LETTER

NPA guerillas mourn female cadre slain in gunbatttle

The revolutionary movement in Abra, and in the entire Ilocos-Cordillera, mourns the death of one of the finest daughters of the Filipino people Lilette Fatima “Ka Trina” Raquel who died on Oct. 28, due to multiple gunshot wounds obtained during a gunbattle with armed minions of a warlord family, acting as security forces for operating troops of the 41st Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army and with the direct support and guidance of the police. The gunbattle took place at Sitio Vera, Barangay Alaoa-Tapayen at 11 p.m. on Oct. 26.

“Ka Trina” is a native of Cagayan Valley. She finished college at the University of the Philippines College Baguio. Her religious upbringing helped her become sympathetic to the plight of the poor, deprived and oppressed.

Her inquisitive mind pushed her to seek answers to nagging questions as to why there is so much inequality, poverty, and exploitation, and to find solution to all these harsh realities of Philippine society. She found this when she joined the underground revolutionary movement during her college days.

But it was her deep understanding of the need for armed revolution that made her decide to seek a life with the peasants and the NPA in the countrysides, first as an exposuree in 2006, and eventually as a Party cadre and an NPA officer in early 2007.

Ka Trina is a model revolutionary. Before deciding to join the armed revolutionary movement, she devoted 10 years of her life in the legal and democratic mass movement in Metro Baguio, particularly among the ranks of the youth and students. For a time, she agonized over her decision whether or not to join the NPA.

But when she finally decided to join the NPA, she was steadfast, firm and resolute. She was much-loved in school, among colleagues and comrades in the legal organizations and institutions, in working class and urban poor communities, and especially in peasant communities in Abra. She was friendly, thoughtful, and warm to people around her, always flashing her familiar smile and releasing a chuckle every now and then. She was diligent, efficient and creative in work.

Her commitment to revolutionary struggle and her capacity for sacrifice were so deep that she did not take the path of a lucrative and convenient life after graduating from UP; medical problems and physical limitations did not hinder her to live a life as a guerilla fighter; she abstained from important family occasions so that she can attend to important and pressing matters at work.

And even while in immense pain while wounded and dying, she thought of the welfare of others, saying sorry, probably thinking that her becoming wounded in battle inconvenienced the comrades and the masses in the localities. Transcending female traditional roles, she joined the NPA and bannered armed revolutionary struggle in the tradition of Tandang Sora, Gabriela Silang, Lorena Barros, Jingjing Carino and other great women revolutionary martyrs. From a petty-bourgeois intellectual, Ka Trina developed into a selfless proletarian revolutionary.

Due to her positive qualities and perseverance, Ka Trina quickly made her way into the ranks of the revolutionary leaders in Abra. She was a relatively well-rounded officer, considering her short stint in the NPA, becoming a medic, supply, finance and a political officer, later becoming a member of the Yunit Komand. Prior to her death, she was a member of the Executive Committee-Secretariat of a Guerilla Front Committee (Komiteng Larangang Gerilya) and a regular member of the Abra Provincial Party Committee.

Like the other cadres and officers of the Agustin Begnalen Command and the CPP-Abra, Ka Trina got her baptism-by-fire in the complicated Abra politics and the wild world of Abra warlordism. She engaged in intense discussions on the handling of local politics and warlordism, and immersed herself deeply in the issue.

Ka Trina’s death is a great loss to the revolutionary movement. But in her place, more peasant and working-class youth, students, and women will rise up and ensure that the rifle she left behind will keep on firing against those who stand against the oppressed and exploited. Her shining example is a beacon to the revolutionary masses, especially to the youth and students in the cities, town centers, and the countryside.

Ka Diego Wadagan
Spokesperson
Abra Provincial Party Committee
Agustin Begnalen Command
New People’s Army