingun dayun mg npa nlang sla ky walay pulos gobyerno.

[The_Child]

Statement on the September 18 firefight in Oriental Negros

Dom Pantaleon
Pulang Mt. Talinis Front Command
New People's Army-Southeastern Negros
October 03, 2008

"We pay our highest respects to the revolutionary martyrs and heroes for having sacrificed the most in order to advance the great red banner of our just revolutionary cause." (from the March 29, 2008 Message of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines to the NPA on the occasion of its 39th founding anniversary)
The NPA Pulang Mt. Talinis Front Command salutes the three comrades martyred last August 18 in the Dauin-Zamboanguita border in Oriental Negros. The blood that Ka Val, Ka Hannah and Ka Regan shed was in the service of the poor peasants of Negros. Their deaths - to paraphrase a popular revolutionary saying - are indeed "heavier than the imposing Mt. Talinis" near where they breathed their last.

The NPA Pulang Mt. Talinis Front Operational Command deeply condoles with the families of the three fallen comrades. We assure them that Ka Val, Ka Hannah and Ka Regan will never be forgotten, just as we have not forgotten Silvino "Ka Bino" Clamucha, Marvin Marquez, Arnulfo Ortiz and the many other faceless and nameless martyrs of the national democratic revolution. In songs and poems, in comradely sharings and criticism-self criticism sessions, in clandestine "Luksang Parangal," we will always remember how they conquered life by not cowering in fear of death from the oppressors and their mercenary army.

Ka Val, Ka Hannah and Ka Regan were martyred at around 1 o'clock in the afternoon of August 18 when a composite unit of 79th IB and Cafgu elements raided their makeshift position as they took a break from a meeting the NPA unit was holding to assess the extent of their political work in the Dauin-Zamboanguita border barangays. While other comrades cooked their lunch, Ka Val, Ka Hannah and another comrade were in a clearing verifying the presence of "strange-looking" footprints. A staccato of shots suddenly rang out from the bushes just about 15 meters away from where they stood, mortally wounding and causing instantaneous death to Ka Val and Ka Hannah. After the third comrade reported the condition of Ka Val and Ka Hannah to the NPA unit command, and realizing the superior position and strength of the mercenary army 10 minutes into the firefight, they decided to have an organized withdrawal of the entire unit. It was while retreating that Ka Regan was also fatally hit.

Federico "Ka Val" Villalongha, 45 years old, of Catigbian, Bohol, came from a farming family. An officer of the now-defunct Kabataang Barangay before joining the NPA in 1984, he gradually rose to become one of the leading cadres of the Red army in Bohol. After the Second Great Rectification Movement was launched in 1992, he helped in the recovery work of the NPA Chocolate Hills Command until it successfully - and without a single shot - seized in June 1999 a 60-mm mortar, more than 60 high-powered firearms and 20 other short arms from the Regional Mobile Group (RMG) headquarters in barangay Rizal, Batuan town. The following year, his wife was martyred - along with Marvin Marquez and 6 other comrades - after the AFP's 801st Brigade elements raided the NPA regional headquarters in sitio Diis, barangay Kauswagan, Trinidad, Bohol. This did not dampen Ka Val's revolutionary enthusiasm; he immersed himself further in the NPA's various expansion work outside his native Bohol even as he has become increasingly burdened with periodically severe asthma attacks.

Rachelle Mae "Ka Hannah" Palang, 21 years old, of Consolacion, Cebu, was a dedicated legal activist and nursing board passer who sought to better understand the most numerous yet most neglected sector in the country - the peasantry. Aware of a situation where the country is the world's number 1 exporter of nurses and number 2 exporter of doctors - even as millions of Filipinos die without ever being attended to by neither - she was fiercely decided to prepare herself to become a doctor of, with and for the poorest of the country's poor. As a reserve element (i.e., unarmed) in the NPA unit, she was always there to offer her knowledge and skills both for NPA regulars and the peasant masses during her brief but meaningful exposure to Negros' remotest parts. Along the way, she pleasantly discovered that often only-whispered truth - that the NPA's integrative work among farmers to achieve both the minimum and maximum program for genuine agrarian reform is as urgent as the Red army's ever-ready herbal concoctions and medical kit. As a medical professional trying to grasp just how the economically-impoverished thinks and acts, she welcomed the humble and humbling lifestyle of the people and their genuine peasant-based army.

