“It is a great honor for me to have a child who became a warrior and martyr…I am undoubtedly proud of Jevilyn because she fought against an unjust system, for us Lumad,” Cullamat said.

In a curious turn of events, the police arrested peace negotiator Alfredo Mapano who newspaper reports describe as an “ex- NDFP consultant” and who currently works as a government employee.

“We reject the claims of the police that the couple resisted arrest and were killed in a firefight. In their physical state, the couple would not have been able to manage the sheer number of weapons said to be found in the scene, much less put up a rigorous gun battle,” CPP spokesperson Marco Valbuena said.

The NDFP said the decision violated the 1956 Hernandez Political Doctrine mandating that all alleged acts in pursuit of one’s political beliefs are absorbed, subsumed or integrated in one political crime of rebellion and cannot be mutated into several common crimes as what they were convicted of.

"Bakit pinoprotektahan ng pulis at gobyerno ang patuloy na operasyon ng minahan ng Oceanagold? Oceanagold has been running without a legal contract for more than a year. Their refusal to implement mandatory rehabilitation as mandated by law and contractual obligation has led to these worsened flooding and other disaster risks faced by the local communities."