A member of the New People’s Army (NPA) who was killed in a clash around 6am on Tuesday, December 2, in Sitio Cabagal, Barangay Buenavista, Himamaylan City, was allegedly driven to join the rebel movement following the death of his brother in 2023.
Ida Tingal, mother of the slain rebel, told Brigada News FM Kabankalan on Wednesday, December 3, that her youngest son, Ruben Tingal, took up arms shortly after his older brother, Crispin, was killed by state forces in May 2023.
Since then, she said she had not received any information about Ruben’s whereabouts. She recalled that Ruben used to help her tend their farm animals and work on their fields.
Ida believed her son was pushed to join the armed movement after witnessing what happened to his brother, whom authorities had suspected of being a communist rebel and killed in May 2023.
The mother of the slain rebel said she was no longer surprised by her son’s fate, noting that he had been underground for a long time.
She added that soldiers had approached her several times in the past, asking her to convince Ruben to surrender.
“I would have told him to surrender if I had seen him, but I never saw him again after he went underground,” she said.
Meanwhile, 94th Infantry Battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Zeigfred Tayaban said the newly-slain Tingal served as a squad leader of the NPA’s Central Negros 2 unit.
He added that Tingal was part of a group allegedly responsible for sowing fear in communities and burning construction equipment in Central Negros.
Tayaban said the encounter erupted when soldiers responded to reports from residents about armed men allegedly extorting in the area, prompting troops to investigate.
The firefight lasted about 15 minutes.
Authorities said they recovered an M16 rifle, ammunition, food supplies, explosives, and various documents from the encounter site.*
Reymund Titong is a Filipino journalist steadily building his voice in the field of news reporting, driven by a commitment to tell meaningful and relevant stories.
He serves as a correspondent for Rappler, maintains a personal blog on Medium, and is the communications officer of Hope Builders Organization Negros Island.