Gerry "Ka Regan" Cabungcag, 27 years old, of Barangay Pasil, Cebu City was a part-time legal activist who, while busy trying to eke out a living for his family as a semi-skilled self-employed technician, also alloted himself enough time to understand why the rural poor choose to migrate to the already-congested urban centers in the country. As a member of the underground Katipunan ng mga Samahang Makabayan (Kasama), he enthusiastically volunteered for a three-month exposure program that was unceremoniously cut short only two days after arriving at the NPA unit.

At the time of the enemy raid, Ka Val was armed with his standard M-16 rifle "issue", while Ka Regan was temporarily "issued" the M-14 rifle vacated by a comrade who went on a political errand in another part of the barangay earlier that day. The third high-powered firearm recovered by the mercenary army from the site was an "issue" of one of the two other comrades wounded during the 10-minute firefight.

Ka Val, Ka Hannah and Ka Regan were the first casualties of the Red army in southeast Negros this year. Along with 46-year old former Bohol barangay councilor-turned-NPA Calixto "Ka Manong" Alfante - who was arrested alone and unarmed last June 12 by 79th IB elements in sitio Kabalanusan, barangay Dobdob in Valencia town (and now-presumed salvaged) - they inspire the Red army and the entire revolutionary movement to persevere in further frustrating the Arroyo government and its minions' long list of anti-people policies in southeast Negros and elsewhere in the country.

Highest respects for Ka Val, Ka Hannah and Ka Regan!
Long live the national democratic revolution!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


With all the ambiguities here you go.

[radiostar]

Tabada: Email from a 'kasama'
By Mayette Q. Tabada
Matamata



DEAR Dom Pantaleon,

I admit I opened your email last night because of its subject: “Rachelle Mae.”

I wondered if you were reacting to last week’s column, which ruminated on the impact of Cebu Press Freedom Week on student writers, who may or may not be aspiring to be future journalists.

Despite my optimism, I digressed last week on the Sept. 18 death of nursing graduate and campus journalist Rachelle Mae Palang during an encounter with the military in Dauin, Negros Oriental.

I’ve come to expect either sympathy or an argument from readers. I did not expect a “Thank you very much!” from the Pulang Mt. Talinis Front Command of the New People’s Army (NPA).

And the three poems attached with your email sunk me deeper into the unease I feel over Rachelle Mae’s dying.

On one hand, an email is an improvement over the handwritten notes that were handed down by different couriers during martial law. An email is more readable despite one’s glasses, which, though old and familiar, tends to blur scrawls, especially those made in white heat (or should I say, revolutionary fervor?).

But I am now 43, less romantic than I was at 16 and just initiated to Emman Lacaba, Fr. Ed de la Torre, Pablo Neruda and the libertarian theologists.

Now, when I open an attachment emblazoned at the top with red fonts, I think, “cool,” and ask my older son to show me which software can make the same letterhead. The graphics remind me of graffiti sprayed by spelling-challenged punks or a movie victim’s last message, scrawled in blood.

Once, long before Red letterheads became the vogue, letters passed from hand to hand were also typed. Pica or elite. More often than not, pica was used because the portable models used the larger type (a portable typewriter made it possible for a friend to type tracts while hiding in the hollowed-out middle of a bamboo stand, but a university dancer lost her bearing after years of moving from place to place, even during raids, with a typewriter strapped to her back.)

Emails do not have personalities like a letter. Once, one learned to watch out for quirky signs to establish a letter’s authenticity; one group’s typewriter’s “s” key always jumped and left a space after it so “kasama” became the vaguely patriarchal, reactionary “kas ama.”

Your email could have been sent by anyone: punk, trying-hard movie victim or Red fighter of the NPA Pulang Mt. Talinis Command.

I confess that when I opened the attachment, “HALAD SA MGA MARTIR.DOC,” I worried more about potential virus. After scanning the three poems, I sent my standard reply: thank you for your contribution. I no longer edit for a paper but you may wish to contribute this to…

It is hours since I emailed my reply. I am still uneasy.

