By Jennifer P. Rendon
After much speculation, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) finally acknowledged that the two bodies found in Oton, Iloilo on December 26, 2020, which coincidentally coincided with their 52nd founding anniversary, were indeed ranking members of the New People’s Army (NPA).
In a statement posted March 17, 2021 on its website, the CPP issued a statement accusing state forces of masterminding the deaths of Antonio Cabanatan and wife Florenda Yap.
“The entire Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and all revolutionary forces are seething with rage over the abduction, secret detention, torture and cold-blooded murder of retired Party leader Antonio Cabanatan (Kasamang Manlimbasog), 74 and wife Florenda Yap (Kasamang Osang), 65.”
The rebel group claimed that the house in Barangay Botong, Oton, where the bodies were found was a “military safe house.”
“We hold the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP), the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and other armed agents of the US-Duterte regime responsible for this brutal crime,” it added.
The CPP also claimed that their indignation over what happened is “immeasurable.”
“Elderly and infirm, they were abducted around October last year and secretly imprisoned by the fascist agents. We cannot begin to imagine the cruelty of the psychological and physical torture that they were made to undergo before they were brutally killed,” it said.
The CPP said that the couple were both retired from active revolutionary duties after spending their entire life serving the workers and peasants and all the oppressed masses.
They regarded Cabanatan as an “esteemed communist who commanded respect with his humility and simplicity” and “was a beacon of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, in both theory and practice.”
The CPP also hailed Cabanatan for being part of the first generation of Filipino communists who helped plant the seeds of the armed revolution across the country.
He was allegedly responsible for expanding the NPA movement in Visayas and Mindanao, the CPP claimed.
Cababatan also served as secretary of the Mindanao Commission and was a member of the CPP’s Central Committee, its Political Bureau and Executive Committee until his retirement in 2017.
A hunchback and standing less than five feet, “he was a giant who stood at the forefront of the people’s war, waging guerrilla warfare, recruiting and training Red fighters and young communists,” the CPP said.
As they extend their condolences to the family and friends of the two “former” NPA leaders, the CPP has vowed to avenge their murders.
The local police have decided to bury the remains of Cabanatan and Yap afternoon of Jan. 28, 2021 at the Oton Public Cemetery.
The PNP said they had to bury the remains of the two slain victims to avoid public health risks.
Authorities waited for a month in the hope that any family member would claim their bodies but to no avail.
At that time of their interment, the police only had the statements of former Ilonggo activist and now National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) adviser Jeffrey Celiz, or Ka Eric Almendras, that the slain persons were ranking members of the New People’s Army.
Celiz had earlier pointed out that the two bodies were that of Antonio Cabanatan and Elsa Renton, both ranking leaders of the New People’s Army (NPA).
The Antonio Cabanatan of the CPP-NPA the authorities knew was born on March 2, 1947 in Samar. He was also known as Commander Renato, Boktot, Tobo, Tess, Tony, Steve, and Nelson.
A hunchback, Cabanatan had been a member of the CPP Politburo and CPP Executive Committee. He was also a secretary of the Komisyon sa Mindanao.
He had a standing warrant of arrest for robbery with double homicide and damage to properties issued by the Regional Trial Court Branch 7 in Bayugan, Agusandel Sur. He was also charged for murder in Palo, Leyte.
He was listed as one of the most wanted persons affiliated with CPP-NPA with a reward of P7.8 million for his arrest.