I realize now my mistake of seeing the forest for the trees. I should not have worried over the contradictions in who you said you were: a “Red fighter” whose nom de guerre of “Ka Dom Pantaleon” includes a title synonymous with “don,” adopted by royalty and Church hierarchy since the word’s root lies in the Latin "dominus," meaning "lord” or “master."

I should not have searched for authenticity in the empty militancy and stiff imagery of your poems: “Build peasant organizations/ In the heat of agrarian guns.” I fail to see how a poem entitled “S.O.W.” (for the revolutionary jargon of Solid Organizing Work) can be a tribute to fallen comrades.

I don’t write poetry. (I have too much respect for it.) I don’t believe in making a religion out of martyrdom. (We are diminished by any death, Red fighter, soldier or bystander.)

Dom Pantaleon, stay alive. Write and do not line your grave with a tired cause and petrified metaphors.

(mayette.tabada@gmail.com/ mayettetabada.blogspot.com/ 0917-3226131)

[radiostar]

Straight Jab
Rachelle; Mar’s challenges
By Job Tabada
Cebu Daily News
First Posted 13:18:00 09/26/2008
Nothing can stop, for now, the Army from defending its claim that an encounter occurred between government troops and suspected New People’s Army members in Dauin town, Negros Oriental, on Sept. 18. Killed were Rachelle Mae Palang of Consolacion town, Cebu, a registered nurse and former editor in chief of a student publication; Jerry Cabungcag of sitio Lawis, barangay Pasil, Cebu City; and Fedrico Villalongha of Bohol.

While it appears there’s no witness to dispute or confirm the military’s claim, the official statement – that the soldiers fired when they chanced upon the “rebels” who were showing off their firearms – issued by a top Army official seems to point to one thing: there was no encounter. Perhaps what happened was an ambush.
“Sorry na lang sila if they were not in an advantageous position. Sorry na lang siya if she (Palang) was with the group, unless the group she was in was not an armed group,” Lt. Gen. Pedro “Ike” Insierto, Armed Forces of the Philippines Central Command (Cencom) chief, said in a report.
Insierto said he could not blame his soldiers for attacking the group because they were seen carrying firearms. He said the area where Palang and companions were killed was an insurgency hotspot.
Somewhere in this area is a huge jatropha (tuba-tuba) plantation. Rice farmers have reportedly been showing their indignation over the destruction of rice farms and their displacement from the place, which is now planted to tuba-tuba. Landowners have been lured by the government’s biofuel program, which seeks to lessen the country’s dependence on fossil fuel. Worldwide, experts see the biofuel program as a “miscalculation” that negatively affects food production.
A press release issued by Ka Dom Pantaleon, spokesman of the NPA unit operating in southeastern Negros, accuses the Arroyo government of favoring certain capitalists, who also enjoy the protection of the military at the expense of the poor farmers. (Straight Jab, “Still about social justice,” Sept. 15)
A classmate describes the slain nurse, in a published story, as very concerned about the farmers affected by the jatropha business, hinting that Palang could have been there to demonstrate her compassion. As an active member of the College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines, Rachelle’s involvement in campus journalism propelled her beyond academic commitment she consistently opposed her school’s bid for tuition hike, a move that subsequently gained grounds.
CEGP has a history of adhering to the principle of serving the interest of students and the people since it was founded in 1931. The first to fall under such circumstance was Antonio Tagamolila, national CEGP president and editor in chief of UP Collegian, who was slain at the height of martial law. Sadly, Rachelle’s faith in CEGP’s pro-people stand would never be tested long enough.
I’m a CEGP alumnus, but my years of involvement in the group as an active campus journalist never turned me into a communist. Unfortunately, it was enough for Ferdinand Marcos’ military intelligence to turn me and hundreds of others into martial-law jailbirds.
Rachelle’s parents said they respected the principles their daughter steadfastly held. It’s the same conviction that made an immeasurable difference in the lives of Filipinos who wallowed under the grip of their oppressive leaders. Lamentably, we see again the recurrence of the vinegary events that Rachelle tried to help address.
* * *
Sen. Mar Roxas will be in Cebu again tomorrow. Never mind his political ambition, but as a lawmaker he can surely spare his precious time to ponder what happened to Rachelle and her colleagues. Lapses in military rules of engagement might have contributed to what’s perceived to be unnecessary killings.
On the basis of Cebu Provincial Board Member Vic Maambong’s resolution for a thorough probe, the Commission on Human Rights has taken action. Mar Roxas could very well provide a more prudent answer to the puzzle – now that public doubts persist over the bloody incident in Dauin, Negros Oriental – with legislative initiatives anchored on the promotion of social justice.
Mar will be here primarily to donate P300,000 for the anti-dengue TV campaign to the Cebu City government’s effort at eradicating the dreaded virus that has claimed the lives of several residents, most of them children. That’s peanuts, of course.
Beyond that, as chair of the Senate committee on commerce and industry, Mar can also probably offer some remedy to “save” the South Road Properties, an elephant that has yet to shed its white skin. The predicament has been depriving the Cebu City of the needed revenues to pay billions of pesos in loans plus interests. The lion’s share of the budget for the loan payment has in effect thinned the allocation for the constituents’ basic services. Knowing Mar as a public servant who has been responding to major concerns, Cebuanos expect him to perform more miracles for them.
* * *
About five hours after I began writing this column, I will be at the oath-taking ceremony of the interim officers of the newly re-organized National Press Club Cebu at Club Ultima. Judge Meinrado Paredes will induct the officers.
The affair has to be pursued against the suggestion that the group stop using the old name, following concerns raised against the mother group in Manila that have affected its standing as the oldest media club in the country. Anchored on the stand that the Cebu group is not part of the storm, majority of the members decided to retain the name without prejudice to getting a new one, as the club has yet to finalize its reorganization efforts. While banter from fellow journalists is unavoidable, the club takes them as a source of strength in its effort at doing the needed reforms.
For several years, the club – composed of veteran journalists and youngbloods in the industry, representing various tri-media outfits – has been orphaned by the retirement of its founding president, Manuel Satorre Jr., who’s in the United States for health reasons, and the untimely passing of his successor, Manuel Oyson Jr. It’s in this light that we rise to take the big challenge of making the club deserving of media consumers’ trust and respect, and, yes, move on.
More on the club in the next column.

[Kenah]

Condolence to the Family. This might be a wake-up call to those family whose members are studying in college/university.

I remember when I was in college, in Manila, I was an activist, and being an activist, i thought i will become a good citizen but later on I found that I am shifting to another career, a political revolutionary under the umbrella of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). I decided to exit to the movement when five of my classmates (cadre) has been killed in encounter with military in Mt.Banahaw.

The same thing with Rachelle Mae, I told my parents that I'm going to Quezon Province for humanitarian mission. 20 years after, ganoon parin pala ang strategy nila. I remember Cory Aquino administration yung kinakalaban namin noon.

So, remind your kids, brothers or sisters to select the school organizations that they are going to join with. Beware of organization that promote or encourage political activism/extremism. It is better to join with simple school organization rather activist group such as LFS, CEGP and other organization with hidden agenda and controlled by Communist Party of the Philippines.

If you are Nationalistic or Idealistic person you can help your country most in hundreds of "HUMANE" or "compassionate" ways...but not in revolutionary (arm struggle) and mob (i.e. street protester) way. We are now in 21st Century and the revolutionary system/strategy and extremism is no longer a trend or acceptable to new civilization.

Parents should not be blamed because they are also victims and they don't know about it.

To those readers who are leaders or members of any Activist group under CPP. I know your feelings about what i am suggesting but, why don't you try to put yourself into another side and open your mind. Don't get stuck with your gated community, try to look outside. Sayang Matalino pa naman kayo.


CLICK HERE - to know more why they become Political Activist. This might help you to understand why. Murag tiga Cebu ang nag document nito.

reactions: thanks kay bro.... Im afraid , of this issue as parent of a freshman college in UP Cebu , basin nya ug makaapil ako daughter ani nga mga groups.(leftist)
Can you give me some hints and advise for this matter if ever she entered and how to convince her not to enter or bring her back. I know that these guy are good in brainwashing. Plz help ......a worried mother..
Honestly, I am proud to have my daughter in that university coz its not easy to enter UP. but my fears is..........di jud nako malikayan what if simbako lang! I did not send my children to school for that particular reason....You know what are the dreams of parents. We want the best for our children...........
My daughter also, graduated where Rachelle Mae graduated her High School although my child is not a valedictorian but being a part of that school it is quite enough that a parent/parents is proud enough that her child graduated in that school.